Review: Hannah Montana for the LeapFrog Didj

Written on Dec 29, 2008 by Steve and filed under LeapFrog, Reviews

What video game line-up for kids wouldn’t include a Hannah Montana game?  LeapFrog certainly wouldn’t miss out on the opportunity to use such a lovable character, especially among the girls, for the purposes of learning.  Hannah Montana for the Didj teaches multiplication & division, addition & subtraction, spelling, vocabulary, and time to kids in grades 3-5 (or 8-10 years old).

The Main Story

I’m not going to bother with the background on who Hannah Montana is. Chances are that if you’re reading this, you already have a fanatic in your house.  Anyway, the goal of this game is to make sure that Miley passes her big test at school on Friday so that she can make her scheduled show on the weekend.  You start the game on Monday, and by passing quizzes and puzzles, you can make your way through Miley’s day.  As you successfully complete each exercise, you gain points that can be spent at the Pop Star Store.  In the Pop Star Store, you can purchase more clothing to wear for Hannah performances and you can purchase stage effects (like lasers, fog, and fireworks).

Video overview (provided by LeapFrog):

Game Details

Now that I’ve described the main storyline, let’s back up just a bit to review some of the other options available after you fire up the game.  At the main menu, you have the following options: Miley’s Planner, Trophy Room, Free Play, Miley’s Room, Options, and Didj Home.  Miley’s Planner gets you into the main game.

Once you click into Miley’s Planner, you get back to the same point at which you left the game – any progress made so far will have been saved.  From the planner, you pretty much just progress through the list that you see.  Each item is different – some are quizzes and exercises, while other entries are meant to be times between classes, where the storyline progresses by means of still images with captions.  Here are some examples of the learning activities that you’ll find in the Planner:

• Time Teasers – word problems to test time and/or dates
• Math Grooves – answer math problems and then do dance moves (with 3-key combinations of the A and B buttons)
• Musical Spelling – complete spelling words by picking the right letters from a scrolling chalkboard of letters
• Message Mix-Up – Text messages from your friends have words out of place.  Pick the word to replace and pick the correct word, once you’re given the definition.

Once you’ve progressed through the week, you get to choose the city in which you’ll perform and then take the “Big Test”.  If you answer enough questions right, then you get to perform.  For each concert, you can pick the music, your outfit, stage effects, and dance moves.

The Trophy Room is where you can view the Badges and Bitz that you’ve acquired and you can view any Micromods that you’ve installed.  (If you’re not sure what Badges and Bitz are, make sure to read our review of the Didj system).

Free Play lets you play some of the exercises and puzzles that you encounter during the main game.  It just doesn’t follow the story line.

In Miley’s Room, you can just sort of “hang out”.  You can enter Hannah’s Secret Room to try on your show outfits (combinations of tops and bottoms).  You can use the Jukebox to play some Hannah music.  You can view the Calendar or read the Magazine.  There is a Photo Album where you can view the pictures that you’ve unlocked by progressing in the main story.  The Computer lets you access a custom spelling list.  If you’ve completed a day in the main game (Miley’s Planner), then you can pick the Bed so that you can get ready for the next day.

In Options, you can set the music volume and view credits for the game.

Finally, the Didj Home option lets you exit the Hannah Montana game to view the other items on your Didj.

Learning and Game Customization

The Hannah Montana game is capable of learning exercises in four areas: math, spelling, math facts, and vocabulary.  Once you fire up the LeapFrog Connect software and enter the Skill Selector, you can choose one of these areas to work on.  (If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, read more about the Skill Selector in our Didj review).

The Math skills available in Hannah Montana are mostly on time – questions on calendar days, elapsed time, etc.  However, if you start getting into the 5th grade skills, you can find some early algebra questions.

With Spelling, you can choose one of the built-in lists (there are ones appropriate for each grade, or on a specific topic, like “colors” or “musical features”) or you can create a custom word list.

Math Facts will let you customize some of the division and multiplication questions, while Vocabulary will let you choose vocabulary lists appropriate for grades 3-5.

Now, for the fun stuff (at least for the game player).  Once you’ve earned some Bitz and Badges, you can spend them on Micromods for the game.  In Hannah Montana, there are quite a few possibilities.  There is new Game Animation, where you can get a new concert special effect or new dance move.  There is some Game Art, which includes things like cell phone skins, new clothing and a different pencial for Miley’s planner.  Then, there are some Game Audio Micromods, which include new cell phone sound effects and new musical spelling music.

Bottom Line

If you’re considering a Didj and you have a Hannah Montana fan in the house, this game is an excellent value.  There is a lot of educational content as well as a lot of fun content to keep both parent and child interested in the game.  The game is long enough and has enough features to keep a child hooked for a while.  The parent can be happy that the child is covering a lot of different topics (math to spelling).  All those academic achievements provide a lot of fun for the child – picking new clothing for Hannah or new stage effects.

4.5 out of 5 stars – Editors Choice

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