Review: Fisher Price Splatster

Written on Oct 29, 2009 by Brian and filed under Fisher Price, Mattel, Reviews

Fisher Price announced what was then called the Splatter Brush at Toy Fair earlier this year. The now named Splatster is a plug and play TV game that gives kids a truly unique way to not only express their creativity but save and print it as well.

Getting Started with Splatster

Splatster is made up of two pieces, a base station and wireless “paint brush.” The base requires four AA batteries and connects to the TV input with two standard cords, one for video and one for audio. The controller runs on three AAA batteries and connects to the base station via wireless.

The only tricky part with the setup is the base station needs to centered in front of the TV and it’s recommended to be placed below the screen. We were okay with this requirement in the playroom in which we tested, but it might not be ideal for everyone. The purple receiver on the base swivels up and down though, so you can better target the reception.

Kids need to be in a 4-5 foot range from the base station for best performance. Even so, we noticed the accuracy of the pointer wasn’t the best. I guess we’re a little spoiled at this point with consoles like the Wii. It’s not a big problem if the kids stay in one spot, but several times we found kids getting excited and losing focus on where they were supposed to stand for good operation of the system.

Using Splatster

Splatster has a dozen activities that are arranged on a home page. The activities can be broken down into three categories:

• Spin Art – kids can put 10 different paint colors on a canvass, then spin to create fun art without the mess!
• Splat Art Studios – within each studio kids can work free form with a brush, or leverage clip art, stencils and other drawing tools.
• Splat Arcade Games – in these Coney Island style games, kids use the paintbrush to target their objective in five increasingly difficult levels.

The kids that tested Splatster surprisingly liked all three core elements. I say surprisingly because often times when these games try to do too much, half the content is garbage while the other half is okay. Fisher Price has done really well to give variety, without making it feel redundant.

For instance, with the Art Studio, kids can use the same platform to do a lot of different things, from filling the page with hot dogs to wiggling the wand to splat a glob of ink on the canvas. The same goes for the games, while they all work in a similar fashion, Fisher made the games different enough so they feel unique.

By far the best part of Splatster though, is the fact that kids can save their work. I can’t underscore this feature enough. With every other TV game we’ve ever seen or reviewed, it’s a black hole. You do your activity and the experience is over after you turn off the device. With Splatster parents can connect a USB drive to save the images their kids create. Kids can press a button on the base to save their work. Each file is roughly half a megabyte, so a 1GB drive will take them ages to fill up. To close the loop parents can help their kids print out the artwork – we have several spin art and hot dog pictures adorning our wall at the moment.

Bottom Line

We wish the brush was a little more sensitive, but that’s a minor gripe considering the rest of the value the system provides. With a retail of $49.99, there’s enough gameplay for Splatster to justify the price, especially given the ability to save and print out the artwork. We’ve found the Splatster to be a great self-guided activity for kids, with only the youngest in the 3-8 year-old target needing much help.

Editor’s Rating – 4.5 out of 5 Stars – Editor’s Choice

Have a comment about this article? Leave a comment in the KidsTechReview.com forums.