Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer DVD Game Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)My editorial review:
The Rudolf DVD game is geared toward kids, but is a good option for the Rudolf-loving family game night. If you've played Scene-It, the gameplay and DVD usage is very similar. Most of the questions and games are pretty easy, and they mirror some of the same types of challenges in Scene-It. The difficulty is reduced for younger kids. My 7 and 9 year olds had very few problems playing the game on their own once I had played a couple rounds with them. Most game-related instructions are both spoken and shown on the screen so that players with limited reading skill can still play. The time per game is pretty accurate at 30-45 minutes. It is limited to 4 players, though you could have more than four work as teams to answer the minigame challenges.
The object is to collect and return the toys which have been scattered across the land. You roll a die to move your character onto a toy-token, then successfully win the on-screen minigame to collect that token. Collect 3 tokens of different colors to win. At the same time, the Bumble (which is controlled by the game) is also trying to steal the toys. If he steals 6 before any player collects 3, the game is over. Therefore, the gameplay is a mix of board-based movement and on-screen games and instructions.
As an adult, I really appreciate that all the graphics, characters, and scenes are from the original movie. They did a good job of keeping the look of the game consistent with the original rather than resorting to computer-graphics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & the Island of Misfit Toys. The packaging is nice and everything fits well back into the box. I would have liked a plastic jewel case for the dvd rather than a cardboard sleeve, though.
Overall, the kids like playing it, and it's as enjoyable a flashback for my wife and I to watch and play along or help our kids with some of the answers. I might not pay the full $20 for it, but at a reasonable discount it would be a good purchase in my mind.Quick assessment:
Overall, I think the game is worthy of 3 stars - It's ok. I like it, and it has potential for a better rating, but there's some gameplay issues.
Good points:
-All original graphics and scenes (except for the game narrator).
-Gameplay suitable for kids on their own
-Difficulty applicable to the age range
-No reading required for young players
Areas of improvement:
-Gameplay speed
-Not a lot of strategy or depth
-No freeplay or quickplay mode
-Instructions not entirely clearDetails behind my opinion and rating:
To be 4 stars:
The game mechanics need improved.
The DVD menu layout should match the game board. I suspect they rearranged it so that you could easily tell whether to press up/down/left/right on the DVD remote. To make the screen match the board would mean the regions are in the 4 corners of the screen, meaning you'd need to potentially press in two directions to get to the correct region rather than just one click. Even so, the screen doesn't have the regions in the same order as the board.
The number of toys the Bumble steals should go from 0 at the bottom to 6 at the top.
In the voice instructions, it says "Move the Bumble's counter up". It means "up by one number", but on the game board the numbers increase as you move the counter down. Only slightly confusing, but for kids, everything should be more clear to avoid mistakes.
Add full audio setup instructions with an option to repeat the last message.
When setting up for the first time, neither the DVD nor the instructions have the full setup and gameplay procedure. It takes a combination of the two to do it right. Once you've played a couple of times, it's easy to understand, but it's frustrating for the first few rounds. Additionally, there's no option to repeat the instruction last given, so if you miss it, you're stuck figuring it out on your own. Once you select an option, there's no "undo". So if you select the wrong region, or accidentally say you've collected 3 toys, the game doesn't give you a chance to correct your mistake.
For 5 stars:
Speed up the gameplay.
The transitions between actions occurring (Bumble moving, Bumble stealing a toy, and Placing/removing tokens) doesn't flow well. Often the next person is taking their turn either because the pause is long enough you think you're supposed to, or you're just too impatient to wait for the "Pass the remote to the next player" message. Often, you'll get two or three instructions per turn, meaning it really slows down the gameplay. My kids didn't seem to mind, but I lost interest after about two games because of how slow it was to get from one turn to another. Even allowing you to fast-forward the individual instructions would help.
Fix gameplay irregularities.
The game seems to try and keep track of how many tokens are on the board and where they are, as well as how many token the Bumble has stolen, but it doesn't always seem to work right. We've found that it sometimes tells you to put a token on a spot that's already occupied. The instructions aren't clear if you put a second one down or if you don't. Once we were told the Bumble stole a toy, but in that region there wasn't one on the board. These might have been our error as well, but it adds to confusion on occasion. All of these can be played around, but I didn't get the feeling that the game was truly polished and error-free. Also, it could do a better job of randomly assigning where to put the tokens. The Bumble sometimes moves to a region that he's already sitting in. By telling you to put him where he already is makes it a bit confusing and at the very least adds extra time to the gameplay for no reason. Lastly, on at least one occasion, if the DVD thinks there's no token in the the region in which you've landed on one, it won't let you select that region's minigame. Therefore, that player can't play a minigame without potentially messing up the token count of other regions.
Allow a free-play mode.
I'd really like to be able to play the minigames without the board. If you're a fan of the movie, it's still fun to play the minigames even if they are a bit easy for adults. It would be nice to have a "free play" feature. This could also let you create a "quick play" version that allows 4 people to race to collect all 5 misfit toy tokens of their color by answering questions correctly.
In the grand scheme, I do like the game but feel it could have been polished up a bit and it would be much better. I like the game, but the poor setup procedure, occasional errors in gameplay, and how slow the game progresses are what keep me from giving it a 4-star rating.Other observations:
-My contents differ from that in the product description:
The "4 Collectible Figurines/ Movers" are really just cardboard cutouts with plastic stands. They're nice, thick cardboard, better quality than those found in many kids' games, but definitely not collectible figurines.
It mentions 9 Yukon Cornelius tokens and only 11 misfit toy tokens. I'm not sure what those are. We had 20 toy tokens, the single Bumble token, and the player markers. Maybe the description is referring to a different game or an earlier version. All the pieces are included to play the game, they are just different than what the product description calls out. Amazon's review is functionally the same as what I received, though slightly different than what the pictures


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Whether you're a long-time fan of the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer stop-motion classic, or you're introducing Rudolph to the kids for the first time, all family members will enjoy this easy-to-learn DVD board game. The biggest storm in decades has hit the North Pole, blowing Santa's Misfit Toys everywhere! Players take turns moving Rudolph, Santa and Hermey the Elf around the North Pole collecting the toys in time to save Christmas! But beware Bumble the Abominable Snowman as he tries to snatch up the toys before you can get to them! Your family will enjoy fast-paced DVD mini-games featuring Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer clips. The Classic Holiday DVD game is sure to be the must-play family game every holiday season.Contents Include: Game DVD, Game Board, 4 Collectible Figurines/ Movers, 11 Mis-fit Toy Tokens, 8 Yukon Cornelius Tokens, 1 Six-Sided die and Instructions.Note: DVD player and TV required to play.

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