My Word Coach

I was taken aback by the difficulty of the intro. The tutorial word in the fill-in-the-blank game is Villain. That was something a little over the top for my 7 year old.

As far as edutainment games goes, My Word Coach is one of the better ones I have spent time with and one in which nearly anyone age 8 or older should be able to get something out of.

It's genuinely entertaining in small chunks, but there is still a lot to be said for spending time with a good book instead, or by keeping a thesaurus or a copy of the Reader's Digest handy when you have the need to feel egregiously verbose.

The biggest problem here is that this is a port from a Nintendo DS game that is nearly half the price, and the only addition is a few multiplayer modes.

My Word Coach might turn on English majors, but that's about it. It's doubtful that many will find its premise to be entertaining – at least not for long, anyway.

An average title with a purposeful concept and not-so-stellar performance. Children will enjoy the game, but only for a short time, and adults who know how to speak English already need not apply.

The aesthetics of the game are charming, although bland. The graphics are nothing special and the music is calm and forgettable. Tons of words and a decent handful of mini-games (multiplayer versions included) might suffice for a casual quick-play and you might actually learn something.