List Price : $39.99 Price : $19.95
Amazon.com Review
If your child covets your socket wrenches or, worse yet, your blowtorch, this program might help keep your shop tools (and your child) safe a bit longer. Tonka Power Tools will have mini mechanics building things like dragsters and robots, using a plastic power tool. The tool that comes with this game won't drill real holes but it is a real piece of hardware that connects to your CPU's game port and monitor port. Setup is fairly simple, depending on how you feel about exploring that dusty jumble of cords behind your computer. Plugging and unplugging the power tool could prove a cumbersome task for parents who share a computer with their kids. The only other option is to leave the power tool plugged in, and act like it's perfectly normal to have a screaming yellow Tonka tool perched next to the mousepad.
This Windows-only program offers three activities and three games, introduced by buff-armed, jovial Tonka Joe. The activities all involve building cool things that can be saved and printed. There's a wood shop for constructing forts and castles, a metal shop for designing all manner of vehicles, and a tech lab for rockets, robots, time machines, and the like. The ever-versatile power tool comes into play here: pointing the Teflon tip at the screen and squeezing the trigger selects an activity, twisting the collar on the tool selects one of 24 different power-tool tips to use on a project, then pointing and triggering again gets the job done. We really liked arc welding, which made the screen flash so realistically we considered donning sunglasses. The three games have three levels, and are good exercises in logic, spatial applications, and finding the right tool for the job. A pit-stop game requires kids to quickly fix racecars that roll in needing repairs. A Tetris-like construction game has players affixing panels to a house as they fly in from all screen directions. And in The Safe Game kids use their tool to solve puzzles, using visual cues to "crack" a series of locks and win the treasure contained in the safe. Decent games, one and all, that will please tool lovers, and provide the tool-impaired with a gentle introduction to the differences between Phillips-head and flat-head screwdrivers.
A final word: the plastic power tool is quite light, but the games are engrossing enough that it's possible to hold it to the screen for long, fatiguing periods of time. Now we know why Tonka Joe has such beefy arms. Perhaps Tonka Power Tools should be marketed to adults as a triceps toner. (Ages 5 and older) --Anne Erickson
Amazon.com Product Description
Tonka Power Tools lets kids build virtual robots, assemble rockets, customize cars, build forts, or create something of their very own in three cool workshops. Onscreen action is controlled by a bright yellow, handheld Tonka power tool that uses touchpoint technology. Kids can cut out shapes, tighten bolts, weld, sand, glue, and paint right onscreen--you just point and squeeze the tool's handle. Choose from three fast-paced games: Tonka Pitstop Game, The Safe Game, and Tonka Towers Game. Kids get to print their cool creations as well as Tonka certificates. And, should help be needed, Tonka Joe's ready to lend a hand.
With this playset for ages 5 and older, kids get to design advanced machines and inventions in the Tonka Tech Lab, or build a variety of wood structures in Tonka's Wood Shop. Then, there's the thrill of bringing visionary vehicles to life in the Tonka Vehicle Engineering Center. Tonka's fun handheld power tool operates up to 3 inches from your PC, and its Teflon tip is safe for both children and the screen. Up to 24 different virtual tools are available with a twist of the tool tip chuck, including a wrench, a screwdriver, paint brushes, a blowtorch, and more.
Tonka Power Tools Playset Reviews
Tonka Power Tools Playset Reviews
| 33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:  More Power To You, This review is from: Tonka Power Tools Playset (CD-ROM) My son loves the Tonka Power Tools Playset. He keeps busy with the drill, that can be used for many different functions. He likes painting, sand blasting, and tightening lug nuts. He is very busy and doesn't like to sit still for very long, but with this game he can sit until he is finished with his project. I even have fun playing with it. I would reccommend this to anyone. 19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:  POWER TOOL WILL NOT WORK ON WINDOWS XP, By A Customer This review is from: Tonka Power Tools Playset (CD-ROM) After MANY frustrating attempts to install the power tool, I went to the Hasbro website and found out that you can ONLY play the game with the mouse if you have Windows XP...what a bummer this was to my six and four year old sons. They still have fun playing it with the mouse, but it is not their first choice. Thankfully, I ordered this when it was 50% off, or Tonka Joe would really be on my list!! 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful: Tonka Power Tools, By Tracy Culley (Columbia, MO USA) - See all my reviews This review is from: Tonka Power Tools Playset (CD-ROM) I think this toy is great. My son is only 3 and a half and got this for Christmas this year. I was a little concerned he wouldn't be successful playing the game. I was happy to see that the game has multiple levels of difficulty and that he could even play some sections at level 3 already. He loves it, and it has helped him learn the names of the tools and to problem solve so that he has the right tool for the job!! |
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