Ambitious premise. Flat realization.
In this toy, you perform lab-like operations (involving test tubes, centrifuges, and what appears to be a kind of electrolysis machine) on "elements" in order to transform them into other "elements." Although the "elements" are shown on a table that superficially reproduces the periodic table of the elements ("PTE"), none of the toy "elements" bear any resemblance to real substances in nature. You begin with one "element"on the table, with all the other boxes blank, and then you begin messing around with it, performing the laboratory "operations" on it in order to "discover" the other "elements." Speaking generally, its rather difficult simply to navigate the app--Im surprised this didnt surface in pre-release testing.
The equipment and "operations" make this feel a bit like high school chemistry, while the aspect of "discovery of change" (which is supposed to be main point, I think) gives this toy its principal jolt of excitement. The basic notion that scientists "discover" things by intervening, by _changing_ things, is an ambitious premise for a toy for children. Let me be clear that I _love_ this premise. But the toy itself falls rather flat.
The use of the PTE (the development of which was an astonishing feat of human ingenuity--look it up on Wikipedia) is here reduced to a bare visual conceit. It _looks_ like the PTE, but it isnt. The "elements" in the toy have no real relationships to one another or to the "operations" that transform them. Each "element" has a letter or two and a number associated with it--just like the PTE--but these do not appear to mean anything. The overall interactivity of the world in the toy is simply low.
Die hard Toca Boca fans, dont pay more than $1. Everyone else, grab it if it goes free. But everyone keep your expectations in check. Definitely not TBs best.
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Toca Lab: Elements, v1.0.2