Vision Audio Inc’s EASe Funhouse Treasure Hunt game is designed for children on the autism spectrum.  The purpose of the game is to help with sensory issues by using graphics that do not over stimulate a child, but are enough to keep the child’s attention. The audio during the game is also special. It’s encoded with special Hz. and decibels. This is very calming to children with noise sensitivities.

The game is played on a computer and should be played using headphones to get the most out of the encoded audio. Jake can’t handle having earphones on, so we couldn’t use them. We did have the volume on the computer up pretty high though.

We had no problems installing the game. The requirements to run the game are:

• Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7
• 2 GHz processor
• 1 GB of Ram
• 128 MB video card
• 400 MB available space

When you start the game you can choose different difficulties.  Jake is playing the game as a boy in a red tractor (the easiest setting). The game involves driving a tractor through 6 different rooms.  You drive through the rooms on a treasure hunt and try to find the different objects that they ask you to find. The objects are also listed at the top of the screen. If you get the wrong object it just tells you what that object is (ex. red apple) and to find the one you were looking for (ex. happy man).

I was honestly  surprised at how much Jake liked this game.  At first he had trouble navigating the tractor.  This could be because he doesn’t play games like this, he usually plays games where you just click on something or drag and drop. I had my hand over his the first day he played this game to show him how it works. The second day he was playing all on his own.

The encoded audio sounded a little odd to me, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Jake was so into this game that he didn’t want to stop playing. I’m not sure if the audio calmed him down, or because he was just so focused on the game itself.   It’s probably a combination of the two. While he is playing, he is really focused on finding the object the he’s supposed to. It definitely keeps his attention.   His favorite part of the game is the elevators.  Because the elevators are mesh, you really feel like your character is going up or down.

The first thing Jake did this morning is ask to play this game again!  I would recommend  EASe Funhouse Treasure Hunt to anyone who has a child on the Autism spectrum.  The only issues that I have with this game are that it may take a while to be able to control the tractor (but like I said, my son had limited familiarity with this type of mouse control), and the price. It’s pretty expensive, but honestly it’s worth the price if you have an autistic child.

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You can play a free demo of  EASe Funhouse Treasure Hunt at EASecd.com. You can also purchase the game for $39.99 plus $4.00 shipping at the EASecd Webstore. They also have other games there including EASe Off-Road and EASe Airshow.

Rating:

edit – It’s been over two weeks now and Jake asks to play this game everyday. He enjoys it so much, that we have to give him a time limit or he would just keep playing for who knows HOW long! We’re probably going to get him one of the other EASe games for his birthday.

Disclosure: I did not receive any payment for this review but was sent a copy of the game for the purpose of reviewing it.

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