Where to Buy

Toca Life: City App Review

App Info

Price: $3.99

Overview

Another Toca Boca gem, Toca Life: City is part of Toca Boca’s series of apps designed to help kids explore the world around them. The app has a similar structure and feel to Toca Life: Town, but offers kids the chance to interact with the popular Toca Boca characters in a bunch of different places. They can head to the barbershop, the coffee shop, food stands, and other places that you’d find in any major city around the world. With no time limits or other constraints, kids are free to explore to their hearts’ content.

Features include:

Customizable characters
Free play
Hidden treasures
Urban locations

Quality

At first glance, Toca Life: City appears to be a bit busy and it may be difficult for parents to figure out how to interact with the characters in the various settings. Kids, however, seem to pick up these skills quickly and are able to maneuver the characters and objects without too much trouble. The app is full of small objects and tiny details designed to enhance the atmosphere and make every element extra fun for kids.

Education

Toca Life: City is focused more on exploration than education. However, as kids interact with the characters in the various settings, they can learn a lot of important lessons. For example, parents may engage their children in conversations about whether the characters are making good choices. Is it okay for a character to just toss an item on to the floor? To steal something from a store? Eat large amounts of junk food? While parents shouldn’t focus on pointing out all the “bad” or unhealthy choices kids make as they play the game, it can serve as a way to bring them up in conversation.

Entertainment

Kids love to have control and Toca Life: City gives them that control. They can customize the characters, transport them to a variety of locations, and engage in all kind of activities. The freedom to take money out of an ATM, visit food stands and order whatever they like, or leave items all around town makes for a very fun app for kids. There are also a lot of hidden treasures throughout the city that will delight kids as they find them.

Value

Because Toca Life: City does not come with a lot of constraints, it offers endless hours of entertainment for kids. There are multiple characters for kids to customize and plenty of locations for them to visit, making this app a good value for the price. The price is also consistent with other Toca Boca apps.

Child Friendliness

Parents will see the standard info section and more apps button on the app’s main screen. Both are protected by parental locks, but the more apps section is still visible to kids. Access to the parent info section requires an internet connection as well. Parents do have the option of turning off the additional apps, parent info section, and background music through their device’s settings menu.