PokePark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure ($45 on Amazon) is the perfect game for the first grade gamer in your family.

If that statement makes you want to turn me in to CPS for allowing my six-year-old to play Wii, you are excused.

If you have a boy or girl in your house that likes games, but finds her or himself constantly frustrated to the point of tears by his siblings’ Wii selections, please read on.

Many is the time that I have missed the adult conversation in the living room because I’m in front of the TV, consoling my frustrated youngest son who is either unable to read the instructions or puzzle out the complex solution to a “level.” Or, worse, playing for him.  Real tears have been shed over a various incarnations of “Ben-10,” “Shaun White Skateboarding,” or even “Pet Vet.”  All of these games, presented just enough challenge to deeply frustrate my determined and focused kiddo.

What is the beginning reader and somewhat skilled gamer to do? Play PokePark Wii.

Most first graders are aware of the Pokemon characters (hopefully you have been spared a closetful of cards), and in this game they come to life in crisp, appealing color and annoyingly eponymous audio.

Allow me to pause here to note that this is not an endorsement of this game for adult play.  It would drive you to gibbering madness inside of ten minutes.  Get as far away from the Wii as your housing arrangement will allow.  The genius of this title is that the simplicity of the game play allows for just that.

As far as the game play goes, your child will guide his sparky, apple-cheeked, tiger-cub-thingy through a series of environments or worlds.  In each of these, the player will have a mission (usually to gather a series of pieces), play a side game or two, and interact with a variety of resident characters.

The design makes it very easy for players to keep track of their current mission, provides just the right level of challenge in achieving objectives (very little). Even better, and a potential argument for the beneficial aspects of gaming (don’t get me started), the reading level of the messages and communications are exactly on-level for first and second graders.  This really minimizes frustration, and prevents the player from having to drag a busy parent away from dinner preparations to translate the wisdom of Empoleon to the gamer.

Plus nothing assuages the guilt of a Wii-permissive parent more than the sound of a kid sounding out words in the next room.

The one thing I can imagine parents objecting too is the twisted anime logic of the Pokeman world that the way to make friends with people (other Pokemon anyway) is to pick a fight with them. Overall, the aggression in this game is minimal — most objectives are not achieved through battle — and the game carries a rating of E for Everyone.

I estimate that it took 15-20 hours of total play for my son to play all the levels and “beat” the game — a first.  Since receiving the game he has allotted almost all of his “screen time” to playing PokePark.  Perhaps most surprising, he has continued to play the game after completing all the missions, now wandering around the various environments, interacting with characters and playing the side games.  This really raises the value of the game, to my mind.

Final Verdict: Put this one in your PokeBall for keeps.