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Software and Games : Software Categories : Children's Fun & Learning : Ages 11-14
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Letts
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Letts
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Letts
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Europress
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Her Interactive
Nancy Drew: Treasure in the Royal Tower is a captivating game--the fourth adventure in the Nancy Drew series from Her Interactive finds Nancy on holiday at an old ski lodge. But, as usual, trouble is afoot. The library has been vandalised and a violent storm means that everyone has been snowed in. You must play as Nancy to unravel the mystery.Similar to the other Nancy Drew adventures, you get to step into Nancy's shoes and explore the old lodge to uncover clues through objects you pick up along the way and conversations with the other guests. Things heat up when Nancy learns that the lodge contains an old tower that has been sealed off. You quickly learn that the tower was brought over from France, and was Marie Antoinette's hiding place in her final months before her beheading during the French Revolution. Could Marie's famed treasure be hidden in the tower? Is that why the library was vandalised? And why is everyone acting so suspiciously?
This game gives young girls an outstanding female role model, the likes of which haven't been encountered in any other kids' games to date. Playing in senior detective mode is challenging--even for adults. It moves quickly and is satisfying enough to keep anyone playing for long stretches.
Other outstanding things about Treasure in the Royal Tower include gorgeously designed backgrounds and 3-D environments, smooth gameplay, interesting and amusing characters and the ability to use the Second Chance feature to go back before you made a fatal mistake. If you're stuck you can ask the knowledgeable audience on the message board of the Her Interactive Web site for hints or clues that might help you out of a jam. --Ara Jane Olufson
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Her Interactive
Step into the stylish shoes of teen supersleuth Nancy Drew to crack the case of the Message in a Haunted Mansion. As Nancy, you'll hang your hat in San Francisco where you've been invited to help a family friend renovate a historic Victorian home. Some strange things have been happening in the old house--could it be spirits from the past? Or just shifty characters on the make? Use your magnifying glass to search the place from top to bottom for clues. You'll find trap doors, personal papers, keys, tools--all sorts of spots and items to explore or hang onto for later use. You never know when you might need a paint scraper or crowbar to help you out of a bind. To fill in some of the gaps, talk to characters in the game and choose your responses to their questions based on what you want to know.Play Message in a Haunted Mansion in one of two modes: new or younger players can sign in as junior detectives for more simplified play, while old pros can log in as senior detectives for serious sleuthing. Once you're in, you may never want to leave--the graphic detail of the Victorian-mansion setting is stellar. The Chinese-influenced décor is authentically and exquisitely reproduced, and many elements can be highlighted to better focus on the level of detail. Also realistic are often-overlooked touches that add a true-to-life ring, such as photos of family and friends on the wall, and sunglasses kept in the kitchen drawer. The sound effects further add to the sense of realism and heighten the air of suspense. You'll hear doors and cabinets creak open and shut, haunting cries, and loose chandeliers swaying overhead.
This title in the popular Nancy Drew interactive series is successful not just for its design and production, but for its thoughtful features that keep players hooked, even as things start to feel hopeless. When you're in a bind, you can call home for old friends Bess and George to help. And if you make a game-ending decision, simply pick up right where you left off before the terminal mistake by utilising the Second Chance feature. There's even a self-updating journal in Nancy's suitcase that records clues as you find them, to help you keep track of all the facts you unearth. And, of course, you can save your game after each session--no backtracking through clues you've already found, or conversations you've already had.
Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion takes some time to instal but once you're in the game and can see the wealth of what awaits, you'll realise that it's worth a lengthy installation. A nice improvement over previous games is the inclusion of a tutorial to explain gameplay to new users. (Ages 10 and older) --Leah Ball
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Softkey
Gentle jungle murmurings overlaid with Robert Guillaume's gleeful voice give the solid, well-conceived typing program, Adventures in Typing with Timon & Pumbaa, an unusual degree of appeal and staying power. While the program will have your child smacking bugs, catching grubs and scampering away from dangerous enemies, children are actually practising the same fundamental skill-based keyboard activities as covered by such adult titles as Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing.Some terrific components of this program include shadows that display which finger should be used to hit each key, a timer that counts the seconds in each two-minute game and the blissful fact that hitting the space bar will fast-forward you past the opening and closing credits. The mysterious, leafy jungle setting is delightfully alive, yet you'll probably need to turn the brightness on your monitor way up to see all the vital buttons hidden in the dark corners of the scene. Be forewarned: to truly conquer touch-typing, you need to drive those keyboard strokes deep into the body's muscular memory. Endless repetition is the only proven method for this. That means that while this program boasts five unique activities (for example, Rafiki gives "lessons" while Timon and Pumbaa play "games"), it is all keyboard practice, again and again. Kids receive encouragement with an enticing visual environment, progress reports, certificates and frequent enthusiastic comments from Guillaume but it is ultimately going to fall upon the parents to see that their children continue with this when the going gets, well, boring. Don't expect your child to see this through without your support. Stay involved and they will. (Ages six to 10) --Jean Lenihan
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Her Interactive
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Focus Multimedia Ltd
Make way for Babyz! Adopt an adorable virtual kid in this amazing, playful CD-ROM simulation of child rearing from the company that brought you Catz and Dogz. Each Babyz (that's singular, too) is darling and unique--choose one of 15 to adopt or, if none of them is just right, check out their Web site with plenty more to pick from, changing every day.You can have up to three in one house, and then the fun begins. Name your Babyz, clothe them, give them toys, feed them, watch them play in the backyard, or just give them a tickle when they look bored. The software runs both like a normally selected program and as a screensaver--if you're not careful, the Babyz will take over your screen when you're not looking!
The graphics are playful and imaginative, the costumes are cute, and the house itself is full of stuff for the Babyz to explore. The package comes with voice-recognition software so you can even talk to your Babyz--or teach them to speak. Short, simple words will start yammering back at you before long, and you'll wonder how you ever lived without a babbling Babyz in your computer. --Rob Lightner
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Her Interactive
Nancy Drew has always been a great heroine, but she seemed kind of, well, stuffy. No more: Nancy gets down to the dirty work of crime-solving in the excellent and engaging Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger. Nancy's job is to investigate death threats coming to Rick Arlen, a hunky TV soap star. The plot is straightforward enough; what the software does really well is ambience: the first-person perspective puts you in the centre of the crime scenes and the inventive game design lets you pick up objects for investigation and keep notes on things you've found.Occasionally you come across another person, and it can often be surprising. In the style of Choose Your Own Adventure, you're given a choice of questions to ask and what you choose affects what you learn. The people seem a little stiff in conversation (and, to be honest, in the graphics), but in a strange way, it helps increase the creepiness factor--an uptight verbal response makes sense, considering subjects are being interviewed about a serious crime.
There's real excitement in finding key elements and extracting just the right piece of information from an unwitting witness. Nancy Drew, first created as a female version of the Hardy Boys in 1929, has weathered fashion and tastes well through the work of Her Interactive. Girls who are too old for "kids' stuff" will find that Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger can help fulfil their need for adventure. --Jennifer Buckendorff
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Vivendi Universal
Help your favourite teenage witch recover the Beanie of Ultimate Power in Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Brat Attack, a magical adventure game. It all starts with a package that should have been delivered to someone else. In it is the all-powerful propeller beanie, and Sabrina's cat, Salem, gets locked in a cage when her cousin Amanda decides she simply must have that hat. It's Sabrina's job to recover the cat and the hat from the Other Realm and defeat Amanda and her brat pack.The "Labtop" contains all of Sabrina's spells, and throughout the game, you can store new magical ingredients and spells for later use. Also, make sure to stock up on plenty of energy along the way or you could get sent back to Limbo in the laundry cupboard!
There's five different worlds to explore: Sabrina's house, the Spelleria, Amanda's Arena, Mars, and Sabrina's high school. If your own teenage (or preteen) witch enjoys the television show and has fun solving mysteries, this game should be right up her alley. It's not every day a girl gets to blast her enemies away merely by pointing a finger. With Sabrina at her side, we bet she'll find this problem-solving adventure game truly... spellbinding. --Jill Lightner
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Guildhall
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Focus Multimedia Ltd
If you're not able to own a real pet, especially a Cat or a Dog then Catz 5 could be the answer! Adopt a virtual pet, let it live in your PC, run across your Desktop, let it visit faraway Playscenes or play at home in the kitchen, backyard or salon, or create your own tailor-made Playscenes.You can feed it, play with it, love it and breed it. Adopt as many as you like, but you must take care of them all--neglected Catz run away and then you're in trouble. Did you know Catz have tails to help them balance? That their fur is soft to keep them warm and encourage owners to pet them? They have large, expressive eyes, twitching whiskers and they have agile paws for jumping, climbing, stalking and running. Catz are little kittens when you first adopt them and then they grow up over time into adult Catz.
Although aimed at young children, this package is most beneficial if they can read, in order for them to follow on-screen directions. This program is therefore most suitable for a minimum age of 7-8 years. Installation takes a while, and help may be needed from adults as monitor settings may need to be adjusted, and it's necessary to make sure Acrobat Reader 5.0 is installed so that the excellent User Guide can be accessed. It is absolutely essential to study this before playing with Catz 5 and it is a good idea to print it out for easy access. The excellent manual makes it easy for children to understand the package.
Now comes the fun! Choose from one of 15 breeds of Catz, from Alley Catz to Tabbies, from Persians to Siamese, with all their different personalities, likes and dislikes--but don't adopt too many, as they all have to be exercised, fed, loved, medicated when sick, brushed, played with, rewarded for good behaviour and squirted with water when they misbehave. Train them to do tricks, and allow them to earn toys as rewards (balls, pillows, stuffed parrots and so on). If you become confused remember to click on the Help Menu Bar.
Included is a Web Fun Pack, containing Petz clipart, animations and backgrounds, all Internet-ready to enable you to create your own Web pages. This particular version contains new features, but owners of previous Catz can bring their adopted Petz into Catz 5. This is compatible with Dogz 5, allowing your Dogz and Catz to play together, to create more breeds, win more toys and, ultimately, have more fun. --Susan Naylor
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Electronic Arts
Combining imagination, creativity and the enduring appeal of LEGO building bricks, LEGO Creator: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is an exciting CD-ROM that allows Muggles to create and build their own magical Harry Potter universe.Explore the world of Harry Potter and master the advanced building techniques, and you can create, progress and ultimately control your adventures. Accompanying the CD-ROM is an excellent black-and-white pamphlet that should be read and fully absorbed before playing. Because of this, and the need for computer literacy, this reviewer thought the package suitable for children aged 8 years and above, though help may be needed for the less PC literate even at this age, or younger players who can't wait to get going.
Welcome to the second year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Set in three different environments--the world, the workshop and the mini-figure builder--the first things to be mastered are the gameplay controls that allow players to control the characters and the camera the game is viewed through. Next, discover portals, (magical LEGO archways that transport you to other areas of the game), collect chocolate frogs, find LEGO treasure chests, cast spells, (remember: you must have a wand) control your characters and make them fly, change the weather, create other pupils to attend Hogwarts, take snapshots--the list seems endless, but continue and complete exciting challenges and open even more play worlds.
Graphically superb, the package flows easily and is of the high quality anyone has played LEGO Creator games before would expect. With all the fun of a PC Game, and the educational content of a software package, parents should be as comfortable buying this as their children are playing it. In fact, children--beware of parental Muggles who love Harry Potter and also remember the joy and pleasure of building with LEGO, for you may have to work hard to keep them away from the controls. --Susan Naylor
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VU Games
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Britannica
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Atari
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Her Interactive
Fire up The Final Scene and you're greeted with the most gripping opening sequence yet in a Nancy Drew game. As the ageless, mystery-cracking heroine, you accompany your friend Maya to a historic but dilapidated theatre to interview teen heart-throb Brady Armstrong for the opening of his new movie. As Maya disappears into the dressing room for the interview, you hear a scream, but when you charge in to investigate Maya is nowhere to be found. Do you have what it takes to track down Maya's kidnapper before the theatre is demolished?The most notable improvement in the game comes in the form of the distinctive characters. With each new Nancy Drew game, the script and character work get better. The dialogue here has a youthfulness and sense of humour missing from the previous games. The old-theatre setting and the game's theme of magic are admirable, but it would be good if there were more nooks and crannies to explore.
A minor nitpick is that the time-frame seems somewhat limiting. Previous Nancy Drew games had an open feel with no sense of urgency and you solved the mystery in your own time. In The Final Scene, the gameplay is divided into three days and you must accomplish specific tasks before you can move on to the next day. Though this structure lends itself well to the game's plot, it's easy to get stuck on one clue. However, you can always look for help on the message boards at Her Interactive's Web site.
Little grumblings aside, The Final Scene really is a fabulous game that goes above and beyond most games out there right now. It's highly recommended for anyone aged 10 or over. --Ara Jane Olufson
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Britannica
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Focus Multimedia Ltd
The Dogz of Dogz 5 are virtual pets and they live on your PC. They can run across your desktop, travel and explore faraway Playscenes, (a Canadian snow scene, a Big Top in a European Circus, a Wild West Town or an Arabian Palace); they can play in their Home Playscenes (Kitchen, Backyard or Salon) and have loads of fun in tailor-made Playscenes. Feed them and love them, breed them and play with them. You can adopt as many Dogz as you want, but you must remember to take care of them all.Did you know that Dogz have a tail to keep them balanced? That they have a keen sense of smell, and that their paws are padded and fuzzy, and that they use them to run, dig and scratch? Did you also know that you can get a good idea of how your pet is feeling if you look into its alert and expressive eyes? Best of all, Dogz love to be fussed and petted. Watch them grow from little baby puppies into adult Dogz.
Although aimed at young children, this package will be much more enjoyable for a child who can read and follow instructions, as it is necessary to follow onscreen directions. The program is therefore most suitable for a minimum age of 7-8 years old. The installation takes quite a while (information is on the CD-ROM sleeve) and help may be needed as monitor settings may need to be adjusted and it may also be necessary to ascertain if Acrobat Reader 5.0 is installed (the user manual cannot be accessed without this software). It is absolutely essential to study the manual closely before adopting any Dogz and it is a good idea to print it off for easy and quick reference. It is an excellent manual that is well set out, and it explains everything in simple, straightforward language, making it accessible to children.
Now for the fun! Choose from one of 15 breeds of Dogz, from Bulldogs to Sheepdogs, from Muts to Chihuahuas, with all their different personalities, likes and dislikes, but don't adopt too many--they must all be cared for. Love them and remember to feed them. Give them water, medicine when they're sick and don't forget to brush them. Exercise and play regularly with your Dogz; reward them for good behaviour and squirt them with water if they misbehave. Train them to do tricks. There are more than 100 toys to play with--lucky Dogz find some and there are more to be earned when you play the five mini games. Collect wonderful gifts with them during their doggy travels, such as exotic jewels. Treat your Dogz well and earn yourself a happy-pet certificate. Choose items of clothing and accessories to dress them; watch your Dogz fall in love and have puppies, and access their family trees as far back as eight generations.
A Web Fun Pack is included, which contains Petz clipart, animations and backgrounds, all Internet-ready to enable you to create your own Web pages. Particularly helpful are the tips on day and night cycles, how Petz grow, what happens when you cheat, how you can acquire new toys, and what to do if your pet runs away. Dogz 5 contains new features, but owners of previous Dogz can bring their adopted pets into this new version. Compatible with Catz 5, put the two programs together to create more breeds, fun and Petz. --Susan Naylor