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Sierra
On-Line
£34.95
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There has always been a curious gap in the
market for children's software with a fair amount of pre-school
programs and a sprinkling of Secondary school material but very
little for the 'middle years'. The reason is that it is probably a
very difficult age group to write for with a delicate balance
required between games or programs that are too simple and thus
easily boring and those that are too difficult and thus easily
boring! In the film world, the most successful company to produce
children's films must be Walt Disney and Walt Disney and Sierra have
combined their knowledge to produce Winnie The Pooh in The Hundred
Acre Wood, a 'fun-filled adventure game for ages 7 and up'.
Winnie The Pooh runs on both monochrome and colour
systems and uses the mouse almost exclusively so that it is very
easy for a child to make his or her way through the game. The story
is that 10 objects belonging to various characters in the Pooh books
have been blown about by The Blustery Wind and scattered all over
the Hundred Acre Wood. The task is to find each one of these objects
and return them to their rightful owner, but first you will have to
work out who that owner is! Each time the game is played different
objects are used and are scattered in different places so no two
games are the same. The Hundred Acre Wood is not over large and can
thus be easily mapped out by older children but it is just as easy
to wander around and chance on things, you will come to no harm.
At each location choices are given on screen of
various possible actions such as direction movements or talking to
characters or just 'thinking' or 'doing nothing'. Each response is
just pointed to with the mouse and the button clicked to execute.
Although this is very easy, children are encouraged to think
throughout with simple logic puzzles to solve such as working out
who the items belong to. If you are stuck you can go and visit Owl
who will look at the object and give you a few clues! Other uses of
logic come in how to put down objects when there is already
something in that spot as only one object at a time can be in any
one location. Quite easy for adults but a good problem for children
to work out for themselves. There are frustrations too as you would
expect from an adventure! Happily (and rightly) you cannot be killed
but just when you think you are doing well Tigger may come along and
'bounce' you all over the wood making you lose whatever you were
carrying, and occasionally The Mist will come down. You have to
wander around waiting for the mist to clear and when it does who
knows where you will be! Finally there is the Blustery Wind which,
as well as blowing at the beginning of the game, may come back and
blow all the objects about again, just when you thought you knew
where they were!
The game is full of humour, some very corny, some
very funny but all at a level which children will love. The pictures
are excellent and there is sound with a couple of songs included.
Games can be saved if required by older children or by parents of
younger children, although you may be surprised at what young
children can learn and cope with, but quite often a game can be
completed in a couple of hours giving a nice sense of achievement.
Although aimed at 7 years old and up it will provide a great deal of
enjoyment for even younger children if played by a parent asking
their child 'What shall we do now?' and thus it is an ideal game for
all ages.
Overall the game is excellent, marrying together
Sierra's skills at adventure writing with Walt Disney's
understanding of children. A friend of mine who has a young daughter
says she will play this for hours on end and she has previously
found computers 'boring'. What better recommendation can you get?
Winnie The Pooh is available from Software
Express in Birmingham who kindly loaned the review copy.
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