CDCASTLE.RVW   980225

"Great Adventures: Castle", Davidson & Associates, Inc., 1997, 
%A   Davidson & Associates, Inc.
%C   P.O. Box 2961, Torrance, CA   90509
%D   1997
%I   Fisher Price
%O   800-556-6141 310-793-0600 Fax: 310-214-7937
%O   sales@davd.com support@davd.com http://www.education.com
%P   CD-ROM
%T   "Great Adventures: Castle"

Those who received Fisher-Price toys in their youth, and are now
buying the same for their children, or those of grandparent vintage
who are buying a second generation of toys for a third generation, may
have found that the Fisher-Price toy sets are not as ... neutral as
they once were.  The castle and pirate ship are decidedly militaristic
these days.  (On the other hand, the ability of children to horrify
their parents with even politically correct toys should not be taken
lightly.  A couple of girls of my acquaintance once freaked out their
mother by lining up all the "people" from the boat, village, bus, and
other sets, to take them up to the castle to be sold as slaves.)  Now
a new feature has been added to the castle set: a CD-ROM based game.

The game is based on a story wherein the original inhabitants of the
castle, King McBeard and his "good knights," have been ousted by a
brother king and his "naughty knights" (all in grey).  Absent a few
anachronistic parasails, it seems to take place in medieval times (in
Scotland, by the names, "of no fixed address" given the accents).  The
task (for players aged 4-8) is to help MacDuff find the hidden good
knights and retake the castle to free the imprisoned King McBeard.

The game has a few educational activities.  It also has the occasional
"discovery" item, after the fashion of the "Living Books," but these
are, in comparison, extremely limited.  The only real options
available to the user are to look for all six knights, or only two,
and the order in which you search various locations.  Choices made do
not affect the outcome of the story.  Activities include a number
matching game, a search for a hidden object, a search for multiple
hidden objects and matching of shapes, matching tones, a trading game,
matching shield halves, and recalling the names of the knights.

The artwork is very clear, and quite attractive.  Images are distinct,
conspicuous, and representative.  Sound quality is good, with no
clipping.  The dialogue is delivered with sufficient vocal clarity for
children to understand.  Aside from specific directions, speeches by
the characters are quite amusing, although the humour may be aimed a
bit high for the target audience.  "Scenes" are separated by MacDuff
walking (or sometimes skateboarding) across a blank screen, and this
gives the computer time to process for the following scene so that
there is no inactive downtime.

With one rather mature five year old for a subject, the first attempt
at the game was abandoned after about twenty minutes.  This lack of
enthusiasm is likely because it is initially difficult for the user to
determine what is required in various scenes.  While adults will find
sufficient clues to figure out the activities, the interface is not
always intuitive for children.  The steep learning curve may lead to
frustration.  Help is available, but isn't often very helpful. 
Instructions are given verbally, so they are accessible to the non-
reading child, but do not always give complete explanations or useful
tips.  The exercises searching for hidden objects were particularly
difficult because most of the screen did not respond, and it was hard
to find the areas that did.  (The lack of response did not help to
encourage the user to continue trying to find the few active areas.) 
The tone matching game is not obviously such, since the character who
generates the initial set of notes does so by touching a sequence of
crystals.  Sometimes a crystal is touched but does *not* generate a
tone, and this caused the player to make errors.  (That particular
section of the game is quite unforgiving: if you make an error you
have to start the whole set over.)  The concept of "trading up",
necessary for the marketplace activity, is probably beyond most of the
age range for the game.  It is, however, almost impossible to fail,
since the naughty knights, as one of them complains, "never win."  An
incorrect choice simply results in an "error message" (such as "I'm
needed later"), and no loss of status.

However, the second run-through was successful after about the same
length of time.  Succeeding runs seemed to be almost identical. 
Although adults may find the lack of variation between runs to be
tedious, a check back with the initial subject and an eight year old
friend found them still happily playing it a month later.  Obviously
the game is not without appeal, and contains enough attraction to hold
the child's attention over a period of time.  Part of the attraction
for children, in games, songs, and stories, lies in the rhythm of
repetitions.

There is some randomness in subsequent runs of the game (the placement
of hidden shapes in the shape matching game, and the tone sequences
generated in the tone matching game), but a number of activities
proceed identically each time.  The trading game, for example, changes
the objects to be traded, but never changes the order in which the
trading booths are to be visited.  One of the knights is "hidden" in
the same place each time (and a rather obvious one at that).  The "end
game" and final storming of the castle is identical each time.

Taken by itself the game is, if not exactly sparkling or profoundly
educational, at least enough to hold the child's attention, and
contains exercises (such as memorization, listening, and recognition
of geometric shapes) that develop useful skills.  Younger children
will need help in understanding what is required of them, while older
ones may find the game boring after a few runs.  In comparison with
the Living Books or Disney Interactive products, however, it does not
stand up well against the competition, and the package's promises of
activity and interactivity seem to be overstated.

(Parents who play this with their children will get a slight added
bonus: a set of truly awful puns embedded in the story plus a few
impressions.)

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   CDCASTLE.RVW   980225