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Road Adventure USA By Pam Gleichman Tribune Media Services The same folks who created Oregon Trail developed Road Adventures USA. This real-life simulation puts you in the driver�s seat. You begin by entering a party scene and choosing a travel companion from among the guests. Every companion possesses different skills, food preferences and lodging and travel styles. Next, you�ll buy a car and supplies to begin your road adventure across the United States. You�re also given a limited budget to spend on gas, food, lodging, car maintenance and repairs. To begin the journey, the program provides a clue to the first destination. Depending on the tour you choose you may have three or five cities at which to stop. To help solve the clue, you are free to consult the state database. Once you arrive at a destination, you�ll learn about famous cities and landmarks. In San Francisco, for example, you learn about the city�s history and see the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz prison and Chinatown. The program has realistic graphics, 360-degree panning and full-motion video. No two games are the same, so the replay value is great. Road Adventures USA was a bit of a disappointment. When I saw this program at the E3 convention in Los Angeles, I thought it looked like a wonderful travel game. The subject, format and learning opportunities are great. The program helps develop decision-making and problem-solving skills in real-life situations, and also works on math, reading, research, map reading, geography, etc. The program, however, did not engage our testers. Many of them became frustrated and needed quicker successes than they could obtain. A few of the kids were content with driving around and stopping at gas stations and restaurants. They loved going to a restaurant and choosing what food to purchase or, at a gas station, estimating the total cost of their fuel purchase. This game has the potential for being fantastic. Hopefully, The Learning Company is working on a second edition, which will capture children�s attention. Publisher : The Learning Company, 6439 Kaiser Drive, Fremont, Calif. 94555, http://www.learningco.com . Category : Geography problem solving Age : 10 and up. Installation : Difficult. After spending a lot of time, we called The Learning Company�s technical support line. The program will not run properly with QuickTime 4.0. It must be uninstalled first and QuickTime 3.0 must be installed. Then, we had the wrong display (256) and we had no guests in the beginning (in the party scene). Neither of these requirements is given in the instructions. Use : Children found this program difficult to use and needed a lot of help and guidance. Graphics : Very good. Written Materials : Written materials are included on the CD jacket. System Requirements : Windows 95 or higher; 166 MHz or faster; 32 MB RAM; 50 MB hard disk space; 8X CD-ROM drive; 3D graphics accelerator card recommended. QuickTime 3.0, 16 bit high color, 600 x 800 display. Tested Version : Windows 95. Cost : $29.95 Rating : Two stars. DEAR PAM : I enjoyed your article on software for kids. Where did you find those items? I�m particularly interested in the elementary grades. My children are 7 and 10. DEAR READER : I have been involved with children�s software for eight years. I�ve been writing this weekly column for five. All of the programs that I mention in the column are kid tested for children aged 3 to 12, so stay tuned. WEB SITE OF THE WEEK HEALTHY REFRIGERATOR http://healthyfridge.org/ Open the door to a healthy heart. Check out these tips and guidelines for healthy eating. RATING KEY : ***** � Outstanding; **** � Very Good; *** � Good; ** � Fair; * � Not Worth Purchasing. Pam Gleichman welcomes questions/comments from readers. Write to Pam at Tribune Media Services, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, Ill. 60611. Send e-mail to [email protected] . © 1999 Tribune Media Services, Inc. Techno file index Mail Tribune Copyright © The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA