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Disney’s Active Play A Bug’s Life By Pam Gleichman Tribune Media Services Disney’s Active Play A Bug’s Life is an adventure game based on the hit movie. Flik, the bug, needs your help to build a grasshopper-keeper-outer contraption to save both the ant colony and the harvest festival. You will explore the worlds of Ant Island and Bug City, as they gather the needed items in the six areas. There is a circus performance to orchestrate, the daddy of the little lost bug to find, berries to help the ant foreman collect and a board game to play. In addition, children can create and make their own bug board game that can be printed and played without the use of the computer. Other activities include creating a puppet show (also printable), and a virtual camera that allows photos of bugs to be taken. The photos can then be printed with cool bug facts. Children in our lab were very excited to play this program. It, however, was too difficult for the 3- and 4-year-old set. They had trouble understanding what they were looking for and how to navigate the program. They were also unable to complete the puzzles without a lot of help. Older children were challenged, yet some felt the program was too difficult and soon lost interest. Another problem is the replay value. For many of our testers, the program's biggest strength is the characters and association with the movie. I, however, enjoyed the bug facts and found them very interesting. Publisher : Disney Interactive. 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, Calif. 91521, http://www.disneyinteractive.com . Category : Problem-solving. Age : 3 to 7. Installation : We did have two of our computers freeze during the installation process. After rebooting and reinstalling, the program did not give us any problems. Use : Children needed a lot of help playing the game. Graphics : Very good. They look just like the movie. Written Materials : Written materials are included on the CD jacket. Tested Version : Windows 95. System requirements : Microsoft Windows 95 or later, Pentium 90 MHz or faster processor, 16 MB RAM, 35 MB free disk space, Quad speed CD-ROM drive or faster, 16-bit DirectX-compatible sound card, 16-bit color DirectX compatible video card, Windows compatible mouse, Standard AT-101 keyboard, color inkjet Printer (optional). Cost : $29.99. Rating : Two and a half stars. "A Bug’s Life," very successful on the big screen, scored fair to average in our lab. When deciding whether or not to purchase this program, take into consideration, your child’s love of the movie and his/her patience and determination at the computer. DEAR PAM : I am looking for a software title that would help my children (ages 10 and 14) and I create a family Web site. Do you know of any programs that are easy to use? DEAR READER : Web Studio by Sierra Home lets you create a great looking Web site quickly and easily. No HTML programming is required. It uses drag and drop design to let you add clip art, backgrounds, animations and photographs. WEB SITES OF THE WEEK OFFICIAL SITE OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE http://www.nfl.com At this site you will find out all about your favorite teams, players, coaches, Super Bowl history and trivia. There are also links to many other football and Super Bowl sites. SOAR CHILI RECIPES http://soar.berkeley.edu/recipes/chili This site has over 500 recipes for every possible kind of Chili. Some of the variations are Chocolate Chili, Chicken Pumpkin Chili, Cashew Chili, Cactus Chili, Vegetarian Chili, Super Bowl Chili, Neiman Marcus Chili Blanco, Capitol Punishment Chili, Seafood Chili and many award-winning recipes. If you are looking for the unusual, this is the place! 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 pamgl(at)msn.com. � 1999 Tribune Media Services, Inc. Techno file index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA