The Cluefinders Reading Adventures Ages 9-12

PC version requires:
P90, Windows 95/98, 16MB RAM, 27MB HD, 4xCD-ROM, 256 SVGA

Mac version requires:
Power PC or better, System 7.1, 16MB RAM, 27MB HD, 256 SVGA, 4x CD-ROM

Description:

Those intrepid Cluefinders are hot on the case again, but this time they're the ones in trouble! They've been mysteriously transported to another planet, and Santiago and Leslie have been imprisoned. It's up to Joni and Owen to solve the mystery and rescue their friends.

The Cluefinders Reading Adventures Ages 9-12 features 10 language arts activities in an adventure setting. The skills covered are comprehension, analogies, antonyms/homonyms/synonyms, vocabulary, spelling, prefixes/suffixes and parts of speech. As in other Cluefinders games, kids will earn some form of "payment tokens" (gems and lava rocks in this case) by playing special games, then use those tokens to play other games for clues. One of the activities, Gates of Mount Voldrock, is a cool variation of mastermind using letters instead of colors.

Features:

• 10 language arts activities (only 8 are available in practice mode)
• Games are combinations of arcade and thinking skills, with the emphasis on thinking
• Practice mode for just the activities
• 2nd CD included that provides personalized workbooks, with around 50 printable activity sheets total
• 2nd CD also allows the progress of multiple users to be tracked on any program that has the A.D.A.P.T. system
• A.D.A.P.T. leveling system that's a step above the previous leveling techniques

Technical Aspects:

The sound was fine, except for one minor annoyance: the sound in the cutscenes was always lower than the rest of the game, making it hard to hear unless you turned the sound up. But then, of course, the sound would be blaring when the regular game started again, requiring you to turn it back down again. Another niggling item was the fact that the game logo appeared every time players switched activities, which quickly became tiring.

Report and Conclusions:

The 13-year-old immediately pounced on the game, and played until she finished it (about 3 hours total playing time). She enjoyed it very much while she played it, and said "I sure wish they made games like this for kids my age!" The 9 year old was excited to play too, but found the activities a little difficult, especially the arcade ones. This was no surprise to me, however, because her reading skills are weaker than her math skills and she's not very good at arcade. But with practice I'm sure she'll get better, as the arcade is fairly easy.

One problem with games of this type is the randomization factor, which is always more noticeable in reading games than with math. One reason could be that math is more easily randomized (multiple numbers can be factors to one answer), another might be that math equations are not as memorable as written words. I played the activities several times each on every level, and soon the same questions and stories started popping up. The activities on Cluefinders Math seem much more randomized, but again, that may be an inherent difference between math and reading activities.

Soap box on: In the Technical Aspects, I mentioned the fact that the girl characters have been somewhat 'improved'. Actually, they've been drawn much prettier and more feminine appearing than previously. Joni even stands differently, with her hands held with palms facing out at waist level, in a more 'yielding' manner (as any student of body language can attest to). Joni used to appear athletic and looked average; now she seems prissy, she's much prettier and she plays with her hair when standing still! Another odd thing, apparently girls have lips, boys don't. At least that's the case with the new Cluefinders (5th and 6th Grade editions feature this new animation style as well). The boys look much the same as before, so why have they made the girls prettier? This may seem a petty point to some, but as a parent of 2 girls, it bothers me to see an emphasis placed on perfection in looks for females, and not males.

Soap box off: A good choice for practice in reading skills, but probably better for the younger end of the age range, as the older kids may be turned off by the sameness of the questions after awhile. The printable worksheets are wonderful, and add a nice touch to the program. This title is sure to get plenty of use at our house, and beats hands-down other comparable reading titles currently available for this age group.