Spot and His Friends (UK Version)

PC version requires:
Unavailable

Mac version requires:
Unavailable

Description:

Spot and his Friends leap from the pages of their storybooks to bring you this favourite puppy and his friends. Join Steve the monkey, Helen the hippo, and Tom the crocodile as they lead your child through 4 interactive stories and activities. Spot and your child can visit the seaside and create a sandcastle, attend a party, visit a farm and meet the baby animals, and have fun at a carnival.

Features:

• Familiar Spot Character and friends
• Bright, cheery graphics
• Familiar music from Spot videos
• Fun activities

Technical Aspects:

Report and Conclusions:

Spot and his Friends specifies that this title is for ages 2 and up. Spot and his Friends became the first software our 2-year-old tester had been exposed to. Although the child had seen older siblings use the computer, she herself had not used one before. With this in mind, we took Spot and his Friends out for a test spin. We found although she knew to click the button on the mouse, she knew nothing of maneuvering it across the screen. Have you ever tried to assist a 2-year-old "I can do it" with a mouse? Needless to say we didn't get very far. Due to the program's lack of a multitude of hot spots, she was not able to click and get very many actions on her own. On the other hand, all is not lost as the program will finish the story or activity if you are not able to complete it on your own. Our analysis for the first time beginner, age 2, on this program is to not plan on sitting your toddler in front of the computer and walking away. You will need to sit them down on your lap and hopefully be able to teach them how to use the mouse. For a first time computer user, however, I believe that there are many other interactive stories available with numerous hot spots that will capture the little one's attention thus teaching them quicker on the cause and effect principle.

For a slightly older child, or one with a bit more computer experience, the adventure with Spot and his Friends will most likely delight them and they will enjoy the activities included. In one activity you had to listen for the wind and click on the kite in order to make the kite fly. This even had the 5 1/2-year-old stumped at first. My 5 1/2-year-old enjoyed the stories once through but quickly lost interest due to his experience with more complex software titles. I would recommend this title for the 3-5 age range as the story unfolds before a child, but they can also play with Spot as well.