Brain Quest Multimedia

Smart Is As Smart Does

A Review of Brain Quest Multimedia

Rich Cunningham

I am a strong advocate of educational software making children work for

what they are learning. In other words, a multimedia program should make a user

have to work at getting an answer, not just shovel it out to them. It should be

varied in subject area, but not too general. In this area, the program I am

reviewing is a good product. It presents a series of question and answer

sessions in a game show format. It’s not exactly Jeopardy, but it has the same

roots.

Brain Quest Multimedia is a series of CD ROMs that present, via the

multimedia route, a series of games designed to improve and educate students.

The age groups of the CD’s are from Pre-school/Kindergarten, through Grade 7.

These come bundled in 2 CD-ROM packs, starting with Preschool/Kindergarten,

then Grades 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, etc. up through grade 7.

The CD’s are enhanced with

“in-depth multimedia explanations – featuring video footage, color photography

and animation”. The Preschool pack starts very basic, with Amanda Panda and

Ryan Lion escorting the youngsters through the game, as guides. It is very

interactive and more fun than educational. The grade packs stress more of a

question – answer format, with graduated levels for a correct amount of

responses, in specific categories like English, Science, math, history, and much

more. The games can be played alone, or as part of a team.

The grade pack I reviewed was grades 5/6. The installation was smooth,

using the Windows 95 install program. The game ran fine, with no hang-ups or

glitches. However, there were some points that I really had a problem with. One,

the program advertises “multimedia”, “color photos”, “video”, etc. I could not

find any of them.

I found a few animations that weren’t very animated, but that

was about it. It may because of my second problem, which was my CD drive had a

hard time switching between question and answers, and tended to slow the program

down. It would take up to 20 seconds to find out if I answered a question right

or wrong. Maybe you have to go through several rounds to get to the good

animations, etc. I don’t know. All I know is I couldn’t find them. The opening

credits and music were pretty run of the mill, which is why I consider this a

good program, not a great one. There is a lot of potential here, but it is very

underdeveloped.

School House Scorecard

Product:	Brain Quest Multimedia
Company:	SWIFTE International, Ltd. Post Office Box 219 Rockland, DE 19732-9904 Product Support Number: 305-567-9996 Product Support Fax Number: 305-569-1350 Sales Number: 1-800-759-2562
Cost:	$29.99

System Requirements:

None listed in manual.
Available for both IBM PC and MacIntosh platforms.
Tested on the following system:
IBM clone, Pentium 83mhz Overdrive CPU,
TEAC 4X CD ROM, Soundblaster 16 soundcard,
SVGA VLB w/256 colors, Windows 95.

Breakdown:

Ease of Use 4
Learning Value 4
Entertainment Value 3
Graphics 2
Sound 2

Overall Score: