Nikolai’s Trains

Too Old Or To Young???

A Review of Nikolai’s Trains

Karina Worlton

This interactive storybook tells of a boy named Nikolai and his toy cat

Neow-Neow. They embark on a train race in Nikolai’s imagination. Children

can choose to have the book read to them, or can explore each page one at a

time, in either English or Japanese. Each of the story’s 12 pages has many

animations. On seven of the pages, certain hot spots take the child into

informational screens, covering topics such as the secrets of the solar

system, the operation of a coal mine, the ecosystem, and the functions of

various train cars.

The graphics are not the usual bright, clear, simple, line drawings

designed to appeal to the very young. These are more like watercolors, with

imprecise rendering of some details. I imagine the age the product targets

(four to eight year olds) won’t mind and will probably even enjoy them. The

sound is clear, for the most part, and the music is pleasant, while the

story is interesting and fun.

I would probably have given this product a higher rating, simply for the

story value, if it weren’t for the additional educational material. I’m

completely in favor of “disguising” learning in a fun setting. However, in

my opinion, the educational material was too sophisticated for the story

used to present it. The simple story is read mainly by a young child, while

the technical educational information is read by a woman who sounds like a

science museum tour guide.

In the educational screens, the vocabulary is

more challenging, and the graphics more technical. This is not in and of

itself a problem, except that the product is aimed at four to eight year

olds. I asked two neighbor girls, aged 7 and 8 to test it. They both

loved the story, but thought the educational material was boring. I don’t

imagine a four-year-old would feel any differently. The target age could be

expanded to include, say, 10- or 12-year-olds, but they would probably be

bored by the story. The story and the educational material are mismatched.

Difficulty of use was the other major problem with the product. The cursor

did not change in any way to indicate where clicking would produce

animation.

Furthermore, the hot spots were often very small, making them

difficult for a child to select. For example, in the activity that teaches

time telling, if the child misses and clicks just to the side of a number on

the clock face, the educational activity screen closes and the child is

returned to the story page. The hot spot boundaries need to be larger for

this target audience.

I also found it difficult to understand some of the voices. “Nikolai” had

an accent, or perhaps a childish pronunciation of some words. A few of the

short animation sequences included high-pitched voices that sounded more

like squeals.

Finally, users cannot interrupt the automatic story reading in the explore

option. Children must listen to each page being read, before a cursor

appears to begin free page exploration. This does not encourage reading,

but keeps the emphasis on listening.

School House Scorecard

Product:	Nikolai’s Trains
Company:	The Corel CD HOME Product Line Manager Corel Corporation 1600 Carling Avenue Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1Z 8R7 Phone: 1-800-455-3169
Cost:	$39.95

System Requirements:

WINDOWS:
IBM PC or compatible 486, Windows 3.1,
MS DOS 5.0, 8MB RAM, Double speed CD-ROM drive,
Sound Blaster or 100% compatible sound card.

MACINTOSH:
Macintosh LCIII, System 7.1 with Sound Manager,
8MB RAM, Double speed CD-ROM drive.

Breakdown:

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

Overall Score: