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What do a hot air balloon, a futuristic flying saucer, and a Model T Ford with wings have in common?
Give up? Okay, Then how about this one: What do Chris Webber, Michael Chang, and Irene Bedard have in common?
Still stuck? Well, one last time: What do Cape Canaveral, the Pony Express, Mount Rushmore and Hollywood have in common?
All of the above are part of the new multimedia adventure from Discovery Channel Multimedia, and is it a blast to explore. This title is a truly unique experience, from an educational point-of-view, as well as from that of a game. It manages to take the drab and boring subject of history, and turn it into a lively and colorful educational experience. It does this by combining videos, photos and audio, and tosses in a few games to top it off.
The basis of this game is to explore geographical sites in the United States, and see how they relate to the history of the county. The first thing a player does is to create a journal, in which a record is kept of their trip, both written and visual. A vehicle to travel in is then chosen. The choices are a hot air balloon, a flying vehicle that looks like a cross between a flying saucer and a stealth bomber, and an old Model T-type car with wings (I don’t know how else to describe it, except maybe as a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-type car). Once these details are set, it is time to leave on your trip.
You are then transported to an area in the eastern United States, high above the ground. Here is where the magic of this program starts to shine through. It is possible to do a full 360 degree rotation and observe the geographic area that you are in. The country is divided into 10 regions, each with its own areas to discover and explore. These are found by looking for the sparkles, which are hot spots that are activated by moving the cursor over them. You can then explore the area that you highlight. For example, when a player clicks on Cape Canaveral, it activates the Media Player that shows a film clip of the space program. Travel is accomplished by either clicking on the US map on the control panel, or finding a hot spot on the display where the cursor changes into an upward pointing hand.
The amount of material that is contained in this title is quite impressive. It manages to cover the time line from 30,000 BC to present day Washington, D.C. and do it in a way that is throughwithout being dry and dull. There are also interludes by several celebrities, including Chris Webber (who explains the African-American point-of-view), tennis player Michael Chang (explaining the Asian-American perspective) and actress Irene Bedard, the voice of Pocahontas from the Disney film of the same name (explaining the Native American saga). The material, along with the way it is presented, makes the program a well rounded educational product that will introduce a child to the enjoyment of history. There is also a portion of the title called Pony Express. It is a game that challenges the player to deliver a letter to a location in the game. For example, a letter addressed to Elvis must be delivered to Graceland. It is up to the player to find Graceland somewhere on the map. So it is safe to think of this little game as a sort of pop-quiz on the material in the program.
But it doesn’t stop there. In addition to the educational side of this title, there are also some games included with the program that are just for fun. They are good programs and are of a high enough quality to have been released on their own. The games are accessed by clicking on the wagon wheel icon on the control panel, which takes you to the menu screen. There are 5 games total. They are: Hangman, Railroad game ( a jigsaw puzzle type game), Gold Mine game ( a Doom-type game) and Kesitse ( a Native American game). The fifth game is called Tumbleweed U.S.A., which is set in a photo-realistic Texas ghost town. The place is in need of someone to save them from a gang of outlaws called the Bad Boys, and it is up to the player to save them. What is so fun about this game is that no matter where the player is in this town, it is possible to turn a full 360 degrees and view any part of it. It is also possible to move to any part of the town and explore many of the buildings in the quest to help save the citizens. This portion of the game alone is worth the price of the program.
Technically, it is a very sound program. It installed with no problems, and never crashed once. The only negative aspect I can find with it is in the documentation area. It has very little. There is an instruction sheet on how to play the game, but it is very sketchy and not very detailed. It would have been nice to have had more documentation, and since this is an educational program, some sort of guide that would allow parents to help the child understand what is going on with the historical events in the program would be nice.
It is very difficult to describe all aspects of this title in a few paragraphs. It is a very complex program, in that it has a lot of areas to explore and play. But the user interface makes it very easy to use. It has enough variety in it that it can give a child many hours of quality educational time, and have some fun at the same time. It would be a welcome addition to any library, at school or at home.
| Product: | Skytrip America |
| Company: | Discovery Channel Multimedia |
| Cost: | $39.95 |
IBM: 486sx or higher; 8mb ram; hard drive; 2X CD ROM; sound card; mouse; VGA display with 256 colors; DOS 3.3 or higher; Windows 3.1 or higher; MSCDEX 2.2 or higher
Macintosh: 68040 Processor or higher; Performa, Centris, Quadra, Power Mac; 8mb ram; 2X CD ROM; System 7.0, 7.01, or 7.5; Color monitor, 256 colors recommended, can accept thousands of colors
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