SOFTWARE REVIEWS : See Kids Click. See Kids Smile. : ‘Jack’s House’ may be the most user-friendly game since ‘Pong.’ And adventurers fishing for fun might seek out the new ‘Great Rivers of the West.’
‘Myst” for kids?
While “Jack’s House” certainly doesn’t aim to take its interactive passengers back to the future and beyond, it does employ the same simple concept: See, point, click and discover, a procedure that makes this delightful program, designed for children 2 to 8, perhaps the most user-friendly game since “Pong.”
Jack’s a keen kid with a welcoming smile who invites all to a permanent play date at his house, a richly detailed and colorful environment stocked with playful puppies, music boxes, chirping lovebirds, spinning tops, even a coloring book with a palette of mess-free crayons and a baby sister named Robin.
Besides being able to put all the characters into play via a simple point and click, kids will find that some clicks will transport them on a voyage through the solar system. There are other accessible detours as well, in which a player can negotiate the alphabet, read a story (called “One Seed Can Make a Difference”) or watch the foliage on a tree change with the seasons.
One diversion designed with little girls in mind allows the mouse-holder to “design” outfits for a pinup: a bright yellow slicker with matching rain hat and umbrella, a flowery pink dress with red pumps or a tomboy denim outfit accessorized with a baseball bat and ball.
Three skill levels are available, and where computer-literate 8-year-olds will probably find even the high level not enough of a mind-stretcher, kids at the younger end of the scale will have a terrific time coloring dinosaurs and feeding the virtual goldfish. My daughter, nearly 2, talked backed to Jack and to the chirping birds but wasn’t yet inclined to pick up the mouse.
“Jack’s House” and the publishing company, Kids Count Entertainment, is the idea of Vicki Esralew, a mother of three who wanted to provide children with positive messages. This is the first of what Esralew calls “Softiware,” directed at the young.
A s a person whose main interest in fish involves familiarity with the ingredients in the marinade, I loaded “Fly Fishing: Great Rivers of the West” into the computer with hopes of broadening my horizons, fly-fishing-wise.
The destinations here are six of the West’s most beautiful and desirable fly-fishing sites from the 250-mile long Deschutes River that cuts across central Oregon’s high desert plains to the Green River in Utah, which informed sources say is stocked with 15,000 TPM (trout per mile). The designers invested much research into the sights and sounds of each location, and one feature allows users to call up half a dozen “natural” sounds from each river.
There was much to learn: Fishing techniques are fully explained on one menu, and also included are maps and travel information and tips on taking the required gear (for those who wish to transition from virtual to real fly-fishing).
Since I didn’t know a snap-back cast from a Broadway cast, I tuned right into the “techniques” menu to watch some guides toss flies and snap rods in full motion. In the “tackle” section the guides advise on what to take: polarizing sunglasses, a dry box, a little bug dope and a hat, because it “protects from hooks that might pass too close for comfort.” Ouch.
The primer on the flies themselves is fascinating. Each region requires its own special lure. The Green Drake fly, I learned, “is good on the Henry’s Fork River only from June 15 to July 10, and in the morning. Try the Brown Drake in the evening.” I like the Chernobyl Ant fly, made of yellow and black foam and red floss. Pretty.
“Fly Fishing” works as a travelogue or screen saver. More than 200 nature photographs can be summoned, and the mini-tours of the six rivers make for nifty viewing--especially if you’re tired.*
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“Jack’s House,” from Kids Count Entertainment; floppy disks for PC or Macintosh; retail, $39.95.
“Fly Fishing: Great Rivers of the West,” CD-ROM from IVI Publishing for Macintosh and PCs; retail, about $35.
