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The Latest Toys for High-Tech Trendsetters

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You don’t have to be a Star Wars fan or a hard-core gamer to enjoy Star Wars Droidworks, an enterprising new educational toy disguised as a computer game.

Lucas Learning has come up with a pleasantly intuitive concept. Your job is to choose from 87 robot parts to construct a robot with the capabilities required for any one of 27 missions. One mission, for example, might require arm strength, communications capabilities and a specified maximum weight.

Once the robot is built, you can test it before setting out to sabotage the evil Empire’s robot factory. One warning: The educational component is not always well-integrated with the game playing. Players, for example, are encouraged to occasionally stop and consult an interactive guide that illustrates basic scientific principles to help solve the various puzzles.

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Still, the robots are fun to manipulate through the Star Wars-style environment. And there is no sex and violence, a rare feature in a game for this age group. Star Wars Droidworks is aimed at ages 10 to 14. It’s available on Windows 95/98 and Macintosh PowerPC and retails for $39.

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