In Spy World, ‘ClueFinders’ Trumps Competition

The Learning Co.’s “ClueFinders” series has dominated the software market for children ages 7 to 11 by creating compelling adventures full of learning. Knowledge Adventure is challenging that dominance with its “Spy Masters” series.

“Spy Masters” incorporates many of the elements that make “ClueFinders” successful. But when put head to head, “Spy Masters” ends up in second place.

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“Spy Masters: Unmask the Prankster”: This series follows a crack team of problem solvers. From their secret hide-out, the Spy Masters monitor the world of Arcadea, which is in chaos after the villainous Prankster releases a horde of renegade robots and turns all the clocks to 12:00. To join the ranks of the Spy Masters, kids create a virtual character controlled with arrow keys. Play begins in the Spy Command headquarters, and players are sent on eight missions.

As players complete missions, the identity of the Prankster emerges. Success during a mission also earns players some cool spy gadgets to use in the game or online in a multi-player activity.

The missions send players to 12 locations. Each contains an arcade-style learning game covering history, geography, math and language arts. The three difficulty levels cover third-, fourth-and fifth-grade curricula.

For example, part of one mission requires players to make last-minute adjustments to a launcher to zap robots. These adjustments are made by playing a game in which children launch molecules with words printed on them. Molecules with similar parts of speech will stick together and then disappear.

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“ClueFinders: The Incredible Toy Store Adventure!”: In the eighth adventure following the four young brainy detectives known as the ClueFinders, two of the group are miniaturized, scooped up and deposited on the sixth floor of a toy store. The remaining ClueFinders try to find their friends and collect clues to build an unshrinking device.

Players help both pairs of ClueFinders by playing games embedded in the story. There are eight games. Six have four levels of difficulty that correspond to curricula found in third and fourth grades. Even fifth-graders will find a challenge. The games cover math, language arts, logical thinking, science and social studies.

The games are entertaining and inventive. In a game to practice spelling, the miniaturized ClueFinders meet Taxini, an opera-singing water bug that offers to transport the ClueFinders across a toy boat marina. The ClueFinders earn their fare by helping Taxini select the correctly spelled words that float by.

“ClueFinders” and “Spy Masters” both have story lines that empower children by putting them in command of worlds bigger than their own reality. However, kid-testers had a hard time understanding the initial story in “Spy Masters,” and it took them awhile to figure out what was required in a mission. The “ClueFinders” story is more compelling and better woven into the game.

Both titles have six multileveled games, but “ClueFinders” features additional games that aren’t tiered. The games in each are good, but “ClueFinders” games are more inventive. Some of the “Spy Masters” games have instructions that are hard to understand.

For example, navigation is an issue in “Spy Masters” because the virtual character is difficult to control. But “ClueFinders” flows smoothly. Also, because kids must avoid or shoot renegade robots in “Spy Masters,” it contains violence that might make some parents uncomfortable.

Finally, “Spy Masters” falls short of “ClueFinders” because it lacks any sense of ethnicity. All of the Spy Masters are white. Players can choose to make their virtual character black, but none of the options looks Asian or Latino. The ClueFinders are clearly multicultural, an admirable quality in a diverse world.

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The Skinny

H “Spy Masters: Unmask the Prankster”

* Price: $30

* Ages: 7 to 11

* Platform: PC/Mac

* System requirements: On the PC, a Pentium 233 with 32 MB of RAM and 50 MB of available hard disk space. On the Mac, a G3 233 with 64 MB RAM and 50 MB of available hard disk space.

* Publisher: Knowledge Adventure

* The good: Spy theme with cool gadgets

* The bad: Difficult navigation

* Bottom line: A “ClueFinders” wannabe, but not quite as good

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“ClueFinders: The Incredible Toy Store Adventure!”

* Price: $25

* Ages: 7 to 11

* Platform: PC/Mac

* System requirements: On the PC, a Pentium 166 with 32 MB of RAM and 32 MB of available hard disk space. On the Mac, a PowerPC 180 with 32 MB RAM and 32 MB of available hard disk space.

* Publisher: Learning Co.

* The good: Clever and inventive

* The bad: Mediocre replay value

* Bottom line: Wonderful learning adventure

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Jinny Gudmundsen is editor of Choosing Children’s Software magazine. She can be reached at jinny@choosingchildrenssoftware.com.