Avanquest Become a History Explorer review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 18 Sep 2008

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Adam Banks

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

This Dorling Kindersley title is aimed at ages six to 10 and "supports the history taught in schools".

This claim was backed by our testers, who recognised its themes. The program only works when the CD is in the drive and runs full screen at low resolution. You're asked to log in and create a picture of yourself; our testers chose three eyes, green skin and red spots.

Professor Timestream has been trapped in the past by the Time Fugitive, a frog-like character who pops up to tell you he's only done it to draw attention to the importance of history. This makes little sense, but all that matters is that the Professor's time machine lets you visit various historical periods to learn facts and collect souvenirs for your Time Travel Journal. You can complete the missions in any order, choosing between Roman Empire, Medieval Britain, 1920s City and so on. A sound effect sets the mood as you arrive at your destination. Beyond this, the 'multimedia' element doesn't go much further than voiceovers that read out the text that describes each person, object or event you come across. Interactive tasks are limited to dragging items into the right places.

Unlike some exploratory titles, which leave you to wander around unsure of what you're supposed to do, Become a History Explorer provides alternative ways into the content. These include sticker books that show a silhouette of each item. All the graphics are in the familiar Dorling Kindersley style, from the cartoonish scenes depicting each period, which scroll to reveal more details, to the photo-realistic cutout images that accompany each piece of informative text.

Our 10-year-old found this package a bit young for him, and we all agreed it was more like a textbook than a computer game. However, £8 is a fair price for a fun textbook.

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