Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: BEWARE! I am very disappointed. My son loves trains and Thomas, and when I ordered this I thought he would love it. Everything is properly installed, but the playset will not work. I see on the Infogrames website that the FAQs say to use the keyboard if the playset won't work, but what fun is that for a 4 year old - he wants to drive the train! I know it is not the configuration of my keyboards - I have tried it on 2 keyboards. Both times, the playset will press the keys enough to type the characters when I have it in Microsoft Word, but it will not respond when it is in the Thomas program.
Do NOT show this to your child until you are sure it will work! I'm sure glad we tried it before Christmas! I sent an email to Infogrames (mfgr) on 12/22/01 - as of 1/19/02 still no response.
And once you've opened the software, no refund!!
Rating: 
Summary: technical problems
Review: Great adventures and fun but seems to have technical problems if child presses bottons for a long time, which what most kids do. the speech of the cd becomes slightly impaired.
Rating: 
Summary: Its a big hit!
Review: Great game that my 5 year old loves to play. Cleverly designed Thomas engine controls sit atop a STANDARD keyboard are easy for a child to use. Nice graphics and variety of activities, developes memory and decision making skills, all without any violence! The only downside is I want my computer back! Seriously, the game requirements are such that it will probably run on your old computer if you have one. If not, they can be had for little expense. Now where did I put that old one?....
Rating:
Summary: Very good playset with fun
Review: I bought the playset last Christmas. My 4 years old daughter loves this game and have much fun.
The game can be play and have fun without language gap. She learned to drive the train to places in the game, and know many things about the train after I explained to her.
I'm looking for other adventure courses for the playset, but no luck. I hope the manufacture can continue to make the series.
Rating: 
Summary: A huge hit with my 4 year old
Review: I don't know that my son is any more or less computer savvy than the next kid, but we bought this for him for his birthday, and after spending 30-45 minutes playing it with him, he played by himself for HOURS. We couldn't get him away from it.We were afraid we were going to have trouble with it, because we couldn't get the Tonka Digs and Rigs to work with our computer, but once we figured out where to place the controller on our apparently not-standard keyboard, it never needed a single readjustment while he was playing.
Rating:
Summary: My 5 year old loves it, but what would you expect
Review: I had been wondering why this wasn't available, now it is. Uses a plastic overlay for the keyboard and is good at explaining itself. Pretty easy for him to use. Only problem is it has hidden games which are apparently open after you finish the tasks, but he wants to play now. I would reccomend it.
Rating:
Summary: Railway Adventures
Review: I have no problems whatsoever with the keyboard issues like others here. However I find that the game is too hard for a 3 or 4 year old to figure out how to work it. The Tonka Rigs and Digs was much easily. Kids these ages don't need something this hard. They only want to get at it and play.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Kiddie Game
Review: I purchased this software for my almost four son who is a Thomas fanatic. I had to help him out the first few times he tried to play the game. After about two weeks he was able to play it on his own for the most part. The graphics are much more than I had expected for a kiddie game. You can travel around the track endlessly if one wants. You stop at various stations to complete tasks necessary for one of four games chosen. The game doesn't automatically take you to the correct station necessary to complete a task. You need to remember which destination is next and switch the track accordingly. I've been quite shocked that my son is able to remember where to go and switch the track to get there! Once the one game is completed the player is able to switch into a special siding and play reward game. I own Microsoft Train Simulator but I really like this game a lot. Not having to remember which keystrokes to press is a VERY nice touch. To bad MS Train Simulator doesn't have a keyboard attachment. The playset will fit easily onto any normal square keyboard without any difficulties. In closing, I thought it would take my son a long time to master the game. The only negative I can think of is that it only has four games. But my son keeps playing them over again and doesn't seem to mind. It's still challenging and enjoyable for him. I guess that leaves lots of room for sequel software. It is an excellent game for little kiddies.
Rating:
Summary: My daughter's favorite
Review: I rate this 5 stars based on how much my daughter likes it relative to other software. The keyboard-top module makes the difference. My daughter (4-1/2) received this for Christmas, and has enjoyed it immensely. She's been a huge Thomas fan since she was two, and already had the Railway Festival and Trouble on the Tracks games. Those were diverting for a while, but this one has captivated her. She'll spend as long as we let her driving along, carrying out tasks. It's very mechanical-- not a great deal of creativity or strenuous problem-solving involved-- but she enjoys it a great deal. I view it as a good complement to her other favorites: Freddi Fish, PuttPutt, and Dinosaur Hunter, which involve some problem solving. Sometimes you want to stretch your mind, sometimes you just want a nice day in the country, loading barrels at the harbor.
Rating:
Summary: Good game
Review: I read all the reviews on this Thomas Computer game and dispite the bad ones I still purchased it for my four year old son who is crazy over anything "Thomas the Train". It has never locked up on me and I had no troubles at all installing it on top on my keyboard. (although you do have to get it perfectly in the right spot which can be a little tricky) Once installed it doesn't shift or fall off the keyboard and the program works just fine. My son loves this game. It is by far a favorite of his and he has quite a few computer games in his growing collection. He reaches for it time after time. My 6 year old daughter plays with it and she seems to like it as well so it's not just for the little boys out there! The graphics are real cute and they love driving the trains, dropping the passengers off at the station and doing the different jobs involving the railroad. I would say this is a good game for any child between the ages of 3 and 7. In my opinion, any child under 3 years of age are to young for computer games anyway and any child older then seven will find this game to be to babyish for them. One downfall to this game that I had read in another review which is true....it is hard to exit the game. You have to complete the job in order to do so which is a bit of a pain and a little time consuming. Other then that I rate this game 5 stars because ANY toy that can keep my kids entertained for more then 30 minutes and that is played with again and again and again.... I feel was a good purchase and money well spent.
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