Description:
Kids who don't want to leave the Cretaceous period--as depicted in Disney's thundering Dinosaur film--will thrill at this whimsical Activity Center, created by the same company that made the movie. Graced with snippets of evocative music, animation, and voice talent from the film, this CD-ROM has great ambiance throughout, whether you're playing simple arcade games or spending long moments picking out a unique tail and roar for your hand-built dinosaur. As you'd imagine, much of the film's personality is echoed here. You'll see the same moody prehistoric habitats, the same eye-popping dinosaur animations, the same stupid lemur jokes, and the same absence of scientific veracity. If you want a truly educational software program about dinosaurs, you'll have to look elsewhere (try the Magic School Bus or Dorling Kindersley CD-ROMs for true facts). With this program, you'll instead get loads of imagery, drama, and hypnotic games and activities rife with snarling Carnotaurs and Velociraptors. There are five areas to explore in this CD-ROM: one cool puzzle-making activity that allows you to construct a dinosaur all the way down to its exact roar, one neat chesslike strategy game that pits carnivorous dinos against their vegetarian brethren, and three hypnotic games that don't offer much beyond compulsive multilevel arcade play. It's hard to figure out whom the ironic Dating Game-style "Lemur Love Match" is meant to appeal to, yet in all other cases, the games (no matter how basic) are so well stocked with massive, rumbling reptiles that any layman dinosaur fan is going to find them perfectly satisfying. (Ages 5 and older) --Jean Lenihan
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