Wanna
have a great time on a lazy summer afternoon? Slip one of Blue's
Clues CD-Roms into your computer and forget about being an adult.
I co-opted my 8 year-old daughter to play these games, based on
the TV show and earmarked for 3-6 year olds, and together we set
off on a giddy series of missions with Blue and that darn adorable
guy Steve (striped rugby shirt notwithstanding).
ABC Time Activities
We start with ABC Time Activities and are drawn into a delightful
world -- uncluttered yet fanciful -- rich with bird song and a 3-D
quality that makes us long to jump into the screen.
With Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, we choose
the snack that starts with the identified letter, which is a good
bit of fun, although what I thought was a nectarine and my daughter
thought was an apple turned out to be a peach. This could be discouraging
for a 3 year-old trying to pick the right letter for the fruit.
Luckily, Salt and Pepper, in their inimitable en Français
way, tell us what each snack is before we get too discouraged. An
indication of the automatic skill level kicking in, perhaps.
In this CD, we did have a problem with the "Make A Story"
game. We could only negotiate one word to fill both blanks in any
given story, with rather uncreative results. This may be a reflection
of our own confusion rather than the game itself.
We went on to "Make a Rhyme," which was delightful. The
bath bubbles looked real enough to blow, making a rhyme was fun
and there is just enough repetition of certain words to make it
a useful learning experience. And gee whiz, Blue is cute.
Blue's Birthday Adventure
We tore ourselves away from the ABC's to try out Blue's
Birthday Adventure. This is a whopping double CD.
It took us half an hour to find our first of three Blue's Clues
and frankly, I didn't have time to wait for the party to start.
This is a good thing. The games are not mere 20 minute wonders,
ready to be repeated next time you open the computer. They are insightful,
challenging and worth a regular check into the instruction booklet
to discover more than meets the eye.
We may have been flummoxed as to finding Blue's paw (the clue) with
any speed, but we were happily sidetracked. My daughter got to make
a birthday card for Blue. She decided to color the whole card blue.
This had to be done with a paint brush, don't you know, so it was
painstaking work.
Then we inadvertently erased this critical piece of artwork at which
point she was ready to quit the whole game. Just as surprisingly,
we discovered how to make it reappear. She was doubly impressed.
It highlighted the fact that this is a game the little ones will
need adult help with, certainly the first few times. For those of
you who love to spend time with your child, this is a godsend.
Birthday Adventuring Day Two
My daughter's at camp, so I happily settle in alone with Steve and
Blue.
Today I realize that even if I pick a nonsensical choice I am rewarded.
For example, the day before we had smugly chosen the towel to wipe
Blue's paw print from the screen. Today, slap-happy, I choose the
party blower. Aren't I clever! Steve blows the paw into tiny blue
feathers that float away! I continue to discover not everything
is an either/or.
Possibly 75% of everything on the screen will come to life if I
click it, and will do so in a different way each time for at least
three clicks in a row, then surprise me with a bit of a finale.
Candy acrobatics, bees buzzing from behind flowers ... better and
better, the more I click the bigger the swarm! I can create a havoc
of bees in the garden and no-one reprimands me! No-one gets hurt!
I click and reclick on some balloons to create a plethora of strange
creatures jumping along a tightwire crying, "Whoo Hoo!"
The faster I click, the more "Whoo Hoo's"! (I'm having
a ball.)
Monsieur et Madame Salt and Pepper invite me to help make Blue's
cake. I count out and add 3 cups of flour to the bowl, then crack
open two eggs into the batter. I look forward to coming back and
pouring it into the pan and eating it when baked. Alas, if this
is in store for me, I never find out. This culinary review must
be written sometime.
I'm a good twenty-five minutes into the game without a clue gathered
when I jump into a birthday card ("Blue skidoo and so can you!").
We enter a kid-lovely place of cakes and cupcakes and candy and,
oh glory of glories ... present trees! When, Click! after a cherry,
and Click! after a strawberry, finally, Click! a pineapple lands
on top of a cupcake, I concede Monty Python was conceived from the
nonsense of childhood. Or is it the other way around?
I suddenly have a new mission: to find the key to unlock a chocolate
and smartie covered treasure chest. And aren't I proud of myself
when I notice, by happenstance, three keys hanging on the kitchen
wall! And aren't my instincts finely honed when I choose the diamond
shaped key, leap back through the birthday card, hurry toward the
chocolate chest and discover that my key works! Never mind what's
inside is a disappointment ... a bunch of toys that need fixing?!
What the heck? However, my stoic repair work is rewarded with --
finally -- my first (and only as it happens) Blue's Clue imprinted
on the lock of the chest when it closes again. Yipee yaiyo yai yay!
Well, I'm forty-five minutes into the game with but one clue and
it's time to go. Luckily I can easily save my "work" and
restart another time where I left off.
Blue's 1,2,3 Time Activities
I am shockingly reminded of a problem I've had since childhood
... I tune out to instructions. I continue to find my self staring
at the characters on the screen who are patiently waiting for my
response. But I had daydreamed through their request! Thankfully
for me and all the other mind-wandering children of the world, if
we just start clicking, eventually we discover what's expected of
us.
It's during the weighing of the souvenirs that I recognize how the
skill level adapts to the player (an option you can also control
manually). I'm breezing though the game when slyly, the friendly
little critters present me with four souvenirs to be weighed on
but three weighing scales! And when I make a mistake (only on purpose
you understand), I'm easily directed to re-trying without ever being
told I was wrong. Suddenly, as a result, the game gets a bit easier.
Four objects reduce again to three, with no fanfare.
I make socks of money from sorting snacks with Mr. and Mrs. Salt
and Pepper. Everybody is on my side as I sort sprinkled cookies
from unsprinkled, three snacks on a plate from two, and here if
I make a mistake, everybody scratches their head as if they, too,
are confounded by the oddity of having chosen something that just
won't go into its allotted space. Not until I make the right choice
that is.
I play a matching card game with Bear and win a dollar just for
losing. It makes not getting the $3 for winning okay. And when I
beat Shovel in a game of Mother-May-I, she jumps up and down, excited
for my good fortune. How very sportswomanlike of her!
With my backpack now loaded with Blue's Dollars, I hurry to the
prize tent. Here I learn to subtract as I purchase prizes, a ritual
not unlike choosing the tacky little winnings from tickets won at
DC Discovery Zone, Chuckie Cheese's or carnivals. After buying enough
little prizes, I'll have won a Big Surprise for Blue, but having
a whopping $18 to spend I don't take the time to winnow it down
to my last dollar to discover what that big surprise may be.
The great news is, I get to keep the CDs. I'll come back tomorrow
(if my daughter hasn't grabbed the games first) and danged if I
won't find some more Blue's Clues and buy Blue that big prize. And
-- hot damn! -- one of these days I'm going to make it to her birthday
party!
Blue's Clues CD-Rom's are the creative result of a collaboration
between Nickelodeon and the award-winning creator of children's
software, Humongous Entertainment.
Blue's Birthday Adventure is available for $29.99 on hybrid
CD-Rom for Windows 98/95 and Macintosh. Blue's ABC Time Activities
and 1,2,3 Time Activities are available for $19.99 on hybrid
CD-Rom for Windows 98/95 and Macintosh as well.
Judith Cockman is a freelance journalist, playwright and award-winning
documentary writer. Her articles and reviews have been featured
in such publications as The Toronto Star, The Sunday Sun, Creative
Planet, Kidscreen Magazine and Playback. The mother of
four, she has been surfing kid's CD-Roms with her brood for fifteen
years.
Links:
[1] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4092
[2] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4093
[3] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4094