Producer: Hill MacGibbon
Retail Price: £9.95
Age Range: Older children

In the same series as Special Agent, Car Journey involves decision- making and skills of calculating time, distance and money. The program has 4 levels: levels 1 and 2 involve driving a car around the country with or without road hazards, while levels 3 and 4 are based on running a delivery service, again with or without the road hazards.

On all levels you have to choose from which town the journey is to begin, and then select the vehicle you are going to drive. The smaller vehicles travel faster and cost less to hire for the day (when you are playing Delivery Service), and of course each has a fuel tank with a different capacity. A histogram displays the fuel consumption at various speeds, and you have to fill up with petrol before the journey can commence.

On levels 3 and 4 a progress chart can be shown on the screen and this registers the cost of the fuel purchased. An overlay placed on the top row of keys allows the player call up status information and also contains the commands for driving the vehicle chosen.

The Delivery Service games are quite complex as there are so many factors to be borne in mind. The tee for delivering some contracts, for instance, is larger than for others, though the more valuable contracts have to be delivered very quickly. Journeys have to be planned carefully, and petrol can be saved by carrying more than one load at a time. An additional problem is that whenever the clock reaches 19.00 tours, you must stop for the night and this incurs overnight costs unless you are in your home town. Penalties also have to be paid if the vehicle is overloaded or if a load is not delivered in time.

The accompanying booklet gives information about the history of roads and how a car works, as well as containing the extract from The Wind in the Willows where Toad becomes car-crazy.

COMMENTS

Control keys: a keyboard overlay ensures ease of operation
Keyboard play: responsive
Graphics: an attractive and sensible screen display
Use of colour: effective

Another educational game for eight-to-12 year olds which this time has a mathematical slant - towards teaching arithmetic, graphs and strategy planning. The idea is to travel around Britain choosing the appropriate vehicle and route for various tasks.

Dilwyn: Fairly good graphics and route map. All units are metric for school use. It's a pity that the reference to the Welsh 'Eisteddfod' had to be mis-spelt though! 7/10

Ieuan: No sound again! Useful activity booklet and keyboard overlay. The package is better than most educational software, but I'm not sure how long it will keep the kids' interest. 6/10

Gerralt: Basically, a fairly simple concept done quite well; a bit more animation would probably have helped to keep the attention of the users. 7/10

SPECTRUM LESSONS

Mike Edmunds continues his quest against ignorance and assesses some of the latest educational software packages.

Educational software has, to date, been of a very mixed quality, with often only a limited use in the classroom. Now, with the advent of material such as the Dudley Programs, we find software intended for use right across the curriculum.

The programs, all with the theme of travel, have been designed specifically for use in schools by a team of 24 teachers and advisers from Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in conjunction with Five Ways Software.

Each of the four titles; Punctuation Pete/Wordfinder, Car Journey, Special Agent and Ballooning is a complete package in itself or can be used in conjunction with the other titles to provide a really comprehensive series of resource materials.

Each package comes in an A4 folder with a detailed guide/workbook which not only outlines the aims of the program but also suggests numerous associated activities to be carried out using either the program or the workbook material. There is also a set of keyboard overlays, a summary of instructions and a 'run card'. Loading is straightforward and the pupil is greeted by an illustrated title screen detailing loading time. As with the workbook, the programs are colourful and visually attractive, good use of graphics being maintained throughout the series.

The second package, Car Journey, involves travelling around the main roads of England and Scotland and combines geography and mathematics with logical thinking and evaluation. Four levels of skill are provided and the child first has an opportunity to get acquainted with the vehicles and conditions in the Driving School. Here, selection of vehicle, route planning, cost analysis and fuel consumption all prove to be important decisions which the child needs to make. The correct choice makes the journey easy!!! Having passed through the Driving School, the child should be well equipped to tackle the hazards of everyday motoring. As an added bonus here you can also opt for driving with hazards, anything from radar traps to snowstorms!

This program is realistic in approach and the child soon learns to tackle the tasks systematically in order to achieve good results. This is an excellent way of applying decision making and logical thinking to an everyday 'real-life' situation.

TO CONCLUDE

Taken singly, each of the programs in this series is excellent. Put together, as a complete resource package, they are outstanding - each having the right blend of interest and skill to ensure continued usage. The programs are well written and overall presentation is of a high quality.

As a theme package they test the child's abilities in all areas. Marvellous - fun whilst learning!

Each of the packages reviewed above costs £9.95 and is published by Heinemann Computers in Education Ltd, 22 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3HH.