Developer: Southpeak Interactive MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Windows 95/98 Pentium, 133MHz 32MB RAM 4x CD-ROM Microsoft Compatible sound device Microsoft Compatible mouse Southpeak Interactive breaks through the educational gaming competition and releases "Civil War Experience. A great game based solely on the Civil War. Using a unique point and click setup, it makes it easy for anyone to use. Even the old war veterans would know how to use it! Graphics The graphics in this program are the main basis of navigation. To navigate throughout this wonderful education experience you must click on pictures. However, these pictures are no ordinary pictures. They are beautifully detailed war scenes. When highlighting over a part of the scene, a heading pops up making it easy to understand where that picture will take you when you click on it. Throughout this game are wonderful photos and AVI movies giving more explanation to the information shown on the screen. Pictures of actual war battles, men eating the most disgusting food, and the housing are just some of the outstanding real life pictures that blew my mind away. AVI movies include historians giving information in person about the Civil War, re-enactments of battle scenes and MANY more. Overall, this game depends on its graphics to add to its overwhelming amount of information. I mean...who wants to read plain text to learn about the Civil War when a full-fledged multi-media alternative is available? Southpeak answered my question with the graphics in this wonderful educational learning experience. Sound If you think about it, in an encyclopedia filled with heaps of textual information along with pictures to go with it, where do you fit in the sounds? Southpeak answered that challenge with Civil War experience. The sound in this game wonderfully ties in with the graphics. When a war scene appears on the screen, wonderful sounds appropriately accompany the scene adding to the impact of the picture. In my mind, they have all the great sounds in all the right places. Information This title is FILLED with loads of information based on the Civil War. Anything you want to know is in here. Some info that amazed me were, precise information about the calvary used, daily chores needing to be done by everyone during the war and even the life of soldiers before and after the war!! Truly this program is packed with tons of information making the die hard learner set for life. Everything and more is here to learn at your convenience! The combination of videos and pictures are well suppported by the inclusion of traditional text-based information. Both have a staggering amount of information to give out. Some of the information included really suprised me. Civil War Experience includes a video of a historian talking about the food the military ate during the war in AVI format. Did you know that the military would often eat anything they could find? Even worms for that matter! When food had finally been delivered to them it was usually stale, soggy, and suffering any number of afflictions guaranteed to ruin your appetite. Another interesting aspect of this title is the timeline available; it's a great setup explaining all the different events in chronological order. This makes an excellent tool for school reports. One final advantage I got out of this program is the search engine. It allows you to specifically find a subject you're interested in by just typing in what you are looking for. Finally, Civil War Experience offers users access to the Civil War web-site where you can download further information, articles, and interface with the Civil War community at large, etc...all in order to facilitate the impressive array of information already available on the CD. Games There are 2 unique interactive games that may be played in Civil War Experience. One is a cannon game where you must shoot the targets as well as a game where you must transport goods to your men via ship from one dock to another. I would have to say I was TERRIBLY dissapointed by these games. Coded in shockwave format they were simply dreadful! Much more work was needed in this area. Definitely a joystick down for this aspect of the program; but I won't belabor the point. Civil War Experience is unimpeded by this singular blemish on an otherwise, first-rate product. Navigation The navigation throughout this program is the basic point and click. Clicking on pictures navigates you throughout the whole program. However it's not the only way of moving around. A search engine has been installed allowing you to search anything you want. Say you want to look up the military weapons used. You could type in "military weapons" and it would bring up every subject referencing the weapons used during the Civil War. Another great feature I liked is the automatic print command. If you find something worth printing off, just a click of a button and it will automatically print it off for you. A great feature when it comes to printing timelines. Conclusion Overall, I highly recommend this title to anyone interested in the Civil War. There is information included that the average person would never dream of knowing. The graphics in this game are beautifully detailed and the sounds of war battles are amazing; makes me feel like I'm in a war even though I'm sitting in my chair! Thousands of facts piled into one CD through text, pictures videos and even timelines! A unique search engine allows you to specifically find what you're looking for. A definite Joystick up...but save yourself the trouble of playing the two games involved. Nonetheless, this program is an absolute must for US. Civil War buffs!! Created in conjunction with The History Channel® and The Civil War Trust™, Civil War Experience merits a well deserved Player's Choice Award. This thing is definitive! Civil War Experience was reviewed by gameboyz reader, Corey Swavé Callahan