Developer: Virtual VTech Distributor: Virtual VTech Minimum System Requirements Windows 95/98 or higher Pentium 90 Mhz or Higher (will run on 486 DX2, 66MHz with 8 MB of RAM) 16MB RAM 1 MB available hard drive space Sound Blaster 8-bit compatible sound card 256 colors/SVGA or higher (640X480 screen resolution) 4x (600 kb/sec) CD-ROM drive or faster mouse Recommended Configuration Same as the minimum configuration # of Players: Single Player. No Multiplayer Control options: Keyboard and Mouse Rating: Everyone Genre: Educational. Target grade 2 to 4 Testers: 8yr old Grade 3 Daughter 6yr old Grade 1 Daughter 5yr old Kindergarten Nephew Parent: Bob Bryenton, 38 yr old Dad and College Teacher. Smart Start is just that, a smart start for your kids. It also has a strong finish. The suite of puzzles, games, and exercises were fun and educational and provided a solid environment for establishing some of the basic skills that children require. The edutainment component centers on a young boy named Andy and his faithful companion, a mechanical bird named, Bosun as they journey to Smart Planet. Smart Planet is a world cleverly disguised in fun gameplay that actually teaches math, science, geography, reading and writing skills plus many others (totaling over 14 learning areas). Installation: The game ships on 1 CD and plays from the CD. Only 1 MB of hard disk space is required. Installation is as simple as inserting the CD and selecting OK. You are given the option to change the install directory, but there is nothing else that needs configuring. Graphics: The game is set in Andy's space ship. From here you navigate to different parts of Smart Planet. The graphical interface is a comfortable paradigm. The user clicks on hotspots or items to do actions. This was a familiar interface that none of the kids had any trouble adapting too. Technically the graphics run in 256 colors at a resolution of 640 x 480. One nice thing I noticed was that if my screen was set to 32 bit color, the game still ran. I have a few games for the kids that require the screen to be set to only 256 colors. This was a pleasant surprise. Audio: Audio is provided in standard 8 bit format. I could not detect any stereo channels, but none are really required. The game makes full use of sound though. Andy zips around in his space ship with alarms and the ever talking mechanical parrot giving valuable advice and instructions. What was pleasing was to see a few exercises that involved sound. I particularity liked the music hall where kids must "assemble" a song from its pieces. This was fun, and as the manual says: "Teaches: Music basics, rhythm and beats, develops listening and sequential memorization skills." Game Play: The game is widely varied in the things the kids can do. All of the exercises can be completed within 5 - 10 min so playing for a long or short time is possible. Kids register with the login screen where it asks for their name, age, grade, and school. Although I could not tell if any of this information other than the name was used anywhere in the program. From the login screen they are launched in their space ship to Smart Planet. Kids explore Smart Planet by clicking on the various regions, where each region is a different exercise. It is not apparent what each region represents, but the kids had a lot of fun discovering what each area was. Each child (I am counting Dad as a child here too) ended up with a different favorite area. Most of the exercises had a difficulty setting of 1-3. My grade 3 Daughter found most of the areas easy, but they were still fun. For the other two kids, there was lots of room for challenge and growth, while still providing exercises that were fun and doable that encouraged an attitude of success. The game provides the "Flight Report" which is intended to allow a user or parent to gauge how well the child is doing. It provides either a percentage or a bar graph showing attempts against successes. I was disappointed here. The graph is for the current session only, and could not be saved. If the child logs off before you can see the chart, there is no way to evaluate the last session. I would also love to be able to compare the charts on a monthly basis. They did suggest printing the "flight report" on each session and creating a folder, but this should really be something that is done within the context of the game. Manual and Documentation The manual covers all of the basics of using the program. It describes how to navigate and do each exercise. It was easy to read with no noticeable errors. The manual is targeted towards the parents. Virtual VTech did a wonderful job of describing each exercise and adding a "Teaches:" section for each lesson. This teaches section describes what the exercise is trying to get the child to learn. Some are hard core math and reading. Others are more abstract, like rhythm and coordination. I liked this because following a session, it was very easy to have a discussion with the children about what they may have learned. Conclusion: Smart Start Adventures is a fun learning environment. It is a very useful aid for a parent interested in their child's education. It is well-written, and easy and fun to use. The only thing missing is the ability to chart a child's progress within the game without resorting to the printer. The target grades are 2 - 4, but I found that both my nephew and younger daughter had no trouble using the game or learning from some of the exercises. I give Smart Start Adevntures an "A". If they add the ability to chart a child's progress, they will get an "A+" from this parent. For you GameBoyz types this equates to 4 out of 5 joysticks! Smart Start Adventures was reviewed by Bob "Dad" Bryenton on his tested machines: Low end system: Pentium 233 96 MB of Ram 3 GB Hard drive Creative labs Banshee 16MB Creative Labs Awe 64 Sound Card MS Sidewinder Precision Pro. Hi end system PIII - 550 256 MB of Ram 17 GB Hard drive Creative Labs Banshee AGP 16MB Creative Labs Soundblaster Live Value Yamaha YST-M15 Speakers MS Sidewinder Precision Pro