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Scholastic's The Magic School Bus Visits the Ocean
Ages 6 to 10, science
Wahoo!" Alexa, 6, anticipated the cheer that typically launches a new adventure aboard The Magic School Bus. The Magic School Bus Visits the Ocean turned out to be Ms. Frizzle's gang's classiest trip yet.
"I love the Magic School Bus--I watch it on TV every weekend," said Victoria, 8, as she clicked to move the bus from the Sandy Beach to five underwater environments--the kelp forest, the coral reef, the tidal pool, the open ocean and the deep sea vents.
Then, decked out in virtual scuba gear, she dove into the watery depths in search of sunken treasure. Each undersea area teaches you about marine life; players earn souvenir fish cards as they seek their fortune.
Some kids, such as 8-year-old Jennifer, were disappointed by the game's relative timidity. "I thought it was going to be, like, you could swim, and a shark would come and attack you and stuff," she lamented.
But Alexa and Joseph, 6, found plenty of action. In control of a crab, Alexa quickly moved to gobble up clams, then duck into the sea or holes in the sand to hide from predatory seabirds, while Joseph barked out instructions: "Get the food. Quick. Here comes the bird. Now dive in that hole." Without his coaching, he told her, "you would have been mish-mash soup."
But he became mish-mash soup soon enough, when it was his turn and a gull carried away his crab.
"Aw, man..." he complained. "Why do birds eat crabs anyway? Crabs have pincers. Why don't they just reach up with their claws and snap 'em out of the sky?"
$44.95 (Windows 3.1 CD-ROM) from Microsoft, (800) 426-9400, (206) 822-8080.
MTV's Beavis and Butt-head in Virtual Stupidity
Ages 13 and up, comic mischief
Take heart, Dillweeds--there is truth in advertising. MTV's Beavis and Butt-head in Virtual Stupidity delivers exactly what its name promises.
The program follows the antics of the less-than-dynamic cartoon duo in the same dorked-out, pointless pursuits familiar to many kids from the popular MTV series. The idea, such as it is, is to prove you're cooler than they are--admittedly, not much of a challenge--and gain acceptance into super-coolman Todd's gang. You accompany the two troglodytes to school, insult classmates, veg out in front of the TV, spit off the roofs of buildings, hurl tennis balls at yuppies and, in a rare show of creativity, compose a gaseous symphony.
If the pair were to try their own disc, they'd probably lose interest at the first delay, turn to each other and say, "Let's go break stuff." The teens in the Lab didn't do that, but they didn't think the disc was cool, either. In fact, the only kids who would play it were a few of the younger ones, who have just recently received permission from their parents to watch the show on TV.
Joseph, 6, was puzzled by much of the humor, but he thought "it was funny when Beavis and Butt-head tried to get the woman to like them."
"Yeah," said 8-year-old Joshua of the destructive duo, "but what they really need is a lawyer."
$65 (Windows 95 CD-ROM) from Viacom NewMedia, (800) 469-2539, (970) 339-7103.
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