Barney Goes to the Circus
Reviewed by Cynthia A. Sorrels
Published by Microsoft

Age Group: Age 2 to 5 Type: Thinking Games Price: $34.99 US

Description:

Barney Goes to the Circus is full of educational activities and is compatible with the Actimates Barney doll (sold separately.) There are six different areas in the circus, and five of those areas can be played in two ways - Activity or Explore mode. Kids can even save their creations as "gifts" for their parents. The title was designed in collaboration with early learning aspects.

Features:

• Five fun educational games.
• Two ways to play: Activity and Explore.
• Familiar characters from the Barney show.
• Clips from the television series.
• Parent's Room for ideas and more.

Technical Aspects:

We also ran this program on our 486/66 with 16M RAM and had no problems with installation or runtime on either system. The graphics are done cartoon style, except the "Video Ferris Wheel," which contains a number of clips from the television show. These clips ran smoothly, and we had no problems with the audio. In fact, on our 486 system, the program automatically offered us the option of upgrading the driver for our SoundBlaster 16.

Report and Conclusions:

This program was designed for children ages 2 to 5 and incorporates all the fun you'd expect from the Great Purple One. My 3 and 4 year old are currently taking turns, and we've had to set up a timer so they both get a chance to play with Barney. The activities include a lot of positive feedback (although I wish Barney wouldn't say, "You got that right the FIRST time!" quite so often) and in the Explore mode there are coloring pages and projects that kids can save for their parents to see.

One question in my mind was whether the title could stand on its own, without the Actimates doll to accompany it. The answer? A resounding "YES!" Barney fans will love it.

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