How Do You Spell Adventure?
Reviewed by Cynthia A. Sorrels
Published by Sanctuary Woods

Age Group: Age 8 and Up Type: Language Arts, Thinking Games Price:

PC version requires:
386/33, 4M RAM, 5M HD, x2 CD-ROM

Mac version requires:
Version not available.

Description:

Sanctuary Woods is how we spell ADVENTURE. In teaming up with Ripley's Believe it or Not!, How Do You Spell Adventure? offers arcade-style games interlaced with interesting facts and language arts skills cleverly integrated into the action.

Installation

No problems were noted during installation, however, the program would not install to the removable disk, it insisted upon using up hard drive space.

What do you want to do?

This title offers more options for play than most games do. The beginning options include loading a New or Saved Game or Word Activities. The next choice is to Solve the Mystery of the Tablet or go on a single adventure in the Jungle, Temple or Cave. There are options for skills to focus upon: reading, spelling, vocabulary or all three. The language difficulty level may be set from 1 to 5 and the sound can be turned on or off from this main menu.

How to Play

Use the arrow keys to move Ripley through the mazes and collect treasures. The spacebar will crack Ripley's whip and protect from the flying ammunition. To earn money and find the pieces, answer all the questions correctly. Watch out! Ripley only has 3 lives. He loses a life when he is cornered by a serpent, spider or dragon, falls into a goop pool, or dies during one of the arcade-style challenges.

Each of the three environments is set up as a maze and features:

• four quadrants,
• obstacles and trap doors, both visible and invisible,
• antagonists, including a bird who steals money if Ripley is hit by a flying object,
• chests, barrels and trunks full of money,
• a money round after you answer 5 questions correctly,
• power pellets that give Ripley money or disappear the enemy for 5 seconds

Choosing to Solve the Mystery of the Tablet takes the player through all three adventures to collect money, treasures, and precious historical items, while trying to win the piece of the tablet on each level. It's harder than you'd think!

The Jungle

Watch out for those serpents! If they spit on you, you'll fall asleep and crows will steal your money. Be sure to grab barrels, they have untold treasures, and grab the treasure chests, too - the prizes vary. Careful for the sinkholes, you'll have to spell your way out.

IF you make your way through the Jungle, you'll come out at the Monkey Spit Challenge. You'll cross the piranha-infected lake using the arrow keys on your keyboard to guide Ripley. If Ripley doesn't make it across the lake, he loses a life and the challenge is over.

Challenges Await in the Temple

In the temple, you'll be confronted with a sneezing Buddah - just avoid him. Grab everything you can and get out quickly! Look out for the Dragon, though.

If you survive the skirmish in the Temple, you're in for the experience of a lifetime - Dragon Breath. You've got to help Ripley find the Exit by moving him to the floor openings while avoid the Dragon Breath. Get the fireman's suit to get "fire-proofed" for one hit. If he gets hit when he's not fire-proofed, he loses a life and the challenge is over.

The CAVE

Look out for the cave, there are some strange inhabitants hiding there. Grab the goodies and hit the exit FAST! The next section features the Bat Drop, where you collect 10 unlit sticks of dynamite to blow a hole in the cave wall. Trouble is, they're all falling together and it's hard to tell which are lit and unlit!

Word Activities

There are 3 options in the Spelling Vocabulary List Maker:List Maker allows you to enter your own spelling or vocabulary words with their definitions. You can also edit previous lists. Spelling Activity: lets you practice spelling words from the game's lists or from the lists created in List Maker. You can choose to hear the game's words or see the words flash. The Vocabulary Activity is an interactive game to test knowledge of words and their definitions. A definition appears that must be matched with the correct word. Practice the vocabulary words entered in List Maker or practice the game's vocabulary words. The Glossary contains all of the vocabulary words in the program. Click on a word to see the definition.

To Compare:

How Do You Spell Adventure has a greater depth of information and can be customized to the individual's specific needs, which is not offered by Dream Team's Basic Spelling Tricks. However, my 12 year old daughter maintains that How Do You Spell Adventure's arcade challenges are much more difficult than the language arts questions are, and that Basic Spelling Tricks has harder spelling words. Of the two, she prefers the Dream Team Basic Spelling Tricks title. Her opinion may be biased by the time investment she has in the Basic Spelling Tricks game. She doesn't realize she's going to invest time in How Do You Spell Adventure too! I notice that she has longer sessions with How Do You Spell Adventure? than with the other title.

If you have any problems when using Kids Domain then please contact Cindy, who will be happy to help where possible.

[Beginners - Ages 2-5 - Ages 4-8 - Ages 8 up - Grownups]

[Subject Indexes - Kids Home - Online Games - Grownups Place]

Copyright ⌐ Kids Domain, 1998.