Take Flight
Reviewed by Anise Hollingshead
Published by VtechSoft, Inc.

Age Group: Age 4 to 8, Age 8 and Up Type: Science Price: $29.95 US

Description:

Take Flight is a program that teaches kids aged 7 and up about the scientific reasons behind flight. There are 5 activities that teach basic principles of aerodynamics: Balloon Lander, Paper Planes, Born to Fly, Winged Adventure, and Wind Tunnel. In Ballon Lander kids must manipulate a balloon's air release, ballast removal, and heater to land the balloon. Paper Planes is an activity that shows how different paper planes can be folded and then printed out. Born to Fly is an interactive cartoon detailing how birds can fly and Wind Tunnel allows kids to choose different parts on an airplane and then see if it can fly. Princess Seattle must choose the correct birds to help her in recovering certain jewels in Winged Adventure.

Features:

• A scrapbook of information on flight
• Small videos of flight in action
• Activities demonstrating flight

Technical Aspects:

Take Flight installed easily, but the videos were not very clear. During installation, there was a pop-up message saying that my computer was not configured for 256 colors and that it should be for optimum play. However, my computer was set at 256 colors at the time of installation so I don't know why it stated that it wasn't. So either the videos weren't very clear because the game thought the colors were set improperly, or that was as clear as they could get.

Report and Conclusions:

I was very intrigued when I first installed this game to see if Vtech could take a subject like aerodynamics and make it interesting to kids. Well, there are definitely LOTS of facts about birds, planes and flight in general and the activities do a great job incorporating these facts into practical use. I think Vtech made a sincere effort of producing a game for young kids that would be educational and fun. But unfortunately, there is not enough game play to keep the child's interest for very long. Balloon Lander, Wind Tunnel (we kept making weird planes so we could watch them crash and burn!) and Winged Adventure are all fun activities, but overall the game doesn't offer as much variety as it could.

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