Software Reviews--Rescue Heroes Tremor Trouble from Fisher-Price and Knowledge Adventure

Cyber News and Reviews is a monthly column published since 1995 for parents, teachers and small business and home business owners offering articles on some of the best computer products available. I cover business software, education, entertainment with freeware and shareware, and some hardware too. Over the years, I've reviewed computer programs from Microsoft, Knowledge Adventure (Davidson) and others. When my kids were young, they couldn't wait for the software to arrive and have fun testing the games and lessons with me. And, in the past few years they've contributed some of their own reviews with opinions. The best advice on software is from the children who use it. Also, many of the business programs reviewed are useful for home business and small business owners. HB

Rescue Heroes Tremor Trouble from Fisher-Price and Knowledge Adventure

Okay, kids, get ready for some robotic fun with this new adventure game from Fisher-Price and Knowledge adventure called Rescue Heroes Tremor Trouble, for kids ages 4 through 7. Join the Rescue Heroes and help an amusement park recover from a terrible earthquake and save trapped people on the rides. The software is supplied on 2 CDs offering excellent graphics and sound, guaranteed to capture any student's attention.

After a quick installation from CD 1, you'll sign in and then select one of 3 levels: Trainee, Specialist or Expert. Then you'll meet the Ultimate Robotic Vehicle (URV) after you watch a neat video of the earthquake and the damages it causes to the amusement park. The URV is your guide through all the rescues activities.

Your assistance is needed in the four areas of the amusement park: High Sierras, Gold Rush Gulch, African Savannah World and Deep Sea Wilderness. You'll need to free people stuck in a cable car in the High Sierras and stop an out-of-control roller coaster at Gold Rush Gulch. At African Savannah World you'll save the animals and in the Deep Sea Wilderness take a dip in a scuba suit to attach a cable to the submarine stuck on the bottom of the pool. At each area you must solve a puzzle in order to successfully meet the challenge.

Becky, my 7-year-old daughter, found Rescue Heroes fun, but too easy at the Trainee (easy) level, however, she's seven, and that level is not meant for her age group. After switching to the Expert level, she had no complaints. Actually, I found some of the activities somewhat difficult at the Trainee level. Often kids are better at puzzles than some of the over fifty crowd (I admit being part of that group). She managed to solve the puzzles and save the people with much less effort them me.

Rescue Heroes Tremor Trouble sells for $19.99 and will run on any multimedia PC, Pentium 233 MHz or faster, 64 MB RAM with Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and a 16x CD-ROM drive. It also runs on a Power Mac G3 233 MHz or faster with 64 MB RAM and a 24x CD-ROM drive. For more information, or to order, visit Amazon.com.

Howard Berenbon

Software Companies Mentioned

Knowledge Adventure, Inc.
19840 Pioneer Avenue
Torrance, CA 90503
Phone: 1-800-545-7677
URL: http://www.education.com

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