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BBC Balamory
For younger children (3-4 years) the favourite will no doubt be Josie Jump's Hide and Seek game, where they must find Josie in a field of people, then click on her to make her jump. Equally rewarding for the smallest players is Spencer's Colour Challenge, where youngsters use basic mouse skills and number recognition to match colours with areas of the drawing--a kind of virtual colour by numbers. All players will love Edie's Delivery Dilemma, which involves Pac-Man-like gameplay as youngsters work against the clock, using the arrow keys to direct Edie's bus around the town and picking up fruit dropped by the delivery van so that Pocket & Sweet can sell it in their shop. PC Plum Investigates asks children to sort through the evidence that is all mixed up on the policeman's desk, so he can sort out his cases--tasks such as "click on the things that are the same colour as the sea" make this game accessible to most players. Slightly older children, (4-6 years) might like to try Archie's Word Wonder, where they must fill in the missing letters on words so that Archie's Word Machine can produce words for Miss Hooly's stories. The only criticism here is that words are sounded out by name only, and not phonetically, but otherwise this is a fun, testing game. Children of school age will also enjoy Pocket & Sweet's Shopping Spree--a fun shopping game that involves helping Penny and Susie put together all their orders, then adding up the cost at the end. If players tire at any point, they can take a break with one of six Miss Hooly stories. The production quality is superb: colours are bright and images crisp and the clips from the show run perfectly. Each game is introduced and narrated by the corresponding character from the show, with original voiceovers, and the games are fun, educational and pitched perfectly at the target age-range. There are three difficulty levels for each task, to avoid frustration and aid development. Help is on offer on every screen, and children as young as three or four years old, who possess basic mouse skills, will be able to play the easier games unaided, and the others with assistance. Instructions are read out and printed on-screen, so children can follow as they listen, thus developing valuable reading skills. Great thought has obviously gone into matching characters with tasks, and the variety of games played and skills tested makes this a fantastic all-round package. --Lucie Naylor
RRP: £4.99
Our Price: £7.99 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
What's the story in Balamory? Invite your kids to join Miss Hooly, Pocket & Sweet, PC Plum, Archie, Spencer and Edie Mcredie in virtual Balamory and they will learn as they play. Based on the popular BBC TV children's programme, the BBC Balamory CD-ROM opens with the colourful introductory song viewers know so well. Children are then presented with a variety of games to test basic pre-school and early years skills.
Very primitive software
Review date: 2007-06-21 Rating: 4 out of 10
This is very primitive software. It's something you'd expect from the early 90s - not from 2007. Firstly, even though it gets installed on the hard-drive it will not run entirely from there - you have to put the CD back in each time you want to use it. This is rather annoying because not only do you need to dig out the original CD each time you also have to trust your three year old not to bust the CD drive. This is an almost certainty given the fact that for each BBC/GSP game they will have to open the CD tray and then load and unload a new disk.
The opening video sequence is also poor. It is very low resolution (again à la 1990s) and the sound quality leaves much to be desired.
The game itself is rather average to say the least. I can't believe I have wasted so much money on something that seems to have been written by a bunch of students stuck in the last decade. I'm ashamed to present this to my three year old daughter.
Accessories
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Reviews
The story's fun in Balamory
Review date: 2006-01-17 Rating: 10 out of 10
Very popular with our four year old, this CD is fun and the games are easy to get the hang of quickly, whilst having a good amount of skill development in there too as you get better at them and go up the levels.
There are five interactive games with various of the favourite characters, some harder than others, as well as video clips to watch and enjoy and a paint pack to colour on screen pictures.
This is good value and you can leave your young'un to play happily without needing to stop every five seconds to help them understand what to do. Thoroughly enjoyable - I commend it to you and your children. They will get hours of pleasure out of it and learn something too!
Good Fun for Mums and Dads Too
Review date: 2005-02-21 Rating: 8 out of 10
Everything about this television based programme is well thought out and geared towards young children's minds and the CD continues in that vein. No wonder well known television "celebrities" are falling over themselves to get a cameo part on the programme.
The CD is easy to understand and you can leave you child to get on with it in the knowledge that they are not being brainwashed or subjected to material you would not approve of.
There are 5 games and activities on the disc and the characters will be familiar to most children.
The disc encourages children to learn new skills and hand co-ordination and best of all it gives them lots of fun and pleasure at the same time.
BBC BALAMORY
Review date: 2004-04-05 Rating: 10 out of 10
My three year old daughter found this CD Rom very easy to use. She found it very interesting and it had plenty of activities to keep her interest going. There was several activities that she could not do by herself but she had fun trying. This will give her future enjoyment as she learns to do more. I would highly recommend this CD Rom.
Product Details/Specifications
Recording label: Avanquest Software
Manufacturer: Avanquest Software
EAN: 5032956105015
Binding: CD-ROM
Release date: 2004-02-27
Platform: Windows MeWindows XPWindows 98
Brand: Avanquest Software