$10.49
Brand: Vivendi Universal
Format: CD-ROM
Details: Amazon.com
Renegade spy Max Masters has unleashed an army of minions that are carrying out his devious schemes to get revenge on the Spy Masters team! Now it’s up to you to put a halt to his villainous deeds. Create your own secret identity by choosing your “cover” from head to toe, then earn the state-of-the-art spy gear you’ll need to accomplish your missions. But don’t forget to claim your gear; you’ll need the power to defeat the villains. The more missions you solve, the more spy gear you earn. Then take all the spy gear you’ve earned into each new Spy Masters title.
Navigate your way through 3-D worlds with underwater caves, an eerie pirate ship, a submerged secret lab, and beyond. Play more games in the Spy Masters series and unlock more of the 3-D worlds. Also play online! Start a team of your own or join one–use the spy gear you’ve collected to snag your rival team’s flag. Get to work saving the day while using your knowledge of science, logic, math, and language arts.
Review
This challenging adventure provides older children (3rd, 4th or 5th graders) practice with a variety of general school subjects- primarily math and reading. Children join the Spy Masters team in the fight against mischievous Max, an estranged ex-Spy Master. Kids design their character and then move him or her around a space-age environment, exploring the buildings that contain the activities and blasting bad-guy robots. There are a total of eight missions, each mixing the adventure game format with educational puzzles. In one adventure, dastardly Max has released a terrible green cloud into the air. In another, he has scrambled up animal body parts. Kids must solve the games and ultimately create antidotes to each predicament. The graphics are unusually good, and the robot blasting is fun. The program’s biggest problem is the loose design of the sometimes-repetitive activities. In the most confusing game, kids shoot numbered balls (e.g. +20, -25) into a container. They have to keep shooting balls until they add up to a specific number. It took reviewers a very long time to figure this one out, and unfortunately, our testers never did. (The game wasn’t hard but the instructions were terrible.) There are word puzzles to solve, many in which children sort words by type (noun, verb, adjective). Players will also sort objects by their categories. The more children play, the more spy gadgets they earn. The mission format is entertaining, and many nice features are included. There’s a solid record-keeping system, for instance, and players can design their own characters. A multiplayer online option is available. Just be prepared to lend a hand the first time through the game.
Teaches:
Age Range: Copyright © 2001 Children’s Software Revue — From Children’s Software Revue® — “Subscribe Now!”
UPC: 020626712408
Release Date: 28-09-2001
Package Dimensions: 10x142x68
