Review of "Where's the Blanket Charlie Brown?"

I'll admit it. I bought this CD-ROM for myself because I am a Peanuts fan. Fortunately, my children really like it. And I was tickled to see them fall in love with the same cartoon characters I adored as a child.

This title will not teach your children their "1-2-3's" or "A-B-C's", or how to calculate square roots. What it will do is get them to thinking and problem solving. Curiosity and persistence will be rewarded by fun clickables and nine hidden side games. Children will also need to search the screen for items to be used as they solve the mystery; for example The Great Houndini's hat and a library card.

The plot begins when Linus wails that he will have to give up his beloved blanket when Grandma comes. Good ol' Charlie Brown offers to keep it for him. But alas, somehow it gets lost. The search is on.

Players choose whether to be Charlie Brown or Lucy. Then they pick a Snoopy icon so they can easily return to the game.

The game is different depending on which character you choose. There are also two difficulty levels for most activities, but other than that it is not randomized. This shouldn't be too much of a problem especially for younger children. Once children solve the mystery, they enjoy playing it again because they build confidence as they remember the trail of clues to follow.

Also as players try to solve the mystery of the hidden blanket they must also keep an eye on the Snoopy meter to make sure the beagle is in good shape. If the needle starts to drop, look for things to revive Snoopy, such as root beer, pizza, or a fan.

The game is fairly easy to navigate from the icon bar at the bottom of the screen. Here you can change the language from English to German, adjust the volume and music, pause the game, store found items, watch Snoopy's energy meter, return to the beginning, or exit the game.

"Help" information is included on the CD-ROM. Most players will need to refer to this at least once, especially the first time the game is played. Although the age range for this title is 4-102, this 40 something mom got stumped and down right frustrated a few times. However, a visit to Help straightened things out.

I ran this program on an iMac, and for the most part everything operated smoothly. Some sections were slow and jerky, especially the parts where the characters moved.

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