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Educational games for children are becoming a fairly common sight on the Amstrad and so quality is paramount if a program is to make an impact.

So when Disney, unchallenged master of children's entertainment, decides to release a game, it ought to be something very special indeed.

Donald's Alphabet Chase sees the bad-tempered duck looking round his house for his missing alphabet pets. Alphabet pets, as if you didn't know, are little letter-shaped animals with a penchant for devilment and mischief.

Donald's task is to round up the pesky little varmints and put them in their correct place. The letters are scattered in various rooms throughout the house. To help find the letters, the child simply presses the key they wish Donald to next search for. Don will then go to the correct room, find the letter, and tuck it safely away.

If a few moments are allowed to elapse without a key being pressed, one of the letters will appear on the screen anyway (though Donald won't be able to catch it until you press the appropriate key). There is no indication of which letters have already been caught, so this at least gives an idea of what's left to go for.

Once all the letters in a particular location have been collected, a section of the alphabet song is played. The more locations completed, the more of the tune is played. Then Donald leaves the room, unable to visit it again.

The action moves from room to room, with more of the diabolical little letters showing up in the most unlikely places. They could be in the fridge, behind the TV or swinging from the lightshade. Donald, once he has spotted the letter, will grab it when prompted. He may have to jump to reach the darn thing, but he'll get it eventually.

The main problem with this mode of 'play' is the repetitive nature of the action. Donald is only able to perform one task. This task may well be carried out in several different settings and situations, but it wasn't quite enough to hold my niece Lucy's attention.

A four year old has a fairly short attention span and a few more tasks would have helped keep things going. Still, the colourful graphics were a delight to the child and the interaction with a favourite Disney character is a real boon to a toddler.

On the graphics side of things, there are few complaints. The screen is filled with a positive feast of colour. Donald is well animated, perhaps a little slowly, but the essence of his character is there.

The title is aimed at a fairly wide age group; two to five. This may not sound like a large range, but the difference in ability between the two extremes of this group is larger than you'd think. The five year olds probably know their alphabet already and should be putting it to some use by that point. Two and three year olds however would probably appreciate something as simplistic as this.

The other problem is that the program doesn't teach alphabetical order directly, although the alphabet is displayed. The letters can be chosen in any order, and so it is up to a parent or teacher to explain which goes where.

The question is, does the program do what it is supposed to? Is it as educational as Disney would have us believe? The short answer is no. As attractive as it looks, the program doesn't stand up to much analysis.

Flashing lights and simple tunes are not enough to justify the purchase. When compared to the competition this looks fairly dire. Good advice would be to shop around for a more flexible package.

P. Colourful and attractive, with instantly recognisable characters.
P. Donald's tantrums and animated sequences bring many a young chuckle.

N. The slow pace is frustrating.
N. Repetitve 'gameplay' soon promotes boredom.
N. Only a handful of different 'scenes'.
N. Poor value - you get little education for your money.