Acorn User


Granny's Garden

Author: Jeremy Vine
Publisher: 4Mation Educational Resources Ltd
Machine: BBC B/B+/Master 128

 
Published in Acorn User #016

Toadstools And Dragons In Mode 7

Granny's Garden is a delightful 32K adventure for young children from 4mat Educational Software. In this adventure you are transported from 'Granny's Garden' to the Kingdom of the Mountains where the wicked witch has imprisoned the King and Queen and their children.

The adventure is in two parts and your task is to rescue the children by going through four different locations solving the puzzles. During the fantasy trip you will meet a talking toadstool, magic raven, spider, dragon and a host of other characters. To complete each part of the adventure various passwords must be found. The tape comes with a helpful booklet for the teacher or parent, and suggests a number of ideas for further discussion from the program.

The program is well presented in Mode 7 and contains colourful teletext graphics with occasional moving pictures and sound. Throughout the program only one-word responses are required. One feature that caught my attention was incorrect spellings being accepted. This would be fine if the child were corrected on the spelling and allowed to continue, but the program makes no correction of spelling mistakes it accepts. Error-trapping is somewhat erratic, allowing a child to sometimes enter rubbish and have it accepted as a valid answer.

These are problems which should not exist in educational software and are flaws in what is otherwise a well thought-out program. Despite these criticisms, this is a good attempt at an adventure game at a very young level and a trend I hope to see develop.

Jeremy Vine

Other BBC B/B+/Master 128 Game Reviews By Jeremy Vine


  • Scrabble Front Cover
    Scrabble
  • Dogfight Front Cover
    Dogfight
  • I Do Front Cover
    I Do
  • The Dating Game Front Cover
    The Dating Game
  • Brian Jacks' Superstar Challenge Front Cover
    Brian Jacks' Superstar Challenge