This is another of the school of programs which rely on "practice makes perfect". It may have some validity, but is really yet another sum program in fancy dressing.

In this case, it's a car rally in which you have to visit all the towns on the map, moving your car using cursor keys and earning fuel by your correct answers to the problems posed. The program is tidy in every respect with clear screens and pleasant graphics but is unexciting in most respects too. I have the impression it is the sort of program parents will like a lot and children loathe just as much.

There are four levels of difficulty (in two separate programs), all fully explained in a leaflet. All arithmetic operations but, no help facility. On the second wrong answer, the colour of the problem changes "for greater clarity", according to the blurb. The parents' leaflet reads: "The simulation of a car rally may not be immediately obvious to younger children." In which case why use the idea at all?

D.C.