Adventure games generally involve children taking an active role in a story, where clues have to be followed and problems solved before the adventurer can progress to the next stage. They are very rewarding in that they provide a wealth of stimuli across the curriculum - encouraging reading, thinking and planning.

Selective Software has a history of providing simple yet effective educational adventure games for the 8-bit computer, including programs for infant, junior and lower secondary school pupils, all of which have proved popular both in schools and at home. Topologika has also built quite a name for itself as publishers of educational adventure games with popular packages such as Giant Killer, the widely used mathematical adventure, as well as being responsible for classic material like Countdown To Doom by Peter Killworth.

The character of Freddy Teddy first appeared for the Archimedes and A3000 in a package of three programs, which Topologika published to support matching and sequencing activities for very young children.

Freddy Teddy's Adventure is the first in its series of educational adventures aimed at children aged five to seven. This is a colourful and easy-to-use educational adventure game set in Freddy's forest. The little bear has lost his honey without which he cannot go to the picnic, and the child's task is to help him find it. The child also has to help Freddy find some nuts, a clock and an invitation.

The adventure is started by clicking on the Teddy icon in the directory viewer. The program is not multi-tasking but it fully utilises the icons, mouse and pointer, encouraging the child to explore the full potential of the machine. At the start of the adventure a number of scenes are shown on the screen, grouped around the main menu. These include a hollow tree, the wood, a picnic site and Freddy Teddy's house and garden. These are the places where the adventure takes place.

To visit a particular scene move the pointer over the required picture and click any mouse button. Once selected, the chosen location is shown, together with a message giving you some information or asking you to search for something at the site. Many of the pictures provided are interactive and as you click on them further messages appear. This is particularly effective for searching tasks, which constitute a major element of Freddy Teddy's Adventure.

In one scene the squirrel has lost his winter store of nuts somewhere in the large tree, and Freddy Teddy has to help him search for them. There are all sorts of things to be found - a click on one branch brings up a bird's nest with a parent feeding its young. Eventually the nuts are found in a hollow in the trunk.

As well as searching for specified objects some scenes, have puzzles to solve, while other include counting and memorizing objects. In a forest clearing the bears have to be counted as they appear on screen so that the correct number of sandwiches can be made. Furthermore some scenes cannot be visited until certain clues have been collected or other places have been visited.

Interestingly the authors have added the dimension of time to the game. This is simulated by incrementing a counter by a random amount each time the mouse is used. When the counter exceeds a program defined value, darkness will fall before the picnic can take place. As all children will understand, bears don't go searching around in the woods late at night!

Little Red Riding Hood first appeared for the BBC, and now makes a welcome appearance in an improved package for the A3000. Although well executed with excellent graphics, and music developed with Tracker, the program really fails to harness the power of the A3000. Why does it use double-sized text, ignoring the potential of outline fonts? However, as an educational program it still has a great deal to offer.

It is an adventure in two separate parts. The first section follows Red Riding Hood as she travels through the forest to her grandma's house. This is not as easy as it at first appears - it is a linear journey on which the children using the program are expected to solve simple problems.

These puzzles generally have a mathematical content, and involve the children collecting a number of objects and remembering some of the things they are told by the various creatures they meet.

The forest is a magical place where plants, animals and other creatures take on a life of their own. Eventually they meet the wolf! Clever graphics and some basic animation make the child feel it is actually happening, but by using something collected on the way the wolf is frightened away and grandma's cottage is finally reached.

The second part of Little Red Riding Hood follows the story on from the cottage. Grandma has wandered off into the forest and Red Riding Hood has to looking for her. After a while, a bluebird appears to tell her that her grandma has been taken by the Giant to his castle.

This part of the program is more of a true adventure type program where the child is given a choice of movement between a number of locatons on an on-screen map using the mouse and pointer. The objective is to help Red Riding Hood search for her grandma. Along the way objects have to be collected and used. For instance, the child has to find a coin to throw into the well for good luck, and a rope to cross the broken bridge. Simple record keeping and map reading skills are also required in this part of the program.

From each location children can only move to an adjacent location connected by a footpath. A clever touch is that a box appears around those areas to which movement is allowed, and the pointer will not move out of the box.

Little Red Riding Hood is a highly motivating program, suitable for children of infant school age.

These packages are ideal for anyone with young children. Freddy Teddy's Adventure comes with a beautifully produced reading book, full of recognition and counting tasks, while Little Red Riding Hood includes an extensive manual with a large number of tasks to follow up.

Both programs successfully create imaginary worlds that young children easily identify with aimed at such a level that they can be explored without adult supervision.

The puzzles and tasks are not too difficult and most importantly the programs foster much discussion and conversation. Once they have encountered these programs, children will want to play them again and again.