Arthur! Ready to Race
© 2000 The Learning Company
Arthur and the gang are trying to build the perfect soapbox race car. To get the parts, they must play activities sprinkled throughout Elwood City. For a new car body, kids guide Arthur through a spooky cemetery in search of Binky's missing backpack. For a new set of wheels, children move Arthur through a maze of library stacks to find Baby Kate before D.W. does. During each activity, coins are earned and trading cards are collected, which come in handy later on. The game has some serious ease of use problems. Arthur is tough to navigate with the arrow keys of the controller, making it very hard to win some of the games. In Muffy's Garden Challenge, for instance, it's nearly impossible to collect the necessary tomatoes. No matter how kids position Arthur, they still can't get his picking arm to work. In Pal Chase, none of our testers successfully caught Pal before time ran out. Without success at these games, unfortunately, kids can't earn car parts, and are unable to participate in the race. Though the game has lots of fun features, all things considered, it's just too tough for most of us, especially four- to seven-year old children.
$19.99, PlayStation
Teaches: logic, memory, timing