A World of Dinosaurs

Bring the ancient world into your home with this colossal five CD-ROM set of games and facts about dinosaurs. Whether you want to dig for fossils, watchTyrannosaurus rexthrough 3-D glasses, or simply browse through a virtual depiction of a Smithsonian dinosaur exhibit, this package can meet your needs.

A World of Dinosaursis a combination of two game CD-ROMs and three reference titles. The activities and games packed in3-D Dinosaurare designed to liven up the process of learning about the dinosaur age. Players can create their own animated, three-dimensional dinosaurs, for example, or use a feature called Art-O-Saurus to draw an entire living scene appropriate to the Jurassic, Triassic, or Cretaceous periods.I Can Be A Dinosaur Finderis a top-notch game where players dig up and assemble fossils. Though the process of unearthing dinosaur bones is necessarily simplified in this game, it does convey a real sense of the gritty and less glamorous aspects of studying dinosaurs.

The reference discs--Dinosaur Museum,Prehistoric Animals, andMultimedia Dinosaurs--combine extensive content with educational activities, such as quizzes and puzzles. Loaded with drawings, photographs, animations, and facts, they are an excellent resource on all aspects of evolution and prehistory.

Even with the inevitable data overlap between the CD-ROMs, the volume of information in this set is massive. The package is a reissue of older material, and the look of the interface reflects this mid-nineties sensibility, with animated graphics taking precedence over live-action movie files, and a certain clunkiness in the way information is accessed. This age factor is, however, a plus for users with older PC computers or Macs, because everything inA World of Dinosaursruns happily on these machines.--Alyx Dellamonica