This learning software offers a novel approach: it integrates off-computer pencil puzzles with onscreen adventure and activities.
The story line unfolds through a series of cartoon-style illustrations. Characters talk to you, but there is minimal animation.
Carmen and Juni are assigned to a case involving the disappearance of some rare anti-gravity ore. Periodically within the CD-ROM adventure, the story pauses and sends that the player to find special access codes found in the accompanying 32-page "Official Spy Codebook." However, those codes must be uncovered by players working through word searches, word unscrambles, math puzzles and the like, using a pen or pencil. The Codebook contains 14 different puzzles, and each case randomly selects 5 of the 14.
In addition to these printed brain-twisters, the CD-ROM adventure also involves children in playing eight interesting interactive puzzles (each has three levels of difficulty). One activity has kids fire lasers off the panels of a wall to discover which panels are false. By using the color and sound responses from each hit, kids can deduce which panel is hollow. In another, they must align crystals in a grid so that the crystals conform to specified rules relating to color and shape.
Many software adventures weave interactive puzzles into their story line. This software is different because it integrates pencil puzzles with interactive ones.
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