Europress Software
£12.99 cass (each)

Two plus two equals... erm, seven. Oh dear, readers, I think the Crash team need to return to the classroom for a couple of days. Or alternatively, play the latest range of educational games released by our parent company (grovel, smarm). Mark 'Swotty Git' Caswell dons a mortar board and arms himself with a can to review the Fun School 4 packs...

There are three game packs on offer, each containing six games. These are for under-fives, five to seven-year-olds and seven to eleven-year-olds. Quite why the Ed asked me to review these game I don't know, at 27 I'm an old crusty (I reckon its punishment for deserting CRASH). But with the Ed's stiletto heel two inches away from my groin, I'll start with the under-fives pack:

First off we have 'Addition', where Teddy and five of his pals are sitting in front of a blackboard. Teacher Ted shows pictures and you press the corresponding number on the keyboard. Get it right and Teddy and his classmates are allowed out to play.

'Teddy Paint' allows you to become an Oli Frey acolyte for the day. By pressing different keys choose a variety of shapes and colours, so let your imagination run wild.

In 'Fun Train', Teddy takes a train ride. All you do is match the picture on the Fun Train carriage to the one in the middle of the Fun Train ride.

A bit of DIY (destroy it yourself) comes next as you help the decorators paint Teddy's house. Different parts of the house are highlighted and a range of colours are offered - if you want to paint the chimney yellow, go ahead.

In 'Teddy's Karaoke', you help him pick, play and sing a selection of songs for his party. Finally, Teddy's Books'sees Daddy Bear reading a story to Teddy and his friends. All you have to do is identify the book Daddy Bear's reading.

FIVE TO SEVENS

The five to seven pack kicks off with 'Library', where Freddy The Frog offers to help out with a bit of book tidying. So you're presented with a pile of books that need sorting into alphabetical order.

'Basketball'sees Freddy join the Harlem Globetrotters (the first person in the office to whistle 'Sweet Georgia Brown' will be punched). Out on the basketball court you identify the missing letter; a correct answer lets Freddy lob a ball into the basket.

Freddy goes to the supermarket next in 'Shopkeeper', our froggy hero tells you what he needs from the shop and you decide how much it costs (the price of milk these days, mutter, moan, whinge).

Help Freddy build his log cabin in the game (unsurprisingly) titled 'Log Cabin'. Simple sums appear on the screen; if you provide the correct answer Freddy adds another log to his home (get it wrong and he dies of hypothermia).

In 'Opposites', Freddy's wife wants to dive into a pond, but she can't until you answer some 'opposite' questions. Finally, Freddy wants to cross the pond, too, so answer questions to help him escape the crocodile.

SEVEN TO ELEVENS

Last but by no means least, we have the seven to elevens pack. In 'Proportions' you help Sammy The Spy work out decimals, fractions and percentages.

Your general knowledge is tested in 'Spy Quiz'; if you succeed Sammy can carry out his mission. Next Sammy finds himself abroad, so in 'Exchange Rates' buy (and identity) five major currencies.

In 'Spy Travels', help Sammy find the secret spy base. He travels across the world in various vehicles but can't navigate to save his life (thicky!). And in 'Desert Dates' help Sammy answer historical questions and discover the secret of the pyramids.

Despite the fact I left school a decade or so ago, I greatly enjoyed playing Fun School 4. I was impressed with the presentation of all the games. The graphics are especially noteworthy - some are monochrome but others contain all the colours of the rainbow!

These packs are excellent value for money. Parents and teachers alike could do far worse than look at the Fun School range of games (phew, I think my job is safe) (bloody creep - Ed).

MARK [83%]

Ooo, little teddies everywhere! I like a challenging game to play now and then, something to test my skills to the full. That's why I got lumbered with Fun School 4! The three packs cater for different age groups and all are full of fun, informative graphics and brilliant animated sequences. The Fun School series has all the educational value you need but presents it in such a way to keep the child interested. A favourite game of mine is Teddy D's Karaoke, where you select the nursery rhyme to bop along to and the words come up on screen. We've been playing it constantly in the office - it's driving everyone around the bend! I recommend Fun School 4 to anyone wanting to continue their child's education at home. I wish I'd had such great games to play in my early learning years (whadda ya mean, I'm still only little!).
NICK [90%]

SPEC SCHOOL

Remember how you conned you mum and dad into getting you a Speccy? "I won't just play games on it, honest, mum! Computers are an essential part of the modern world, and you wouldn't want me growing up deprived and technologically backwards, would you?"

And ever since it's been one long round of blasting, leaping, joystick-waggling and generally mind-rotting your-mother-wouldn't-like-it fun!

So, just to keep 'em from whinging about you wasting your life, why not check out a couple of educational programs (said through gritted teeth). No, honest, they're not as bad as they sound.

The bunch reviewed here are all for under-eights, so for most of you they'll only be any good if you've got a kid brother or sister. Still, they'll keep your mum happy and keep little Johnny from using your Kylie records as frisbees. That's if you trust him with your Speccy, of course!

FUN SCHOOL 4 - 5 TO 7 YEAR OLDS
Europress Software
£12.99 cass/£16.99 disk
Reviewer: Dave Golder

Fun School for the more mature little Spec-chum. The linking character here is Freddy the Frog - I mean, at five you re just too old for Teddies, aren't you? (Unless you're James, of course.)

Best of the six games here is Typing which features a dopey-looking crocodile who's hot on Freddy's tail. You can save Freddy by typing in certain letters, words or sentences. Type them correctly and Freddy hops hurriedly out of the range of the crocodile's teeth. Finally he reaches an island where someone has left a hefty-looking mallet. And guess what you use that for? All the crocodile-bashing happens off screen, but the great graphics and wicked sense of humour make this an excellent little game.

In Opposites Freddy and his wife want to go swimming, but the farmer who owns the pool will only let them if they answers questions about opposites. The pool is covered with lily pads, some of which have words on. The computer gives you another word, small for example, and you have to guide Freddy to the lily pad that says tall. When you've got a certain amount right Mrs Frog leaps into the pool. The nifty graphics liven things up and the whole thing's pretty spiffy.

Shopkeeper is all about working out how much things cost, whether you've got the right money and what the change should be. Freddy starts out going down the shops and ends up as the manager of a supermarket. Verdict? Okay, if a little static.

In Log Cabin Freddy has to build a log cabin before he can have his dinner. There's a few multiple choice maths problems that you have to answer correctly to get a log. Freddy picks up the log and, like a champion caber tosser, hurls it into position.

Basketball has you filling in the gaps in a series of number or letters. You know the son of thing - A, B, C, ?, E. Get it right and Freddy throws a ball through a basket ball hoop. The animation is spiffy, but it's all a bit slow.

Library is just a case of putting books in alphabetical order. Nice graphical presentation but the actual game is about as exciting as counting how many time the letter z crops up in the end credits of Neighbours.

Again, the manual is presented in the form of a story and the idea just about comes off. Despite some irritating niggles, this disk still beats Play Bus anyday.

Label: Europress Software
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £12.99 Tape, £16.99 Disk
Reviewer: Julian Watsham

With a general election clogging the T.V. channels at the moment, education is likely to be high on the agenda. And quite right too, but teaching can seem to be a little too clinical these days what with financing and budgets etc. Thus it's good to see a little bit of gun injected into the learning process because, as we all know, it's much easier to learn if you're having fun.

The fun school series first began back in the mid eighties with Fun School 1, published by Computer Press. With Fun School 2, released in 1989 and Fun School 3 in 1990 selling impressively there was obviously a market for this sort of product, so now the much awaited Fun School 4 has been launched. It consists of three packs, each dedicated to a particular age group, each following current national curriculum guidelines and each retailing at the same price point. Parents take note, you might learn as much from these 'games' as your child.

All of these educational packages are well presented and have good graphics which helps greatly, guiding you colourfully through the different learning stages. Bleeps and squeaks are merrily animated indicating whether you've got things right or wrong but sound isn't really over impressive. In general though Fun School 4 is an interesting educational aid.

FUN SCHOOL 4 FIVE TO SEVEN

You're now entering the magical world of Freddy Frog (ribbit!). First up is a little lesson on how to learn your alphabet (quite handy when trying to read a review!), down at the library while visiting Terry Toad, who's behind the counter. There's a pile of books on the counter that need sorting out in alphabetical order. Terry hasn't got enough time so you've kindly offered to do it. Simply sort them out by looking at the first letter, placing A before B and M before N etc. It's really all very easy, but useful too.

In level two things get a but harder, words such as hat and hard appear. So now you have to look at the third letter to sort them all out. The next day Freddy goes to a basketball game, but things are all very confusing there too! Five people sit in the front row holding up a selection of score cards. One has a question mark on it, can you guess what it's supposed to be? If you can, you score a basket. There are four levels to go through with each one getting increasingly harder.

The next day sees Freddy handling money, both as a shopper and a shop keeper. First, you have to work out what you can afford to buy, then, as the shopkeeper, you must work out what people have spent on items in the shop Then visit your holiday cabin. Here you must use maths to figure out where to put logs in the cabin. Like the basketball, there's four levels that get progressively harder.

Now Mrs Frog (who?) wants to go swimming but as she approaches the diving board a farmer comes along in his tractor who won't let her use the board until she answers some 'opposites' questions. Simply hop around on the lily pads choosing the right words - and remember they're all opposites. Finally, Freddy decides to go for a walk across, would you believe it, crocodile infested waters and yet again he must answer questions order to cross the bridge.

Europress Software
Phone: (0625) 859 333
Tape: £12.99
Disk: £16.99

It's back to school time again and although most of you may not like the idea lets face it, things could be worse... You could be facing a firing squad or being horribly tortured with some matches and a pair of pliers, or, even more terrifying, forced to watch a Bob Monkhouse TV show with special guest stars Bruce Forsyth and Jeremy Beadle. See, going back to school isn't THAT bad.

Although Mr. Brown in 4C with the long nose, dandruff and bottle bottom spectacles might be a boring old fart there are in fact far more enjoyable ways of learning. One of which is right here on your Speccy - educational software. It's puzzling, informative and fun, and best of all, it gives you an excuse to play on your Speccy during time normally allotted for homework without incurring the wrath of your elders. (It also gives you a chance to slip in the odd arcade game for mental stimulation, though don't tell your mum I said this.) There are a wide variety of educational games available so here, to help you choose, is a selection of those currently readily available and a quick guide to their usefulness.

More complicated than FS4 (u5s), this version introduces a completely new interactive character, Freddy the Frog (presumably a teddy is a bit soft for all those 'well hard' over fives). At this stage the kiddies should know their alphabet and the basic principles of maths so they've got to help Freddy out as he visits the library, takes over running a friend's shop and goes on holiday to a log cabin. Adults would do well to look at this program too, although it is simple enough for a 5 to 7 year old to master it will serve as a reminder that it was a long time ago since you had to do anything like this and you'd be surprised how long some of these simple problems will take to figure out. (While your children go through them faster than Nigel Mansell.)