• On Rebus Isle, kids solve rebus puzzles that can be in the form of riddles, interesting facts, and silly sentences. Each word can be decoded by figuring out the sound, video, or picture clues given. For example, kids must figure out the word "making" from 3 stickers as follows: a picture of a maid, subtract the sound "d", and a picture of a King.
• At Airshow Isle kids choreograph airshows by carefully arranging plane and command tiles into a flight log. Read the tips in the manual for this activity -- it's not totally intuitive. Don't give up on this activity, though, because it is fun once you know how to play it!
• On Stadium Isle, the familiar Fripples are the fans in a stadium and kids need to arrange them in the correct seats in the bleachers so as to meet a stated goal. Different Fripples are assigned characteristics that depend on different variables like where they are seated and who they are seated with.

Default modes for the activities are Question and Answer Modes, in which players must solve given problems and puzzles. However, each of the activities have an Explore Mode option that allows kids to experiment with the different puzzles (for example, make their own rebus challenge). The option to save and load their creations is great, and they can print them up as well.

Once kids collect enough clues, they can go to Clue Central where they solve a mini-mystery with the help of their detective machine. They listen, read, or look at picture clues, and put different variables into the detective machine to perform searches on the suspect files.

Be sure to check out the Adult Options and make adjustments that will help customize the game to your child. That's where you will find Edmark's wonderful "grow slide" feature found in so many of their games. Although activities automatically advance as kids progress, adults can manually adjust the slide to a lower or higher level of difficulty. The topics of the different levels are clearly marked so that parents can easily choose skills they want their kids to develop. Other options include allowing kids to save and/or print their creations and to save their progress.

Rebus Isle is delightful -- it helps kids with spelling in addition to thinking skills. Kids who enjoy word games will find this one particularly fun.

Two kid testers, both 8 year old boys, found some of the activities too difficult, particularly the Airshow Isle activity which requires some time and patience to "get into" and enjoy, as noted above. The other two activities were challenging at times, but great fun. One boy was rather annoyed by the host characters, and found Spike's congratulatory antics irritating and too long. That aside, he did ask to go back to play the games often.

As a parent, I found the game to be very educational. It succeeds beautifully at getting kids to think on many different levels.

Technically Speaking
Minimum requirements for PCs are a 486/66, 8 Mb RAM (16 Mb recommended), and 2X CD ROM. Mac users will require at least a 68040 processor, 8 Mb RAM - 5000K unused; For Power PC: 16 Mb, 7000K unused, System 7.0.1 or higher, and 2X CD ROM.

Skills Covered
inductive and deductive reasoning, recognizing attributes, information-search skills, using a simple "search engine", analyze and synthesize information, identify relevant information, prioritize and sequence tasks, make decisions and trade-offs, predicting and testing sequences of events, observation and analytical skills, determining cause and effect, conditional reasoning, creativity, breaking problems into logical parts, phonics, spelling, dictionary skills, experimenting with language, gathering information (research, experimentation, and inquiry).

Educational Value
The program succeeds at presenting activities that challenge kids to draw on -- and develop -- their thinking skills. The activities are original, and kids have the option to learn through exploration in Explore Mode, or answer questions and meet challenges in Question and Answer Mode.

Entertainment Value
The game falls a little short in this category, mainly because the characters didn't have too much appeal with the testers. However, the activities themselves are quite enjoyable, as well as the idea of solving mysteries by narrowing down suspects.

Design
The program is easy to navigate and contains good difficulty level features and many customization options. In every activity there is a "Hint" button that kids can use when they are stumped by specific problems, as well as a "Tour" button that gives a general explanation of the activity. The manual is comprehensive and descriptive.

Replayability
We would have preferred a bit more content to the program -- perhaps one more activity -- to boost its replay value. The puzzles will be pleasantly addictive for kids who thrive on problem-solving challenges.

Dollar Value
The program retails for $30 US. All in all, Sky Island Mysteries is a valuable title to add to our collection because of its original activities and educational value.