Besides viewing video clips from the documentary feature, children explore dinosaur facts and test and apply their knowledge in a series of activities. A timeline feature allows kids to go on "landscape journeys" through the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous eras. They collect specimens that they can later use to complete a Food Web activity. Kids emulate paleontologists by collecting pieces of bone from each era and then use these fossils in a dinosaur puzzle activity. They draw on their knowledge from their "journeys" in order to construct a dinosaur family tree, dragging and dropping creatures into the appropriate branches of evolution.

The database Fact File is extensive and well presented. It holds all of the information in the CD-ROM. Kids search this database by selecting different characteristics (for example, carnivore, walker, Crestaceous period, and biped) and then the program brings up a list of all possible specimens based on those criteria. Kids then can click on one of the creature’s names to explore and research/facts (such as social, diet, and physiology) and answer true/false questions.

Young dinosaur enthusiasts will enjoy the wide selection of dinosaur sounds, screensavers, wallpaper, icons, and cursors for their computer. They can assign, for example, a dinosaur bone as their computer cursor and a Tyrannosaurus battle-cry sound to various system functions.

While some facts are narrated, others require reading, which is our first clue that the suggested age group on the box (ages 6-up) is quite off. Other indications include the fact that the content is quite challenging for anyone but the serious dinosaur fan, and the disparaging remarks from the host of the program when children slip up. This final complaint is really quite unfortunate because it can discourage a child’s natural desire to explore and experiment. We conclude, therefore, that children under the age of 10 would do better watching the Walking with Dinosaurs video.

On the up side, the video clips are spectacular and the content is rich, though certainly on the academic side. Kids will need to do quite a bit of research in the program's well-done Fact File database in order to successfully complete activities.

Technically Speaking
Minimum requirements are Windows 95/98, Pentium 200 MHz, 64 MB of RAM, 8X CD-ROM, and 50 MB of hard drive space.

Skills Covered
problem solving, thinking skills, dinosaur facts

Educational Value
Parents shopping for an edutainment title for their kids might be disappointed with this title. Walking with Dinosaurs would best be considered a school title due to its very academic content. However, children who are doing a project on dinosaurs will find this title to be a rich source of information. The activities require much research, thought, and memory skills, and are, for the most part, well done.

Entertainment Value
The video clips presented here are spectacular and taken directly from the Walking with Dinosaurs feature from the Discovery Channel. Most children with a predilection for the whole era of dinosaurs will be riveted.

Design
Though a number of features are here that make playing the game straightforward, the program would have been better if it "remembered" a child’s progress. As it stands, when a child exits the program, his/her progress is lost.

Replayability
Older, more serious fans of dinosaurs will enjoy this program and may return to it often. There certainly is a lot of challenging content here to last some time.

Dollar Value
Suggested retail price is $20 US.