- Key Stage 3 (Ages 11-14)
- Image & Photo Editing
- Tweenies
- Fisher-Price
- GCSE
- Illustration
- Directories
- Personal Finance
- Ages 1-2
- Certification & Exam Training
- Backup & Recovery
- Games Hardware
- Adobe GoLive
- Databases
- Utilities & Virus Protection
- Software and Games
- Key Stage 2 (Ages 7-11)
- Mattel
- Languages
- Delphi
- Payroll
- Images & Clip Art
- Pinnacle
- Career & Personal Development
- Children's Reference
- Knowledge & Adventure
- Video Creation & Editing
- File Conversion
- Adobe Acrobat
- Internet Security & Firewalls
- Watches
- Home and Garden
- UK Electronics
- UK Books
- Health and Personal Care
- UK Sporting Goods
- Clothing, Shoes and Accessories
- Electronics, Gadgets and Computers
- CDs and Music Downloads
- UK Software and Video Games
- UK Toys and Games
- UK Home and Garden
- UK Video Games
- UK Baby Clothes and Accessories
- Books On
- German Electronics
Software and Games : Software Categories : Children's Fun & Learning : Characters & Brands : Thomas the Tank Engine
-
Focus Multimedia Ltd
-
Focus Multimedia Ltd
-
Focus Multimedia Ltd
-
Mindscape
-
Focus Multimedia Ltd
-
Mindscape
-
Focus Multimedia Ltd
-
Mindscape
-
Focus Multimedia Ltd
-
Focus Multimedia Ltd
-
Focus Multimedia Ltd
-
Mindscape
-
Infogrames
-
Mindscape
-
Infogrames
Sir Topham Hatt is facing infrastructure problems: the island of Sodor needs more lines if it is to accommodate its increasing number of rail travellers, and Sir Topham has asked for your help in Building the New Line.Load the CD-ROM, sign in and meet Thomas and all his familiar friends. Choose Junior Engineer or Senior Engineer mode, depending on ability (or confidence!) and start laying your track. Once your track is in place, move through the activities to deliver cargo, add landscaping features such as trees, bridges, tunnels and so on. When you're happy with your track, advance to Play Mode and bring your new line to life.
Your engine can now travel around the track, interacting with all the other familiar personalities and sights of Sodor. Click on the items you put in place in build mode and complete the resulting activities. For example, click on the hay bales in the Farm Yard and watch as they spill on the track. Get your engine to help clear them away, so the track is safe and debris-free. Switch tracks, control your speed, and visit The Works if you need any maintenance. Once you've left The Works, decorate your engine and the station, ready for The Grand Opening, a celebration party that will reward little drivers for their help in Building the New Line. Once the party is over, Sir Topham will send you a postcard as a memento of the big day, and this can be printed out.
Similar to previous CD-ROMs in the Thomas & Friends range, the sound and graphical quality of the package is great, and all the characters are faithful reproductions of their book and screen counterparts. The package is fun, and will amuse as well as challenge first PC users, as they learn mouse control, hand-to-eye coordination as well as other basic PC skills (clicking, moving, cause-and-effect of onscreen activities). There are plenty of rewards to keep little ones interested, and lots of fun to be had along the way. This is recommended for boys and girls of 3-5 years. --Susan Naylor
-
Hasbro
If order is important to your child, Thomas the Tank Engine's world is probably a favourite place. In Thomas and Friends: The Great Festival Adventure, kids enter the tidy world of Thomas and friends and immediately set about polishing engines, loading boxcars with the right items and making sure passengers get onto the train in timely, proper fashion. All the while, Sir Topham Hatt encourages kids with phrases such as "I know I can trust you to be really useful"--high praise in this place where practicality is paramount.This CD-ROM could win an award for cinematography--the "camera" tracks, zooms, and swoops through the activities. Thomas, Percy, and everyone's favourites, the Troublesome Trucks, move about the Island of Sodor preparing for the upcoming festival. The seven activities are either of the counting/sorting/pattern-recognition variety or ones that work on basic hand-eye co-ordination and mouse control. Kids can go to the engine shed to polish, oil and wrench the engines into prime working condition; unload Bulstrode the Barge and fit the packages into the boxcar with the matching label; or help round up cows that escaped from a farmer's pen. Each task has only three levels of difficulty and they can be completed quickly by a kid with some computer savvy or an older child. Between these chores are short vignettes involving Thomas and his friends, making this CD-ROM feel familiar to fans of the television show.
While the age range for this program is "2 and up", don't assume that it'll keep your 5-year-old busy for very long. But if you have a helpful 3-year-old who needs to learn how to mouse and count, Thomas and Friends can put your child on the right track. --Anne Erickson
-
Hasbro
The brightly structured world of Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends will appeal to the orderly side of pre-schoolers as they help rescue a derailed engine, put it back on the tracks, spiff it up and get it back to work. If your older toddler glows when told he or she is helpful or a hard worker, this CD-ROM will put them in junior train-engineer heaven. The story begins with an engine named James eagerly heading out to get more coal for the other engines, but things don't go quite as planned; James has an accident on a sharp corner because he's being too hasty. Kids get to help rescue James and restore him to his shiny, bright-red self by completing eight activities that will test their problem-solving skills, spatial abilities and deductive reasoning. They must find James, properly assemble crane gears to get him lifted back onto the track, collect coal, find the proper parts and install them on James by listening to whistles, looking at train parts and then putting everything in its place. Once James has a full tank of water and a full bin of coal, kids get to drive the repaired engine. This is the best part of this friendly CD-ROM, as it demonstrates to little locomotive fans how steam engines work, from shovelling coal to goosing the throttle.Each activity has three levels, and Trouble on the Track also has clickable surprises interspersed throughout each activity, something that earlier Thomas offerings lacked. Kids can visit Sir Topham Hatt's office to see and print their certificates (they get one for every level of each activity they complete) or various pictures that they can colour, turn into puzzles, or simply hang on their walls. Everyone from the Horrid Lorry to the Troublesome Trucks is here, and Thomas the Tank Engine fans will enjoy this program as it gently chugs along. (Ages 3 and older) --Anne Erickson