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Milly Fitzwilly's Mousecatcher / The Pirate Who Wouldn't Wash
Based on Marcia Vaughan's story of the same name this interactive title will surely put a smile on the face of young players/readers. Milly Fitzwilly's house is overrun by mice and, ignoring the advice of friends, she is determined to invent her own mouse catching apparatus to dispense with her unwelcome guests.
Unfortunately, her efforts are futile. The Walk-the-Plank mousecatcher doesn't work, nor does the Dangling Doughnut Delight, nor even the fancy contraption made out of pipes and swings and slides and bridges. In fact, all Ms Fitzwilly really succeeds in doing is creating a mouse's paradise. No matter how many gizmos and contraptions she invents the end result is almost always a playground where her intended victims delight in romping around and really soaking up the 'hospitality'.
This story is perfect children's fare and lends itself to lots of humorous animations. Click on the graphics and mice pop out from everywhere to swing across the screen or skid around and around over bumpy rides. The spelling bee picks up on many of the words used in the story and it works well despite the strong American accent.
Be warned, however, this seemingly tiny title is memory hungry and I imagine it would run quite slowly on a 386.
As noted above The Pirate who wouldn't Wash is another in the Kidstory Series. Once more it is based on a children's story of the same name, this time both written and illustrated by Michael Salmon.
It is the story of Pongo the Pirate and his trials and tribulations on the 'Last Chance' sailing ship. The trouble is, he isn't very popular with anyone or anything on board because of his dislike of soap and water, and on one occasion, at least, he comes in for a good scrubbing by the angry crew. This is another story with rodents in it, but this time they are rats, and instead of hanging around and making a nuisance of themselves, they actually desert ship.
Just like with Milly there are lots of animations to set in motion in this story. At the click of a mouse button, pirates will shin up ropes and slide down them twice as fast, rats will jump overboard, and poor Pongo will totter on the end of the plank.
Once again there is a spelling bee associated with this package and there is easy access to the story, page by page. It is possible, too, to start it purely in storytelling mode, or choose the interactive mode where you can interact with the graphics and turn the pages yourself. Although it might be a little shorter than Milly this one gobbles up just as much memory.
Copyright © Rosemary Young 1995.
All rights reserved.
System Requirements:
386SX or higher, 4MB RAM (8MB recommended), 2xCD-ROM, Win 3.1/MAC, mouse.
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