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RSS feedsContinuing our Star Wars theme, DroidWorks casts you as an agent for the Rebel Alliance on a mission to discover the principles of science.
Disguised as a Jawa and based on the planet Tatooine, you must become a Master Droid Builder, building robotic droids from the 87 available parts. These droids must then complete 29 missions, investigating and applying the laws of energy, force, motion, light and magnetism.
After a quick tour through the droid workshop, the idea is to work out what type of droid to build to best complete the set mission - for example, whether it will have treads or legs. However your machine ends up, you can view the finished model on the holographic design grid that allows for 360-degree 3D viewing.
Once a droid is constructed and customised, it's time to test it in the Sandcrawler training facility. This section familiarises you with your droid; for example, how it moves and how much power it uses. It also introduces learning possibilities, with observation opportunities to see, for instance, how light reflects. Animated sequences featuring R2-D2 illustrate the principles, while questions enhance understanding. The successful completion of each real mission earns you a step up the ladder towards the rank of Master Builder. Additionally, you get the opportunity to increase the amount and variety of droid building components.
The educational value in this game lies not only in what knowledge children can glean, but in the fact that they are expected to make their own choices based on (straightforward) data and their own investigation. A well-designed Star Wars spin-off.
- £29.99 (inc VAT)
- Ubi Soft: 0181 944 9000
STAR WARS DROIDWORKS
Overall *****
Minimum requirements: Windows 95/98, 100% DirectX-compatible PC, Pentium 133MHz, 16Mb of RAM, 34Mb of hard disk space, 4x CD-ROM, PCI graphics card, 16-bit sound device.
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