This game was most fun for me when I was in late elementary school. I remember holing up in my sister’s room for hours with my sister’s Social Studies textbook and discovering the history of America. About that same time, I also enjoyed computer games such as “Amazon Trail,” “Oregon Trail,” “Yukon Trail,” “Caesar II,” “Civilization II,” “Gizmos and Gadgets,” “Treasure Mountain,” and “Math Blaster Mystery: The Great Brain Robbery.” These games, almost all educational as well as fun, were probably the highlight of my summers for many elementary years.
This game was most fun for me when I was in late elementary school. I remember holing up in my sister’s room for hours with my sister’s Social Studies textbook and discovering the history of America. About that same time, I also enjoyed computer games such as “Amazon Trail,” “Oregon Trail,” “Yukon Trail,” “Caesar II,” “Civilization II,” “Gizmos and Gadgets,” “Treasure Mountain,” and “Math Blaster Mystery: The Great Brain Robbery.” These games, almost all educational as well as fun, were probably the highlight of my summers for many elementary years.
There were four main characters in this game. One is a girl who helps you find the date of a specific event. Another is a boy who helps you find out
where this event took place. The third is a robotic cat, named Kat, who helps you find the main person involved with the event. The final is a mad scientist/ historian, Dr. Dred was his name if I remember correctly, who tried to print messed up newspaper headlines about this event. The whole point of the game was to fix Dr. Dred’s headlines before you ran out of time. Time is measured in game hours by a colored bar at the edge of the screen. Each day, in the game, you are given a new headline no matter if you fixed ‘yesterday’s’ headline or not.
One of the highlights for me was the movies that seemingly randomly played. The movies were about Dr. Dred and his team of mad scientist helpers. The game started with one about how Dr. Dred attached himself to a satellite so he could send faulty news headlines. Other movies showed Dr. Dred becoming increasingly frustrated as you continue to undermine his 'evil plan' by fixing messed up headlines.
Overall, this game has a pretty cheesy and unrealistic plot, but is an enjoyable game to play. I lost this game years ago, but if I still had it I would gladly play it often. I believe it can be a fun game for any age, not just children learning about American History for the first time. I am currently taking a college level American History course and would love to be able to play this game. It would be interesting to see how much I remember and know compared to what the children the game is made for are supposed to know.
