This is a very comprehensive, excellent software program for children in year two, aged six to seven years, which supports the National Curriculum and covers reading, maths, geography, history, the solar system, art and music.

The activities are not classroom based, as in the case of many other CD-ROMs in this range, but they are built around adventures that begin when school ends. CJ the Frog and his friend Newton begin a journey to their secret clubhouse. Your child can develop maths skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, money value, measuring and logic) while racing sharks and crossing dangerous rivers. Reading and comprehension skills are also covered, including spelling, parts of speech, nouns, verbs and adjectives, and the countries can be discovered while learning about the people and events in history. All activities are presented in a fun way and are offered at different levels with progress reports, assessments and a printable workbook included. There is also a pamphlet containing basic technical and installation information, which should be read before starting. --Susan Naylor

Makes learning fun! Great motivator!, 01 Mar 2007
I bought this for my 6 year old daughter to help improve her English and Math skills, and I can't praise this programme enough!

My daughter actually looks forward to playing the games and frequently comes up to me saying "Mummy, can I play Jump Ahead Year 2 now please?" with much enthusiasm. I thought it might be just a fad - like with all toys! But she really does enjoy it. I think its because the math games are challenging and she enjoys the excitement of the "theme" of the game, like jumping over crocodiles to get across a river.

I can tell you one thing, I wish I had something like this when I was little learning maths because it would have made the subject less scary. This actually makes maths look fun and because of the way learning is somewhat 'disguised' children lose the fear that a subject is daunting/difficult.

Kid's can also learn how to construct stories and the mechanics behind types of words like verbs, nouns and adjectives. The CD teaches these in a very clever way by making the definitions into a song. As a parent you'll find not only your child singing along, but YOU too!

There are also non educational benefits to this game. One of which is bonding. I found that whilst playing the games and singing along to songs, me and my daughter also had good quality bonding time, laughing and giggling. This is a great feel good factor, as well as boosting my daughter's moral (she felt she could accomplish acedemic tasks) and my moral (I felt I was spending good quality time with my child and I felt like a good parent because I was helping her learn important skills).

Definately a good buy! And GREAT for bonding with the kids!

excellent jump ahead, 09 Nov 2006
all the jump ahead are brilliant for children. they teach them so much without them even knowingit, and parents can keep up to date with their progress via the progress report.
if you children are 2 upwards buy them all as they finish one stage, get the next stage. if you children are older and you have just discovered the cd roms buy the stage they are at so far, and then continue buying from there. i do not know where i would be without these programmes, it keeps the kids concentrating for hours at a time. and they are learning every single second they are playing on them.

Jump Ahead Year 2 Reading, 14 Feb 2006
It worked. Our son is now keen to learn. Well done.

Fun, fun, fun, 15 Sep 2003
My daughter absolutely loves the games in JA Year 2. She has learnt so much in the space of one weekend! She can be on it all day if I do not stop her. She loves the noun, adjective and verb songs which are crazy but then it serves her memory well simply for that reason. She also loves the maths football pitch game, the "variable" stories she can write and many more! Her only complaint is this - she and ALL her friends could not figure out the Ice Cave maths game. The instructions were very unclear to me, too! Can anyone out there who has bought this CD-Rom help!!!

Jump Ahead Year 2, 03 Feb 2003
I am twelve years old now, and have had this programme since I was eight and (even now) I still enjoy it. I love the many things for you to do and the way you can build up points on every activity you do. Every 100 points you get (each activity, depending how hard it is, wil give you from 2-15 points) you get a stamp from the Post Office in the game and build up your collection. I love the way it has been designed in a school. There is a clubhouse (which you get to by climbing the tree or using the secret lift), a classroom, and then many floors below. The graphics are all really good, and fun. In the classroom for instance, you get to write stories and see animated songs about grammar, and when you click on different items in the classroom, they animate. The songs about the grammar don't sound that interesting do they? Think again. They are funny and catchy and... I'm quite embarrassed to admit this (but it's the truth)...that listening and watching these songs completly made me learn what a noun, a verb and an adjective are!!!!! You go around freely, with our friends CJ (a large friendly frog) and Newton (a funny firefly). The activities go from Maths, to English, to matching pairs, to listening to songs...to jumping logs and crocs, shooting at aliens from Mars and even playing football!!!! You won't even notice you are learning some key lessons in life, as well as having great fun, and I really recommend this CD ROM to any child from the age of 6 to 10, as you can adjust the levels of the games so it's never to easy! So my advice is...go out there and buy it!!!
by Rachel James

Makes learning fun! Great motivator!, 01 Mar 2007
I bought this for my 6 year old daughter to help improve her English and Math skills, and I can't praise this programme enough!

My daughter actually looks forward to playing the games and frequently comes up to me saying "Mummy, can I play Jump Ahead Year 2 now please?" with much enthusiasm. I thought it might be just a fad - like with all toys! But she really does enjoy it. I think its because the math games are challenging and she enjoys the excitement of the "theme" of the game, like jumping over crocodiles to get across a river.

I can tell you one thing, I wish I had something like this when I was little learning maths because it would have made the subject less scary. This actually makes maths look fun and because of the way learning is somewhat 'disguised' children lose the fear that a subject is daunting/difficult.

Kid's can also learn how to construct stories and the mechanics behind types of words like verbs, nouns and adjectives. The CD teaches these in a very clever way by making the definitions into a song. As a parent you'll find not only your child singing along, but YOU too!

There are also non educational benefits to this game. One of which is bonding. I found that whilst playing the games and singing along to songs, me and my daughter also had good quality bonding time, laughing and giggling. This is a great feel good factor, as well as boosting my daughter's moral (she felt she could accomplish acedemic tasks) and my moral (I felt I was spending good quality time with my child and I felt like a good parent because I was helping her learn important skills).

Definately a good buy! And GREAT for bonding with the kids!

excellent jump ahead, 09 Nov 2006
all the jump ahead are brilliant for children. they teach them so much without them even knowingit, and parents can keep up to date with their progress via the progress report.
if you children are 2 upwards buy them all as they finish one stage, get the next stage. if you children are older and you have just discovered the cd roms buy the stage they are at so far, and then continue buying from there. i do not know where i would be without these programmes, it keeps the kids concentrating for hours at a time. and they are learning every single second they are playing on them.

Jump Ahead Year 2 Reading, 14 Feb 2006
It worked. Our son is now keen to learn. Well done.

Fun, fun, fun, 15 Sep 2003
My daughter absolutely loves the games in JA Year 2. She has learnt so much in the space of one weekend! She can be on it all day if I do not stop her. She loves the noun, adjective and verb songs which are crazy but then it serves her memory well simply for that reason. She also loves the maths football pitch game, the "variable" stories she can write and many more! Her only complaint is this - she and ALL her friends could not figure out the Ice Cave maths game. The instructions were very unclear to me, too! Can anyone out there who has bought this CD-Rom help!!!

Jump Ahead Year 2, 03 Feb 2003
I am twelve years old now, and have had this programme since I was eight and (even now) I still enjoy it. I love the many things for you to do and the way you can build up points on every activity you do. Every 100 points you get (each activity, depending how hard it is, wil give you from 2-15 points) you get a stamp from the Post Office in the game and build up your collection. I love the way it has been designed in a school. There is a clubhouse (which you get to by climbing the tree or using the secret lift), a classroom, and then many floors below. The graphics are all really good, and fun. In the classroom for instance, you get to write stories and see animated songs about grammar, and when you click on different items in the classroom, they animate. The songs about the grammar don't sound that interesting do they? Think again. They are funny and catchy and... I'm quite embarrassed to admit this (but it's the truth)...that listening and watching these songs completly made me learn what a noun, a verb and an adjective are!!!!! You go around freely, with our friends CJ (a large friendly frog) and Newton (a funny firefly). The activities go from Maths, to English, to matching pairs, to listening to songs...to jumping logs and crocs, shooting at aliens from Mars and even playing football!!!! You won't even notice you are learning some key lessons in life, as well as having great fun, and I really recommend this CD ROM to any child from the age of 6 to 10, as you can adjust the levels of the games so it's never to easy! So my advice is...go out there and buy it!!!
by Rachel James

A real bargin, 30 Aug 2008
This is a great little piece of kit for the money. It's relatively easy to use (although the lack of written instructions make it a bit daunting to start with), and allows you to create wonderful designs. I've been particularly pleased with its ability to convert pictures, but be warned they can be quite big. I would advise that you buy a shade card as well, from one of the main silk manufactures like DMC, as it allows you check the shade the computer is suggesting against the real thing.

extremely good value for money, 20 Jan 2008
This is a fantastic product. I imagined something extremely basic for the price, so was amazed at the different features available. It is extremely easy to import photo files of various types - within seconds you see them as cross stich patterns, which you can edit (i.e. delete out confusing shadows or undesirable lines). It's also nice starting from scratch with your own pattern. Adding block after block in 99 different colours is a great way to doodle a pattern, and is very addictive.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cross stitch designer program.

Great, 18 Nov 2007
Reasonably easy to use. Has a help section which is helpful. Great way to design your own patterns. xx

Jane Greenoff's Cross Stitch Designer, 28 Aug 2003
Overall this is a great product. It is wonderfully easy to use and offers a great selection of thread manufacturers so that you can plan your designs to include your favourite thread range. One downside, however is that you are unable to personalise your pallette of colours to your favourites, and so I often need to reselect colours whenever i start a new design. Other great features include the handy video tutorials with sound - these are brilliant for beginners and offer many handy tips! Designs can be viewed as b/w symbols, colour blocks or colour stitches on a wide selection of aida colours, although options for other fabrics are not available.

Makes learning fun! Great motivator!, 01 Mar 2007
I bought this for my 6 year old daughter to help improve her English and Math skills, and I can't praise this programme enough!

My daughter actually looks forward to playing the games and frequently comes up to me saying "Mummy, can I play Jump Ahead Year 2 now please?" with much enthusiasm. I thought it might be just a fad - like with all toys! But she really does enjoy it. I think its because the math games are challenging and she enjoys the excitement of the "theme" of the game, like jumping over crocodiles to get across a river.

I can tell you one thing, I wish I had something like this when I was little learning maths because it would have made the subject less scary. This actually makes maths look fun and because of the way learning is somewhat 'disguised' children lose the fear that a subject is daunting/difficult.

Kid's can also learn how to construct stories and the mechanics behind types of words like verbs, nouns and adjectives. The CD teaches these in a very clever way by making the definitions into a song. As a parent you'll find not only your child singing along, but YOU too!

There are also non educational benefits to this game. One of which is bonding. I found that whilst playing the games and singing along to songs, me and my daughter also had good quality bonding time, laughing and giggling. This is a great feel good factor, as well as boosting my daughter's moral (she felt she could accomplish acedemic tasks) and my moral (I felt I was spending good quality time with my child and I felt like a good parent because I was helping her learn important skills).

Definately a good buy! And GREAT for bonding with the kids!

excellent jump ahead, 09 Nov 2006
all the jump ahead are brilliant for children. they teach them so much without them even knowingit, and parents can keep up to date with their progress via the progress report.
if you children are 2 upwards buy them all as they finish one stage, get the next stage. if you children are older and you have just discovered the cd roms buy the stage they are at so far, and then continue buying from there. i do not know where i would be without these programmes, it keeps the kids concentrating for hours at a time. and they are learning every single second they are playing on them.

Jump Ahead Year 2 Reading, 14 Feb 2006
It worked. Our son is now keen to learn. Well done.

Fun, fun, fun, 15 Sep 2003
My daughter absolutely loves the games in JA Year 2. She has learnt so much in the space of one weekend! She can be on it all day if I do not stop her. She loves the noun, adjective and verb songs which are crazy but then it serves her memory well simply for that reason. She also loves the maths football pitch game, the "variable" stories she can write and many more! Her only complaint is this - she and ALL her friends could not figure out the Ice Cave maths game. The instructions were very unclear to me, too! Can anyone out there who has bought this CD-Rom help!!!

Jump Ahead Year 2, 03 Feb 2003
I am twelve years old now, and have had this programme since I was eight and (even now) I still enjoy it. I love the many things for you to do and the way you can build up points on every activity you do. Every 100 points you get (each activity, depending how hard it is, wil give you from 2-15 points) you get a stamp from the Post Office in the game and build up your collection. I love the way it has been designed in a school. There is a clubhouse (which you get to by climbing the tree or using the secret lift), a classroom, and then many floors below. The graphics are all really good, and fun. In the classroom for instance, you get to write stories and see animated songs about grammar, and when you click on different items in the classroom, they animate. The songs about the grammar don't sound that interesting do they? Think again. They are funny and catchy and... I'm quite embarrassed to admit this (but it's the truth)...that listening and watching these songs completly made me learn what a noun, a verb and an adjective are!!!!! You go around freely, with our friends CJ (a large friendly frog) and Newton (a funny firefly). The activities go from Maths, to English, to matching pairs, to listening to songs...to jumping logs and crocs, shooting at aliens from Mars and even playing football!!!! You won't even notice you are learning some key lessons in life, as well as having great fun, and I really recommend this CD ROM to any child from the age of 6 to 10, as you can adjust the levels of the games so it's never to easy! So my advice is...go out there and buy it!!!
by Rachel James

A real bargin, 30 Aug 2008
This is a great little piece of kit for the money. It's relatively easy to use (although the lack of written instructions make it a bit daunting to start with), and allows you to create wonderful designs. I've been particularly pleased with its ability to convert pictures, but be warned they can be quite big. I would advise that you buy a shade card as well, from one of the main silk manufactures like DMC, as it allows you check the shade the computer is suggesting against the real thing.

extremely good value for money, 20 Jan 2008
This is a fantastic product. I imagined something extremely basic for the price, so was amazed at the different features available. It is extremely easy to import photo files of various types - within seconds you see them as cross stich patterns, which you can edit (i.e. delete out confusing shadows or undesirable lines). It's also nice starting from scratch with your own pattern. Adding block after block in 99 different colours is a great way to doodle a pattern, and is very addictive.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cross stitch designer program.

Great, 18 Nov 2007
Reasonably easy to use. Has a help section which is helpful. Great way to design your own patterns. xx

Jane Greenoff's Cross Stitch Designer, 28 Aug 2003
Overall this is a great product. It is wonderfully easy to use and offers a great selection of thread manufacturers so that you can plan your designs to include your favourite thread range. One downside, however is that you are unable to personalise your pallette of colours to your favourites, and so I often need to reselect colours whenever i start a new design. Other great features include the handy video tutorials with sound - these are brilliant for beginners and offer many handy tips! Designs can be viewed as b/w symbols, colour blocks or colour stitches on a wide selection of aida colours, although options for other fabrics are not available.

Didn't work with Vista, 17 Nov 2008
I bought this a few weeks ago and have just got round to looking at it. Loaded fine with no problems apart from saying that it would run in basic Vista, only it didn't. No amount of clicking would get it to work and patience is not one of my virtues. I will just have to load it on the old banger that runs XP and try again in the future.

Good but software can only be used with CD loaded on pc/laptop, 08 Sep 2008
This CD is good and I have started to use the different games and find it quite easy to follow.
My only gripe is that to use this CD you must always have the CD inserted and loaded in your pc or laptop - I hadnt expected this and am sure at some time (perhaps because of my bad memory!!) I may loose the CD or it will become damaged over time and then it will be useless to me.

Apart from the above the CD seems useful and I am sure will help if used regularly.

Fun to play and easy to use, 31 Dec 2007
I really enjoyed playing Test and Improve Your Memory. I noticed my ability increasing very quickly at the various puzzles, so regular training probably would be beneficial.

If I had to knock the product down one star, it would be because I found the feedback was insufficiently detailed. For example: "People scored between X and X points, and completed the puzzle between X and X seconds". This could mean that they achieved low or high points within the time allowed. It could also mean that they achieved full marks within a very short or very long time. I would have preferred something that enabled you to calculate a bit more accurately where you stood in terms of percentage of the population.

Good, well designed, fun tests but it helps if you are an American, 25 Nov 2007
I've enjoyed using this product. It has approximately 12 different types of games. Each of which you can set to different skill levels. You can monitor your progresss against others of a similar gender/age/education level and against yourself over time.

I find the user interface (UI) a little basic and, having briefly seen the Nintendo DS, the UI is not as good as that product, in my opinion. However there is of course a huge difference in price (approx £100 if you already have a PC).

The Help functions aren't bad but could be better (mainly more intuitive to use).

My main frustration is that the spellings and references are American, which is not good for me (being English), when doing the games that involve general knowledge or words. I'd like to carry on using this product, as my brain could certainly do with a workout! However, I may have to cut out some of the games, which is a shame.


Mindscapes Brain Trainer or Improve your Memory, 29 Jun 2007
I decided to improve my memory after I began to forget instructions and new job procedures given to me by my boss after a few minutes being distracted by something else in a busy office.

I bought both Mindscapes Brain Trainer (which i found bland and a little unclear in parts) and this.

This package is brilliantly and professionally presented, its all in full screen, full colour, with photographs, animations, music and a code update. The exersizes are fun to do and you can even interact with the examples and instructions.

The package is presented as a globe and you tour the world, doing exersizes in different locations, cultural games and pictures (dont worry, the games are not about the country itself, just set in that location and theme).

It says on the package that it is done by experts, this is not just selling blurb, its been designed really well and gives full instructions and even tells you how to train your mind, how long to spend and asks for your education level which it then matches to the tests it gives you. Regardless of your monitors resolution.. I run in 1280x1024, it fills the screen with full colours, music and animation.

Unfortunately, brain trainer doesnt do any of the above, its just a small box in the middle of your PC screen with 15 blandly presented tests, although it has colours and an annoying humming musical note during the tests. Dont get me wrong, brain trainer is good and does what it says, but thats it, whereas.. this pagage is FUN to play.

Make no mistake though.. this Improve your memory package CAN be very hard and it will really test you, so make sure you answer honestly when it asks you to what level you were educated, because it gets brutal, but its addictive as well because the fun games dont always seem like tests.

All in all a great package. If you want just a straight forward no multimedia designed bland 15 test memory package, buy brain trainer, but if you prefer a more colourful interactive multimedia approach, buy Test and Improve your memory. Its up to you.

Makes learning fun! Great motivator!, 01 Mar 2007
I bought this for my 6 year old daughter to help improve her English and Math skills, and I can't praise this programme enough!

My daughter actually looks forward to playing the games and frequently comes up to me saying "Mummy, can I play Jump Ahead Year 2 now please?" with much enthusiasm. I thought it might be just a fad - like with all toys! But she really does enjoy it. I think its because the math games are challenging and she enjoys the excitement of the "theme" of the game, like jumping over crocodiles to get across a river.

I can tell you one thing, I wish I had something like this when I was little learning maths because it would have made the subject less scary. This actually makes maths look fun and because of the way learning is somewhat 'disguised' children lose the fear that a subject is daunting/difficult.

Kid's can also learn how to construct stories and the mechanics behind types of words like verbs, nouns and adjectives. The CD teaches these in a very clever way by making the definitions into a song. As a parent you'll find not only your child singing along, but YOU too!

There are also non educational benefits to this game. One of which is bonding. I found that whilst playing the games and singing along to songs, me and my daughter also had good quality bonding time, laughing and giggling. This is a great feel good factor, as well as boosting my daughter's moral (she felt she could accomplish acedemic tasks) and my moral (I felt I was spending good quality time with my child and I felt like a good parent because I was helping her learn important skills).

Definately a good buy! And GREAT for bonding with the kids!

excellent jump ahead, 09 Nov 2006
all the jump ahead are brilliant for children. they teach them so much without them even knowingit, and parents can keep up to date with their progress via the progress report.
if you children are 2 upwards buy them all as they finish one stage, get the next stage. if you children are older and you have just discovered the cd roms buy the stage they are at so far, and then continue buying from there. i do not know where i would be without these programmes, it keeps the kids concentrating for hours at a time. and they are learning every single second they are playing on them.

Jump Ahead Year 2 Reading, 14 Feb 2006
It worked. Our son is now keen to learn. Well done.

Fun, fun, fun, 15 Sep 2003
My daughter absolutely loves the games in JA Year 2. She has learnt so much in the space of one weekend! She can be on it all day if I do not stop her. She loves the noun, adjective and verb songs which are crazy but then it serves her memory well simply for that reason. She also loves the maths football pitch game, the "variable" stories she can write and many more! Her only complaint is this - she and ALL her friends could not figure out the Ice Cave maths game. The instructions were very unclear to me, too! Can anyone out there who has bought this CD-Rom help!!!

Jump Ahead Year 2, 03 Feb 2003
I am twelve years old now, and have had this programme since I was eight and (even now) I still enjoy it. I love the many things for you to do and the way you can build up points on every activity you do. Every 100 points you get (each activity, depending how hard it is, wil give you from 2-15 points) you get a stamp from the Post Office in the game and build up your collection. I love the way it has been designed in a school. There is a clubhouse (which you get to by climbing the tree or using the secret lift), a classroom, and then many floors below. The graphics are all really good, and fun. In the classroom for instance, you get to write stories and see animated songs about grammar, and when you click on different items in the classroom, they animate. The songs about the grammar don't sound that interesting do they? Think again. They are funny and catchy and... I'm quite embarrassed to admit this (but it's the truth)...that listening and watching these songs completly made me learn what a noun, a verb and an adjective are!!!!! You go around freely, with our friends CJ (a large friendly frog) and Newton (a funny firefly). The activities go from Maths, to English, to matching pairs, to listening to songs...to jumping logs and crocs, shooting at aliens from Mars and even playing football!!!! You won't even notice you are learning some key lessons in life, as well as having great fun, and I really recommend this CD ROM to any child from the age of 6 to 10, as you can adjust the levels of the games so it's never to easy! So my advice is...go out there and buy it!!!
by Rachel James

A real bargin, 30 Aug 2008
This is a great little piece of kit for the money. It's relatively easy to use (although the lack of written instructions make it a bit daunting to start with), and allows you to create wonderful designs. I've been particularly pleased with its ability to convert pictures, but be warned they can be quite big. I would advise that you buy a shade card as well, from one of the main silk manufactures like DMC, as it allows you check the shade the computer is suggesting against the real thing.

extremely good value for money, 20 Jan 2008
This is a fantastic product. I imagined something extremely basic for the price, so was amazed at the different features available. It is extremely easy to import photo files of various types - within seconds you see them as cross stich patterns, which you can edit (i.e. delete out confusing shadows or undesirable lines). It's also nice starting from scratch with your own pattern. Adding block after block in 99 different colours is a great way to doodle a pattern, and is very addictive.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cross stitch designer program.

Great, 18 Nov 2007
Reasonably easy to use. Has a help section which is helpful. Great way to design your own patterns. xx

Jane Greenoff's Cross Stitch Designer, 28 Aug 2003
Overall this is a great product. It is wonderfully easy to use and offers a great selection of thread manufacturers so that you can plan your designs to include your favourite thread range. One downside, however is that you are unable to personalise your pallette of colours to your favourites, and so I often need to reselect colours whenever i start a new design. Other great features include the handy video tutorials with sound - these are brilliant for beginners and offer many handy tips! Designs can be viewed as b/w symbols, colour blocks or colour stitches on a wide selection of aida colours, although options for other fabrics are not available.

Didn't work with Vista, 17 Nov 2008
I bought this a few weeks ago and have just got round to looking at it. Loaded fine with no problems apart from saying that it would run in basic Vista, only it didn't. No amount of clicking would get it to work and patience is not one of my virtues. I will just have to load it on the old banger that runs XP and try again in the future.

Good but software can only be used with CD loaded on pc/laptop, 08 Sep 2008
This CD is good and I have started to use the different games and find it quite easy to follow.
My only gripe is that to use this CD you must always have the CD inserted and loaded in your pc or laptop - I hadnt expected this and am sure at some time (perhaps because of my bad memory!!) I may loose the CD or it will become damaged over time and then it will be useless to me.

Apart from the above the CD seems useful and I am sure will help if used regularly.

Fun to play and easy to use, 31 Dec 2007
I really enjoyed playing Test and Improve Your Memory. I noticed my ability increasing very quickly at the various puzzles, so regular training probably would be beneficial.

If I had to knock the product down one star, it would be because I found the feedback was insufficiently detailed. For example: "People scored between X and X points, and completed the puzzle between X and X seconds". This could mean that they achieved low or high points within the time allowed. It could also mean that they achieved full marks within a very short or very long time. I would have preferred something that enabled you to calculate a bit more accurately where you stood in terms of percentage of the population.

Good, well designed, fun tests but it helps if you are an American, 25 Nov 2007
I've enjoyed using this product. It has approximately 12 different types of games. Each of which you can set to different skill levels. You can monitor your progresss against others of a similar gender/age/education level and against yourself over time.

I find the user interface (UI) a little basic and, having briefly seen the Nintendo DS, the UI is not as good as that product, in my opinion. However there is of course a huge difference in price (approx £100 if you already have a PC).

The Help functions aren't bad but could be better (mainly more intuitive to use).

My main frustration is that the spellings and references are American, which is not good for me (being English), when doing the games that involve general knowledge or words. I'd like to carry on using this product, as my brain could certainly do with a workout! However, I may have to cut out some of the games, which is a shame.


Mindscapes Brain Trainer or Improve your Memory, 29 Jun 2007
I decided to improve my memory after I began to forget instructions and new job procedures given to me by my boss after a few minutes being distracted by something else in a busy office.

I bought both Mindscapes Brain Trainer (which i found bland and a little unclear in parts) and this.

This package is brilliantly and professionally presented, its all in full screen, full colour, with photographs, animations, music and a code update. The exersizes are fun to do and you can even interact with the examples and instructions.

The package is presented as a globe and you tour the world, doing exersizes in different locations, cultural games and pictures (dont worry, the games are not about the country itself, just set in that location and theme).

It says on the package that it is done by experts, this is not just selling blurb, its been designed really well and gives full instructions and even tells you how to train your mind, how long to spend and asks for your education level which it then matches to the tests it gives you. Regardless of your monitors resolution.. I run in 1280x1024, it fills the screen with full colours, music and animation.

Unfortunately, brain trainer doesnt do any of the above, its just a small box in the middle of your PC screen with 15 blandly presented tests, although it has colours and an annoying humming musical note during the tests. Dont get me wrong, brain trainer is good and does what it says, but thats it, whereas.. this pagage is FUN to play.

Make no mistake though.. this Improve your memory package CAN be very hard and it will really test you, so make sure you answer honestly when it asks you to what level you were educated, because it gets brutal, but its addictive as well because the fun games dont always seem like tests.

All in all a great package. If you want just a straight forward no multimedia designed bland 15 test memory package, buy brain trainer, but if you prefer a more colourful interactive multimedia approach, buy Test and Improve your memory. Its up to you.

Too tedious and poorly designed, 17 Jul 2008
One of the key things about a good adventure game is that it doesn't bore you by making you repeat the same things again and again. In Shadow Ranch, that's exactly what you have to do, and everything is so exact - no give and take so you can continue if you don't find this or that item. The inventory system is shockingly bad, so you have to go into the inventory, and having chosen an item close the window afterwards.

What's always good in Nancy Drew games are the artwork and the voice acting - no complaints there, but it's the gameplay that's a problem. Even with a walkthru, it's just all to fiddly and serial - and on two occasions I simply missed an item and had no clue what that item might be or where it might be.

In short, although the game has some merit, I just gave up after half of it, because it became too tedious preparing the horse, and searching and re-searching the same areas for something I missed.

Not your average OAP!!, 26 May 2007
Liked a review from some 14 year-old about 'black moor manor', when he could not even work out that the title was 'Blackmoor Manor' as written on the box! But, he did say that, and I agree, that some titles should be for the under 10's and over 75's cos they are sooooo simple.

I have just finished playing this game and as a gamer of the Nancy Drew series, it had just enough of what kids want - no violence....no naughty words...no blood, but enough learning for young and old alike that makes it interesting. I learned a lot about the desert parts of Arizona including Sargasso Cactus. Did you know.....? No, I'll let you play the game and find out, ok?

Brilliant!, 07 Jan 2007
Having played all the Nancy Drew titles with the exception of Danger by Design, I can honestly say that Shadow Ranch is the best title in the series thus far.

The storyline, based on the book of the same name, is excellent - lots of secret passages and very spooky in parts - the puzzles are interesting, the characters amusing, graphics are brilliant and the ending is absolutely spectacular.

I loved it so much, I played it twice!!

I think they should base more of the games on the original books as they have done here along with Secret of the Old Clock, which was also fantastic. The Hidden Staircase/Secret of Redgate Farm would be brilliant interactive games.



The best so far, 09 Sep 2006
If you have played Nancy Drew games before or not this is one of the best, I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout. One of the great things about these games is the amount of information you gain along the way. You are on a ranch, so learning to ride and picking ripe vegetables, reading petroglyphs and, as usual, solving riddles and puzzles are among some of the things you have to accomplish. There is an opportunity to choose junior detective for the younger ones among us! I recommend you go for the senior detective which cuts out the hints leaving it all up to you. Enjoy!

Makes learning fun! Great motivator!, 01 Mar 2007
I bought this for my 6 year old daughter to help improve her English and Math skills, and I can't praise this programme enough!

My daughter actually looks forward to playing the games and frequently comes up to me saying "Mummy, can I play Jump Ahead Year 2 now please?" with much enthusiasm. I thought it might be just a fad - like with all toys! But she really does enjoy it. I think its because the math games are challenging and she enjoys the excitement of the "theme" of the game, like jumping over crocodiles to get across a river.

I can tell you one thing, I wish I had something like this when I was little learning maths because it would have made the subject less scary. This actually makes maths look fun and because of the way learning is somewhat 'disguised' children lose the fear that a subject is daunting/difficult.

Kid's can also learn how to construct stories and the mechanics behind types of words like verbs, nouns and adjectives. The CD teaches these in a very clever way by making the definitions into a song. As a parent you'll find not only your child singing along, but YOU too!

There are also non educational benefits to this game. One of which is bonding. I found that whilst playing the games and singing along to songs, me and my daughter also had good quality bonding time, laughing and giggling. This is a great feel good factor, as well as boosting my daughter's moral (she felt she could accomplish acedemic tasks) and my moral (I felt I was spending good quality time with my child and I felt like a good parent because I was helping her learn important skills).

Definately a good buy! And GREAT for bonding with the kids!

excellent jump ahead, 09 Nov 2006
all the jump ahead are brilliant for children. they teach them so much without them even knowingit, and parents can keep up to date with their progress via the progress report.
if you children are 2 upwards buy them all as they finish one stage, get the next stage. if you children are older and you have just discovered the cd roms buy the stage they are at so far, and then continue buying from there. i do not know where i would be without these programmes, it keeps the kids concentrating for hours at a time. and they are learning every single second they are playing on them.

Jump Ahead Year 2 Reading, 14 Feb 2006
It worked. Our son is now keen to learn. Well done.

Fun, fun, fun, 15 Sep 2003
My daughter absolutely loves the games in JA Year 2. She has learnt so much in the space of one weekend! She can be on it all day if I do not stop her. She loves the noun, adjective and verb songs which are crazy but then it serves her memory well simply for that reason. She also loves the maths football pitch game, the "variable" stories she can write and many more! Her only complaint is this - she and ALL her friends could not figure out the Ice Cave maths game. The instructions were very unclear to me, too! Can anyone out there who has bought this CD-Rom help!!!

Jump Ahead Year 2, 03 Feb 2003
I am twelve years old now, and have had this programme since I was eight and (even now) I still enjoy it. I love the many things for you to do and the way you can build up points on every activity you do. Every 100 points you get (each activity, depending how hard it is, wil give you from 2-15 points) you get a stamp from the Post Office in the game and build up your collection. I love the way it has been designed in a school. There is a clubhouse (which you get to by climbing the tree or using the secret lift), a classroom, and then many floors below. The graphics are all really good, and fun. In the classroom for instance, you get to write stories and see animated songs about grammar, and when you click on different items in the classroom, they animate. The songs about the grammar don't sound that interesting do they? Think again. They are funny and catchy and... I'm quite embarrassed to admit this (but it's the truth)...that listening and watching these songs completly made me learn what a noun, a verb and an adjective are!!!!! You go around freely, with our friends CJ (a large friendly frog) and Newton (a funny firefly). The activities go from Maths, to English, to matching pairs, to listening to songs...to jumping logs and crocs, shooting at aliens from Mars and even playing football!!!! You won't even notice you are learning some key lessons in life, as well as having great fun, and I really recommend this CD ROM to any child from the age of 6 to 10, as you can adjust the levels of the games so it's never to easy! So my advice is...go out there and buy it!!!
by Rachel James

A real bargin, 30 Aug 2008
This is a great little piece of kit for the money. It's relatively easy to use (although the lack of written instructions make it a bit daunting to start with), and allows you to create wonderful designs. I've been particularly pleased with its ability to convert pictures, but be warned they can be quite big. I would advise that you buy a shade card as well, from one of the main silk manufactures like DMC, as it allows you check the shade the computer is suggesting against the real thing.

extremely good value for money, 20 Jan 2008
This is a fantastic product. I imagined something extremely basic for the price, so was amazed at the different features available. It is extremely easy to import photo files of various types - within seconds you see them as cross stich patterns, which you can edit (i.e. delete out confusing shadows or undesirable lines). It's also nice starting from scratch with your own pattern. Adding block after block in 99 different colours is a great way to doodle a pattern, and is very addictive.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cross stitch designer program.

Great, 18 Nov 2007
Reasonably easy to use. Has a help section which is helpful. Great way to design your own patterns. xx

Jane Greenoff's Cross Stitch Designer, 28 Aug 2003
Overall this is a great product. It is wonderfully easy to use and offers a great selection of thread manufacturers so that you can plan your designs to include your favourite thread range. One downside, however is that you are unable to personalise your pallette of colours to your favourites, and so I often need to reselect colours whenever i start a new design. Other great features include the handy video tutorials with sound - these are brilliant for beginners and offer many handy tips! Designs can be viewed as b/w symbols, colour blocks or colour stitches on a wide selection of aida colours, although options for other fabrics are not available.

Didn't work with Vista, 17 Nov 2008
I bought this a few weeks ago and have just got round to looking at it. Loaded fine with no problems apart from saying that it would run in basic Vista, only it didn't. No amount of clicking would get it to work and patience is not one of my virtues. I will just have to load it on the old banger that runs XP and try again in the future.

Good but software can only be used with CD loaded on pc/laptop, 08 Sep 2008
This CD is good and I have started to use the different games and find it quite easy to follow.
My only gripe is that to use this CD you must always have the CD inserted and loaded in your pc or laptop - I hadnt expected this and am sure at some time (perhaps because of my bad memory!!) I may loose the CD or it will become damaged over time and then it will be useless to me.

Apart from the above the CD seems useful and I am sure will help if used regularly.

Fun to play and easy to use, 31 Dec 2007
I really enjoyed playing Test and Improve Your Memory. I noticed my ability increasing very quickly at the various puzzles, so regular training probably would be beneficial.

If I had to knock the product down one star, it would be because I found the feedback was insufficiently detailed. For example: "People scored between X and X points, and completed the puzzle between X and X seconds". This could mean that they achieved low or high points within the time allowed. It could also mean that they achieved full marks within a very short or very long time. I would have preferred something that enabled you to calculate a bit more accurately where you stood in terms of percentage of the population.

Good, well designed, fun tests but it helps if you are an American, 25 Nov 2007
I've enjoyed using this product. It has approximately 12 different types of games. Each of which you can set to different skill levels. You can monitor your progresss against others of a similar gender/age/education level and against yourself over time.

I find the user interface (UI) a little basic and, having briefly seen the Nintendo DS, the UI is not as good as that product, in my opinion. However there is of course a huge difference in price (approx £100 if you already have a PC).

The Help functions aren't bad but could be better (mainly more intuitive to use).

My main frustration is that the spellings and references are American, which is not good for me (being English), when doing the games that involve general knowledge or words. I'd like to carry on using this product, as my brain could certainly do with a workout! However, I may have to cut out some of the games, which is a shame.


Mindscapes Brain Trainer or Improve your Memory, 29 Jun 2007
I decided to improve my memory after I began to forget instructions and new job procedures given to me by my boss after a few minutes being distracted by something else in a busy office.

I bought both Mindscapes Brain Trainer (which i found bland and a little unclear in parts) and this.

This package is brilliantly and professionally presented, its all in full screen, full colour, with photographs, animations, music and a code update. The exersizes are fun to do and you can even interact with the examples and instructions.

The package is presented as a globe and you tour the world, doing exersizes in different locations, cultural games and pictures (dont worry, the games are not about the country itself, just set in that location and theme).

It says on the package that it is done by experts, this is not just selling blurb, its been designed really well and gives full instructions and even tells you how to train your mind, how long to spend and asks for your education level which it then matches to the tests it gives you. Regardless of your monitors resolution.. I run in 1280x1024, it fills the screen with full colours, music and animation.

Unfortunately, brain trainer doesnt do any of the above, its just a small box in the middle of your PC screen with 15 blandly presented tests, although it has colours and an annoying humming musical note during the tests. Dont get me wrong, brain trainer is good and does what it says, but thats it, whereas.. this pagage is FUN to play.

Make no mistake though.. this Improve your memory package CAN be very hard and it will really test you, so make sure you answer honestly when it asks you to what level you were educated, because it gets brutal, but its addictive as well because the fun games dont always seem like tests.

All in all a great package. If you want just a straight forward no multimedia designed bland 15 test memory package, buy brain trainer, but if you prefer a more colourful interactive multimedia approach, buy Test and Improve your memory. Its up to you.

Too tedious and poorly designed, 17 Jul 2008
One of the key things about a good adventure game is that it doesn't bore you by making you repeat the same things again and again. In Shadow Ranch, that's exactly what you have to do, and everything is so exact - no give and take so you can continue if you don't find this or that item. The inventory system is shockingly bad, so you have to go into the inventory, and having chosen an item close the window afterwards.

What's always good in Nancy Drew games are the artwork and the voice acting - no complaints there, but it's the gameplay that's a problem. Even with a walkthru, it's just all to fiddly and serial - and on two occasions I simply missed an item and had no clue what that item might be or where it might be.

In short, although the game has some merit, I just gave up after half of it, because it became too tedious preparing the horse, and searching and re-searching the same areas for something I missed.

Not your average OAP!!, 26 May 2007
Liked a review from some 14 year-old about 'black moor manor', when he could not even work out that the title was 'Blackmoor Manor' as written on the box! But, he did say that, and I agree, that some titles should be for the under 10's and over 75's cos they are sooooo simple.

I have just finished playing this game and as a gamer of the Nancy Drew series, it had just enough of what kids want - no violence....no naughty words...no blood, but enough learning for young and old alike that makes it interesting. I learned a lot about the desert parts of Arizona including Sargasso Cactus. Did you know.....? No, I'll let you play the game and find out, ok?

Brilliant!, 07 Jan 2007
Having played all the Nancy Drew titles with the exception of Danger by Design, I can honestly say that Shadow Ranch is the best title in the series thus far.

The storyline, based on the book of the same name, is excellent - lots of secret passages and very spooky in parts - the puzzles are interesting, the characters amusing, graphics are brilliant and the ending is absolutely spectacular.

I loved it so much, I played it twice!!

I think they should base more of the games on the original books as they have done here along with Secret of the Old Clock, which was also fantastic. The Hidden Staircase/Secret of Redgate Farm would be brilliant interactive games.



The best so far, 09 Sep 2006
If you have played Nancy Drew games before or not this is one of the best, I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout. One of the great things about these games is the amount of information you gain along the way. You are on a ranch, so learning to ride and picking ripe vegetables, reading petroglyphs and, as usual, solving riddles and puzzles are among some of the things you have to accomplish. There is an opportunity to choose junior detective for the younger ones among us! I recommend you go for the senior detective which cuts out the hints leaving it all up to you. Enjoy!

Excellent!, 24 Jan 2006
I bought this cd-rom basically due to laziness! I was tired of having to constantly look up words in the dictionary which is too time-consuming! This program lets you type in a word (in either language) and it brings up the direct translation along with the genitive endings and sex of the word - as found in the normal dictionary. It also offers the word in sentences; putting it into context and offers various explanations of the word. A must have for linguists everywhere!!

Makes learning fun! Great motivator!, 01 Mar 2007
I bought this for my 6 year old daughter to help improve her English and Math skills, and I can't praise this programme enough!

My daughter actually looks forward to playing the games and frequently comes up to me saying "Mummy, can I play Jump Ahead Year 2 now please?" with much enthusiasm. I thought it might be just a fad - like with all toys! But she really does enjoy it. I think its because the math games are challenging and she enjoys the excitement of the "theme" of the game, like jumping over crocodiles to get across a river.

I can tell you one thing, I wish I had something like this when I was little learning maths because it would have made the subject less scary. This actually makes maths look fun and because of the way learning is somewhat 'disguised' children lose the fear that a subject is daunting/difficult.

Kid's can also learn how to construct stories and the mechanics behind types of words like verbs, nouns and adjectives. The CD teaches these in a very clever way by making the definitions into a song. As a parent you'll find not only your child singing along, but YOU too!

There are also non educational benefits to this game. One of which is bonding. I found that whilst playing the games and singing along to songs, me and my daughter also had good quality bonding time, laughing and giggling. This is a great feel good factor, as well as boosting my daughter's moral (she felt she could accomplish acedemic tasks) and my moral (I felt I was spending good quality time with my child and I felt like a good parent because I was helping her learn important skills).

Definately a good buy! And GREAT for bonding with the kids!

excellent jump ahead, 09 Nov 2006
all the jump ahead are brilliant for children. they teach them so much without them even knowingit, and parents can keep up to date with their progress via the progress report.
if you children are 2 upwards buy them all as they finish one stage, get the next stage. if you children are older and you have just discovered the cd roms buy the stage they are at so far, and then continue buying from there. i do not know where i would be without these programmes, it keeps the kids concentrating for hours at a time. and they are learning every single second they are playing on them.

Jump Ahead Year 2 Reading, 14 Feb 2006
It worked. Our son is now keen to learn. Well done.

Fun, fun, fun, 15 Sep 2003
My daughter absolutely loves the games in JA Year 2. She has learnt so much in the space of one weekend! She can be on it all day if I do not stop her. She loves the noun, adjective and verb songs which are crazy but then it serves her memory well simply for that reason. She also loves the maths football pitch game, the "variable" stories she can write and many more! Her only complaint is this - she and ALL her friends could not figure out the Ice Cave maths game. The instructions were very unclear to me, too! Can anyone out there who has bought this CD-Rom help!!!

Jump Ahead Year 2, 03 Feb 2003
I am twelve years old now, and have had this programme since I was eight and (even now) I still enjoy it. I love the many things for you to do and the way you can build up points on every activity you do. Every 100 points you get (each activity, depending how hard it is, wil give you from 2-15 points) you get a stamp from the Post Office in the game and build up your collection. I love the way it has been designed in a school. There is a clubhouse (which you get to by climbing the tree or using the secret lift), a classroom, and then many floors below. The graphics are all really good, and fun. In the classroom for instance, you get to write stories and see animated songs about grammar, and when you click on different items in the classroom, they animate. The songs about the grammar don't sound that interesting do they? Think again. They are funny and catchy and... I'm quite embarrassed to admit this (but it's the truth)...that listening and watching these songs completly made me learn what a noun, a verb and an adjective are!!!!! You go around freely, with our friends CJ (a large friendly frog) and Newton (a funny firefly). The activities go from Maths, to English, to matching pairs, to listening to songs...to jumping logs and crocs, shooting at aliens from Mars and even playing football!!!! You won't even notice you are learning some key lessons in life, as well as having great fun, and I really recommend this CD ROM to any child from the age of 6 to 10, as you can adjust the levels of the games so it's never to easy! So my advice is...go out there and buy it!!!
by Rachel James

A real bargin, 30 Aug 2008
This is a great little piece of kit for the money. It's relatively easy to use (although the lack of written instructions make it a bit daunting to start with), and allows you to create wonderful designs. I've been particularly pleased with its ability to convert pictures, but be warned they can be quite big. I would advise that you buy a shade card as well, from one of the main silk manufactures like DMC, as it allows you check the shade the computer is suggesting against the real thing.

extremely good value for money, 20 Jan 2008
This is a fantastic product. I imagined something extremely basic for the price, so was amazed at the different features available. It is extremely easy to import photo files of various types - within seconds you see them as cross stich patterns, which you can edit (i.e. delete out confusing shadows or undesirable lines). It's also nice starting from scratch with your own pattern. Adding block after block in 99 different colours is a great way to doodle a pattern, and is very addictive.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cross stitch designer program.

Great, 18 Nov 2007
Reasonably easy to use. Has a help section which is helpful. Great way to design your own patterns. xx

Jane Greenoff's Cross Stitch Designer, 28 Aug 2003
Overall this is a great product. It is wonderfully easy to use and offers a great selection of thread manufacturers so that you can plan your designs to include your favourite thread range. One downside, however is that you are unable to personalise your pallette of colours to your favourites, and so I often need to reselect colours whenever i start a new design. Other great features include the handy video tutorials with sound - these are brilliant for beginners and offer many handy tips! Designs can be viewed as b/w symbols, colour blocks or colour stitches on a wide selection of aida colours, although options for other fabrics are not available.

Didn't work with Vista, 17 Nov 2008
I bought this a few weeks ago and have just got round to looking at it. Loaded fine with no problems apart from saying that it would run in basic Vista, only it didn't. No amount of clicking would get it to work and patience is not one of my virtues. I will just have to load it on the old banger that runs XP and try again in the future.

Good but software can only be used with CD loaded on pc/laptop, 08 Sep 2008
This CD is good and I have started to use the different games and find it quite easy to follow.
My only gripe is that to use this CD you must always have the CD inserted and loaded in your pc or laptop - I hadnt expected this and am sure at some time (perhaps because of my bad memory!!) I may loose the CD or it will become damaged over time and then it will be useless to me.

Apart from the above the CD seems useful and I am sure will help if used regularly.

Fun to play and easy to use, 31 Dec 2007
I really enjoyed playing Test and Improve Your Memory. I noticed my ability increasing very quickly at the various puzzles, so regular training probably would be beneficial.

If I had to knock the product down one star, it would be because I found the feedback was insufficiently detailed. For example: "People scored between X and X points, and completed the puzzle between X and X seconds". This could mean that they achieved low or high points within the time allowed. It could also mean that they achieved full marks within a very short or very long time. I would have preferred something that enabled you to calculate a bit more accurately where you stood in terms of percentage of the population.

Good, well designed, fun tests but it helps if you are an American, 25 Nov 2007
I've enjoyed using this product. It has approximately 12 different types of games. Each of which you can set to different skill levels. You can monitor your progresss against others of a similar gender/age/education level and against yourself over time.

I find the user interface (UI) a little basic and, having briefly seen the Nintendo DS, the UI is not as good as that product, in my opinion. However there is of course a huge difference in price (approx £100 if you already have a PC).

The Help functions aren't bad but could be better (mainly more intuitive to use).

My main frustration is that the spellings and references are American, which is not good for me (being English), when doing the games that involve general knowledge or words. I'd like to carry on using this product, as my brain could certainly do with a workout! However, I may have to cut out some of the games, which is a shame.


Mindscapes Brain Trainer or Improve your Memory, 29 Jun 2007
I decided to improve my memory after I began to forget instructions and new job procedures given to me by my boss after a few minutes being distracted by something else in a busy office.

I bought both Mindscapes Brain Trainer (which i found bland and a little unclear in parts) and this.

This package is brilliantly and professionally presented, its all in full screen, full colour, with photographs, animations, music and a code update. The exersizes are fun to do and you can even interact with the examples and instructions.

The package is presented as a globe and you tour the world, doing exersizes in different locations, cultural games and pictures (dont worry, the games are not about the country itself, just set in that location and theme).

It says on the package that it is done by experts, this is not just selling blurb, its been designed really well and gives full instructions and even tells you how to train your mind, how long to spend and asks for your education level which it then matches to the tests it gives you. Regardless of your monitors resolution.. I run in 1280x1024, it fills the screen with full colours, music and animation.

Unfortunately, brain trainer doesnt do any of the above, its just a small box in the middle of your PC screen with 15 blandly presented tests, although it has colours and an annoying humming musical note during the tests. Dont get me wrong, brain trainer is good and does what it says, but thats it, whereas.. this pagage is FUN to play.

Make no mistake though.. this Improve your memory package CAN be very hard and it will really test you, so make sure you answer honestly when it asks you to what level you were educated, because it gets brutal, but its addictive as well because the fun games dont always seem like tests.

All in all a great package. If you want just a straight forward no multimedia designed bland 15 test memory package, buy brain trainer, but if you prefer a more colourful interactive multimedia approach, buy Test and Improve your memory. Its up to you.

Too tedious and poorly designed, 17 Jul 2008
One of the key things about a good adventure game is that it doesn't bore you by making you repeat the same things again and again. In Shadow Ranch, that's exactly what you have to do, and everything is so exact - no give and take so you can continue if you don't find this or that item. The inventory system is shockingly bad, so you have to go into the inventory, and having chosen an item close the window afterwards.

What's always good in Nancy Drew games are the artwork and the voice acting - no complaints there, but it's the gameplay that's a problem. Even with a walkthru, it's just all to fiddly and serial - and on two occasions I simply missed an item and had no clue what that item might be or where it might be.

In short, although the game has some merit, I just gave up after half of it, because it became too tedious preparing the horse, and searching and re-searching the same areas for something I missed.

Not your average OAP!!, 26 May 2007
Liked a review from some 14 year-old about 'black moor manor', when he could not even work out that the title was 'Blackmoor Manor' as written on the box! But, he did say that, and I agree, that some titles should be for the under 10's and over 75's cos they are sooooo simple.

I have just finished playing this game and as a gamer of the Nancy Drew series, it had just enough of what kids want - no violence....no naughty words...no blood, but enough learning for young and old alike that makes it interesting. I learned a lot about the desert parts of Arizona including Sargasso Cactus. Did you know.....? No, I'll let you play the game and find out, ok?

Brilliant!, 07 Jan 2007
Having played all the Nancy Drew titles with the exception of Danger by Design, I can honestly say that Shadow Ranch is the best title in the series thus far.

The storyline, based on the book of the same name, is excellent - lots of secret passages and very spooky in parts - the puzzles are interesting, the characters amusing, graphics are brilliant and the ending is absolutely spectacular.

I loved it so much, I played it twice!!

I think they should base more of the games on the original books as they have done here along with Secret of the Old Clock, which was also fantastic. The Hidden Staircase/Secret of Redgate Farm would be brilliant interactive games.



The best so far, 09 Sep 2006
If you have played Nancy Drew games before or not this is one of the best, I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout. One of the great things about these games is the amount of information you gain along the way. You are on a ranch, so learning to ride and picking ripe vegetables, reading petroglyphs and, as usual, solving riddles and puzzles are among some of the things you have to accomplish. There is an opportunity to choose junior detective for the younger ones among us! I recommend you go for the senior detective which cuts out the hints leaving it all up to you. Enjoy!

Excellent!, 24 Jan 2006
I bought this cd-rom basically due to laziness! I was tired of having to constantly look up words in the dictionary which is too time-consuming! This program lets you type in a word (in either language) and it brings up the direct translation along with the genitive endings and sex of the word - as found in the normal dictionary. It also offers the word in sentences; putting it into context and offers various explanations of the word. A must have for linguists everywhere!!

Very boring to use, 19 Nov 2008
This course teaches you Word through a series of little boxes with your exercises contained therein. It is quite boring to use and you have to read the instructions over again to grasp exactly what is required especially if you are not familiar with the commands on the navigation and status bars since it is a 2007 version. In my opinion, if you want an excellent course for intermediate or advanced levels of Word, try ECDL/ICDL Advanced AM3 Word Processing Using Word XP. It is wonderful. You actually work in the Word programme on interesting documents and can switch to a letter you have typed yourself or a personal document to test out what you have learned. If you want to do this with Professor teaches, you have to shut the programme and open it up again once you have finished trying out your new skills on a real document. I thought I would learn new skills with this CD course but I don't enjoy doing it at all because it is rather boring.

Makes learning fun! Great motivator!, 01 Mar 2007
I bought this for my 6 year old daughter to help improve her English and Math skills, and I can't praise this programme enough!

My daughter actually looks forward to playing the games and frequently comes up to me saying "Mummy, can I play Jump Ahead Year 2 now please?" with much enthusiasm. I thought it might be just a fad - like with all toys! But she really does enjoy it. I think its because the math games are challenging and she enjoys the excitement of the "theme" of the game, like jumping over crocodiles to get across a river.

I can tell you one thing, I wish I had something like this when I was little learning maths because it would have made the subject less scary. This actually makes maths look fun and because of the way learning is somewhat 'disguised' children lose the fear that a subject is daunting/difficult.

Kid's can also learn how to construct stories and the mechanics behind types of words like verbs, nouns and adjectives. The CD teaches these in a very clever way by making the definitions into a song. As a parent you'll find not only your child singing along, but YOU too!

There are also non educational benefits to this game. One of which is bonding. I found that whilst playing the games and singing along to songs, me and my daughter also had good quality bonding time, laughing and giggling. This is a great feel good factor, as well as boosting my daughter's moral (she felt she could accomplish acedemic tasks) and my moral (I felt I was spending good quality time with my child and I felt like a good parent because I was helping her learn important skills).

Definately a good buy! And GREAT for bonding with the kids!

excellent jump ahead, 09 Nov 2006
all the jump ahead are brilliant for children. they teach them so much without them even knowingit, and parents can keep up to date with their progress via the progress report.
if you children are 2 upwards buy them all as they finish one stage, get the next stage. if you children are older and you have just discovered the cd roms buy the stage they are at so far, and then continue buying from there. i do not know where i would be without these programmes, it keeps the kids concentrating for hours at a time. and they are learning every single second they are playing on them.

Jump Ahead Year 2 Reading, 14 Feb 2006
It worked. Our son is now keen to learn. Well done.

Fun, fun, fun, 15 Sep 2003
My daughter absolutely loves the games in JA Year 2. She has learnt so much in the space of one weekend! She can be on it all day if I do not stop her. She loves the noun, adjective and verb songs which are crazy but then it serves her memory well simply for that reason. She also loves the maths football pitch game, the "variable" stories she can write and many more! Her only complaint is this - she and ALL her friends could not figure out the Ice Cave maths game. The instructions were very unclear to me, too! Can anyone out there who has bought this CD-Rom help!!!

Jump Ahead Year 2, 03 Feb 2003
I am twelve years old now, and have had this programme since I was eight and (even now) I still enjoy it. I love the many things for you to do and the way you can build up points on every activity you do. Every 100 points you get (each activity, depending how hard it is, wil give you from 2-15 points) you get a stamp from the Post Office in the game and build up your collection. I love the way it has been designed in a school. There is a clubhouse (which you get to by climbing the tree or using the secret lift), a classroom, and then many floors below. The graphics are all really good, and fun. In the classroom for instance, you get to write stories and see animated songs about grammar, and when you click on different items in the classroom, they animate. The songs about the grammar don't sound that interesting do they? Think again. They are funny and catchy and... I'm quite embarrassed to admit this (but it's the truth)...that listening and watching these songs completly made me learn what a noun, a verb and an adjective are!!!!! You go around freely, with our friends CJ (a large friendly frog) and Newton (a funny firefly). The activities go from Maths, to English, to matching pairs, to listening to songs...to jumping logs and crocs, shooting at aliens from Mars and even playing football!!!! You won't even notice you are learning some key lessons in life, as well as having great fun, and I really recommend this CD ROM to any child from the age of 6 to 10, as you can adjust the levels of the games so it's never to easy! So my advice is...go out there and buy it!!!
by Rachel James

A real bargin, 30 Aug 2008
This is a great little piece of kit for the money. It's relatively easy to use (although the lack of written instructions make it a bit daunting to start with), and allows you to create wonderful designs. I've been particularly pleased with its ability to convert pictures, but be warned they can be quite big. I would advise that you buy a shade card as well, from one of the main silk manufactures like DMC, as it allows you check the shade the computer is suggesting against the real thing.

extremely good value for money, 20 Jan 2008
This is a fantastic product. I imagined something extremely basic for the price, so was amazed at the different features available. It is extremely easy to import photo files of various types - within seconds you see them as cross stich patterns, which you can edit (i.e. delete out confusing shadows or undesirable lines). It's also nice starting from scratch with your own pattern. Adding block after block in 99 different colours is a great way to doodle a pattern, and is very addictive.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cross stitch designer program.

Great, 18 Nov 2007
Reasonably easy to use. Has a help section which is helpful. Great way to design your own patterns. xx

Jane Greenoff's Cross Stitch Designer, 28 Aug 2003
Overall this is a great product. It is wonderfully easy to use and offers a great selection of thread manufacturers so that you can plan your designs to include your favourite thread range. One downside, however is that you are unable to personalise your pallette of colours to your favourites, and so I often need to reselect colours whenever i start a new design. Other great features include the handy video tutorials with sound - these are brilliant for beginners and offer many handy tips! Designs can be viewed as b/w symbols, colour blocks or colour stitches on a wide selection of aida colours, although options for other fabrics are not available.

Didn't work with Vista, 17 Nov 2008
I bought this a few weeks ago and have just got round to looking at it. Loaded fine with no problems apart from saying that it would run in basic Vista, only it didn't. No amount of clicking would get it to work and patience is not one of my virtues. I will just have to load it on the old banger that runs XP and try again in the future.

Good but software can only be used with CD loaded on pc/laptop, 08 Sep 2008
This CD is good and I have started to use the different games and find it quite easy to follow.
My only gripe is that to use this CD you must always have the CD inserted and loaded in your pc or laptop - I hadnt expected this and am sure at some time (perhaps because of my bad memory!!) I may loose the CD or it will become damaged over time and then it will be useless to me.

Apart from the above the CD seems useful and I am sure will help if used regularly.

Fun to play and easy to use, 31 Dec 2007
I really enjoyed playing Test and Improve Your Memory. I noticed my ability increasing very quickly at the various puzzles, so regular training probably would be beneficial.

If I had to knock the product down one star, it would be because I found the feedback was insufficiently detailed. For example: "People scored between X and X points, and completed the puzzle between X and X seconds". This could mean that they achieved low or high points within the time allowed. It could also mean that they achieved full marks within a very short or very long time. I would have preferred something that enabled you to calculate a bit more accurately where you stood in terms of percentage of the population.

Good, well designed, fun tests but it helps if you are an American, 25 Nov 2007
I've enjoyed using this product. It has approximately 12 different types of games. Each of which you can set to different skill levels. You can monitor your progresss against others of a similar gender/age/education level and against yourself over time.

I find the user interface (UI) a little basic and, having briefly seen the Nintendo DS, the UI is not as good as that product, in my opinion. However there is of course a huge difference in price (approx £100 if you already have a PC).

The Help functions aren't bad but could be better (mainly more intuitive to use).

My main frustration is that the spellings and references are American, which is not good for me (being English), when doing the games that involve general knowledge or words. I'd like to carry on using this product, as my brain could certainly do with a workout! However, I may have to cut out some of the games, which is a shame.


Mindscapes Brain Trainer or Improve your Memory, 29 Jun 2007
I decided to improve my memory after I began to forget instructions and new job procedures given to me by my boss after a few minutes being distracted by something else in a busy office.

I bought both Mindscapes Brain Trainer (which i found bland and a little unclear in parts) and this.

This package is brilliantly and professionally presented, its all in full screen, full colour, with photographs, animations, music and a code update. The exersizes are fun to do and you can even interact with the examples and instructions.

The package is presented as a globe and you tour the world, doing exersizes in different locations, cultural games and pictures (dont worry, the games are not about the country itself, just set in that location and theme).

It says on the package that it is done by experts, this is not just selling blurb, its been designed really well and gives full instructions and even tells you how to train your mind, how long to spend and asks for your education level which it then matches to the tests it gives you. Regardless of your monitors resolution.. I run in 1280x1024, it fills the screen with full colours, music and animation.

Unfortunately, brain trainer doesnt do any of the above, its just a small box in the middle of your PC screen with 15 blandly presented tests, although it has colours and an annoying humming musical note during the tests. Dont get me wrong, brain trainer is good and does what it says, but thats it, whereas.. this pagage is FUN to play.

Make no mistake though.. this Improve your memory package CAN be very hard and it will really test you, so make sure you answer honestly when it asks you to what level you were educated, because it gets brutal, but its addictive as well because the fun games dont always seem like tests.

All in all a great package. If you want just a straight forward no multimedia designed bland 15 test memory package, buy brain trainer, but if you prefer a more colourful interactive multimedia approach, buy Test and Improve your memory. Its up to you.

Too tedious and poorly designed, 17 Jul 2008
One of the key things about a good adventure game is that it doesn't bore you by making you repeat the same things again and again. In Shadow Ranch, that's exactly what you have to do, and everything is so exact - no give and take so you can continue if you don't find this or that item. The inventory system is shockingly bad, so you have to go into the inventory, and having chosen an item close the window afterwards.

What's always good in Nancy Drew games are the artwork and the voice acting - no complaints there, but it's the gameplay that's a problem. Even with a walkthru, it's just all to fiddly and serial - and on two occasions I simply missed an item and had no clue what that item might be or where it might be.

In short, although the game has some merit, I just gave up after half of it, because it became too tedious preparing the horse, and searching and re-searching the same areas for something I missed.

Not your average OAP!!, 26 May 2007
Liked a review from some 14 year-old about 'black moor manor', when he could not even work out that the title was 'Blackmoor Manor' as written on the box! But, he did say that, and I agree, that some titles should be for the under 10's and over 75's cos they are sooooo simple.

I have just finished playing this game and as a gamer of the Nancy Drew series, it had just enough of what kids want - no violence....no naughty words...no blood, but enough learning for young and old alike that makes it interesting. I learned a lot about the desert parts of Arizona including Sargasso Cactus. Did you know.....? No, I'll let you play the game and find out, ok?

Brilliant!, 07 Jan 2007
Having played all the Nancy Drew titles with the exception of Danger by Design, I can honestly say that Shadow Ranch is the best title in the series thus far.

The storyline, based on the book of the same name, is excellent - lots of secret passages and very spooky in parts - the puzzles are interesting, the characters amusing, graphics are brilliant and the ending is absolutely spectacular.

I loved it so much, I played it twice!!

I think they should base more of the games on the original books as they have done here along with Secret of the Old Clock, which was also fantastic. The Hidden Staircase/Secret of Redgate Farm would be brilliant interactive games.



The best so far, 09 Sep 2006
If you have played Nancy Drew games before or not this is one of the best, I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout. One of the great things about these games is the amount of information you gain along the way. You are on a ranch, so learning to ride and picking ripe vegetables, reading petroglyphs and, as usual, solving riddles and puzzles are among some of the things you have to accomplish. There is an opportunity to choose junior detective for the younger ones among us! I recommend you go for the senior detective which cuts out the hints leaving it all up to you. Enjoy!

Excellent!, 24 Jan 2006
I bought this cd-rom basically due to laziness! I was tired of having to constantly look up words in the dictionary which is too time-consuming! This program lets you type in a word (in either language) and it brings up the direct translation along with the genitive endings and sex of the word - as found in the normal dictionary. It also offers the word in sentences; putting it into context and offers various explanations of the word. A must have for linguists everywhere!!

Very boring to use, 19 Nov 2008
This course teaches you Word through a series of little boxes with your exercises contained therein. It is quite boring to use and you have to read the instructions over again to grasp exactly what is required especially if you are not familiar with the commands on the navigation and status bars since it is a 2007 version. In my opinion, if you want an excellent course for intermediate or advanced levels of Word, try ECDL/ICDL Advanced AM3 Word Processing Using Word XP. It is wonderful. You actually work in the Word programme on interesting documents and can switch to a letter you have typed yourself or a personal document to test out what you have learned. If you want to do this with Professor teaches, you have to shut the programme and open it up again once you have finished trying out your new skills on a real document. I thought I would learn new skills with this CD course but I don't enjoy doing it at all because it is rather boring.

real life road signs..., 14 Dec 2004
I bought this product as I had failed on several occasions when practising for my theory test. I hadn't a clue with my road signs...OK i new the Stop and give way sign, but apart from that I had no idea.

I thought that this CD would be hard work and a little boring, but at least I would stand a better chance of passing my test. How wrong could i have been...i actually found myself on this CD for over 3 hours and I didn't feel like i was revising for anything! A few days later I resat my practise theory test and passed to my amazement :0)

I would really recommend this CD to anyone who is having problems with road signs. The real life pictures made it easier to, as you could see where you would find the sign on the roads, rather than reading it out of a book.

Would highly recomend this cd to anyone taking there test.