Developed By: Lifeline Studios
Published By: Inspired Media/Left Behind Games
ESRB Rated E
Single Player
Pros: Excellent learning software, great Christian stories
Cons: Non Christians snicker at the title

System Requirements
OS: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
CPU: 300mhz
CD-ROM: 12X
RAM: 16MB
Hard Disk: 50MB free, 685 for full install
Video: SVGA Sound: 16bit
Recommended for kids ages 4-6

Charlie is back and ready to teach your kids about great Bible stories and kindergarten level academic skills; there is a version for preschoolers and elementary age kids too. This game truly makes learning fun and I would highly recommend it for any Christian family.

The following explains the various stories and what your children could potentially learn from them.

• Counting
• Sequencing
• Measurements
• Sorting
• Spatial Awareness
• Directions
• Phonics
• Rhyming
• Letters
• Listening Skills

There are six Biblical adventures your children will learn about. Each adventure has two levels of difficulty, which greatly adds to the replay ability. There are also coloring pages you can print out for more entertainment value. Here are the stories and what you will learn from them.

Birth of a Savior-Help Mary and Joseph find a place to stay by locating the house that matches all the clues. Your kids can learn the directions North, South, East and West.

The Prodigal Son -- In this lesson your child will have to think fast and match the letters with their sound. The harder level has you match the ending letter of a word instead of the first letter.

Zacchaeus and the Big Tree -- Help Zacchaeus climb the tree and dodge the eggs being dropped on him. He\'ll have to collect items, match rhyming words and fill in the missing letter on the harder difficulty.

Elisha and the Jars of Oil -- The widow needs help collecting empty jars. Help her find the jars by listening to these simple directions: "higher," "lower," "left" and "right."

Nehemiah rebuilds The Wall -- This can be described as reverse Tetris; you have to get the bricks and match them to the proper color/shape column to build the wall.

The Story of Queen Esther -- This one was my children\'s favorite. You must locate the ingredients and follow the directions to bake a dessert to please the king. Your children will learn how to follow instructions and count. When the dessert is finished, you have the option to print it.

The graphics are very well done and colorful; the movies are fun to watch as well. When running the game, it sets your resolution to 640x480. Lifeline Studios did a great job on the model and animation rendering.

The background music and especially the sound effects fit nicely in the game. The voice acting is pretty good too. Many of these games are based on sounds and would not be suitable for those who are hard of hearing.

The game interface is pretty easy to use. For the most part you are using the mouse and clicking for the right answers. The Zacchaeus tree level can be a little tricky to maneuver but it’s not impossible.

From an appropriateness standpoint this game is squeaky clean and I can’t recommend it enough for Christian parents with young children.

With LifeLine Studio’s motto: “Quality Software for Kids” the Charlie Church mouse series definitely lives up to their claim. The stories will teach valuable lessons and the learning games will give kids a head start in school. My kids really enjoy the game and the printable coloring pages too. You\'ll definitely get your $20 worth. You can buy this at inspiredmedia.com or at covenantgames.com.

Final Ratings

Game Play: 17/20
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Interface: 4/5
Stability: 5/5

Game Score: 42/50   84%
Appropriateness: 50/50   100%