System Requirements Windows 98/Me/2000/XP 32MB RAM 3D Accelerated video card Direct X 8 Compatible Sound

Did you know that a majority of our nation?s founders were Christian? If not, you can learn about the formation of the United States and its founders in this edutainment title. You will also learn about historic events and definitions. This game ties in church and state where the ACLU separates it!

What will I learn about?

There are fourteen lessons to go through and five maps styles you can choose to play in. (Great Hall, One Way, The Boots, Leap of Faith, and Final Exam) Some of the maps have simplified controls to make your life easier. Each map type starts off with the un-butchered Pledge of Allegiance.

The Lessons To Be Learned

1. Before Independence
2. Independence
3. Christianity in early American society
4. Christianity of the founders
5. Christianity in government
6. Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams
7. John Witherspoon
8. George Washington
9. John Adams
10. James Madison
11. Delegates of New England States
12. Delegates of Middle States
13. Delegates of Southern States
14. The Deist Question

How do I play?

You play the role of Uncle Sam. You can walk around the map with most having corridors and doors to be opened. You are in search of keys and stars of truth to progress. In order to open doors or collect objects you must answer multiple choice and True/False questions. If you get it right, you got it, if not, it will blow up in your face (literally). To restore health or save your progress you have to go to a gold painting. Those gold paintings have all the information you need to answer the questions correctly. The paintings are your friend.

Answering questions is easy. Are there puzzles?

There are plenty of puzzles to keep you playing or to drive you nuts! There are jumping, stealth, flying and avoiding huge boots puzzles. There are also slick & icy hallways that you have to slide in certain ways to get hidden keys. Also, some rooms have floors that only appear if you answer the questions correctly. Finally there are some shooting stars that you have to avoid or wear protective armor to survive.

Graphics

The graphics are 3D and are decent. The hallways look elegant and the paintings look nice. The movement of the character is pretty stiff; I guess I?m spoiled from the games with the rag doll physics. ;) Some of the models can use improvement, for example, the huge boots look good sideways but are way too wide in the front. Also with some of the shooting stars you can see through the walls.

Sound

To get you in the patriotic mood there is patriotic music in the background throughout the game. You can adjust the music volume to your liking. If you don?t like reading about our country or its founders you can have the computer read to you with a computerized text to speech voice. It doesn?t sound that great but it?s there for you nonetheless. The sound effects are pretty basic, but they work.

Interface

The controls are your basic WASD configuration. Some the of the levels have simplified controls which moves you a few paces more with each key press. The flying mode took some getting used to (keep holding enter!) but I think it?s better in the simplified mode. The documentation on this game is well done and has all the learning material from the game that you can use as a reference.

Appropriateness

This game is talking about Christianity and you can learn a few things, how can you go wrong with that? A+ here.

Final Thoughts

If you need a refresher on history or looking for a unique way to learn it, you should look into this title. From a pure game play perspective, it has some rough spots but the overall message is good. There is a lot of good information to be found in this game.