Spelli-Copter

ZX Computing

Mike Edmunds

SPECTRUM LESSONS Mike Edmunds marks a mixture of ZX81 and Spectrum programs. Finally, back to the Spectrum which, happily, seems to be gaining favour as a 'backup' machine in schools nowadays. This, I believe is mainly due to the increasing amount of relatively cheap, quality software now appearing. Educational software has come a long way since the early days of 'drill and practice' routines. Nowadays a program must not only be educationally valid it must also be seen to offer something extra if it is to find a place in the classroom - especially if these days of restricted allowances for items other than basic textbooks. Basically these programs do not aim to do enough to justify either the price or the heading 'educational'. The ideas behind both are very good - a helicopter is used to aid in spelling or computation, but the structure of both programs does not provide much of a challenge for the user and after several attempts one is inclined to ask 'Is that all there is to do?' Admittedly there is no specific age range mentioned and they may well appeal to younger children. In essence however the content could just as easily be achieved with pencil and paper... though the degree of motivation is obviously different. HELI-MATHS gives the option of answering questions on any of 'the four rules' or a mixture of all. A sum is displayed in large alphanumerics and the child is required to guide a helicopter to the correct answer. Ten correct answers result in a score and congratulatory message followed by an invitation to have another go. Incorrect answers cause a colourful crash. The correct answer is given after two failures. The idea is essentially sound but the inability to set difficulty levels and the fact that only answers to 99 are required to make this of limited value as it stands. SPELI-COPTER has much the same format. A word is displayed and has one of the letters destroyed by a red helicopter, it is then up to you in your black machine to repair the word by selecting one of the supplied letters. Answers are treated in the same way as Heli-Maths and, again, the penalty is, in my opinion, likely to be more appealing than the reward! There is a degree of increasing difficulty inbuilt into the 116 sets of words but there is no facility to change any of these and, although the sets are based on the same sounds, only one letter ever needs to be replaced. Put together these two programs have some nice touches, in particular the graphics and sound, but apart from that have really little to offer that has not been done better, and more cheaply, than others. In my opinion not really value for money.