Nickelodeon Adventure Pack

Published by THQ
Developed by Human Code/KnowWonder
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Released - Out Now
Price : £19.99

It's not often that we get a chance to look at children's titles. In fact if you think about really young deaf children, it's rather difficult to be accommodating. Mainly, games aimed at young children don't use text as the child is often unable to read to a sufficient standard. This is fine for hearing children but unfortunately this is disastrous for deaf children and games aimed at small children are simply not recommended for this reason. What we have here is the Nickelodeon Adventure Pack that features two games from the Rugrats and one from the The Wild Thornberrys.

Rugrats in Paris - The Movie
Join Tommy, Angelica, Chuckie, Lil, Phil and baby Dil as they head off to Reptarland in Paris. There are 4 arcade style games to take part in with an amazing 120 levels to conquer. The games are played using the keyboard cursor keys and are straightforward to play. The graphics are great and look just like the cartoon. The big disappointment though is that there are no subtitles. It's just not suitable for deaf gamers.

Rugrats Mystery Adventures
Without a doubt it's the best game in the collection. You play as Tommy Pickles Private Defective (that's what Tommy calls himself anyway). You have to snoop for clues and take part in six different games. Once again the game is controlled via the keyboard cursor keys. The game looks brilliant but once again there are no subtitles. The young deaf gamer will not be able to follow the story at all, which is a shame as it's enjoyable and funny.

The Wild Thornberrys Rambler
Pick any character you want from The Wild Thornberrys and play as them. There are a whole host of games to take part in. As with the two previous games you control the characters via the keyboard cursor keys and the whole thing is simple and straightforward. The graphics look just like the cartoon they are based on too. As before the game is not subtitled and is unsuitable for young deaf gamers.

These games are, in truth, great games for hearing children but for deaf children they are silent and non-descriptive. It's difficult to suggest how to make these games suitable for young deaf children. It wouldn't hurt to subtitle then for starters. Maybe as PC technology increases we'll be able to have a small window with someone signing the storyline. The bottom line here though is that the Nickelodeon Adventure Pack is unsuitable for deaf children and is therefore not rated.

Overall Game Rating: NR (Not Rated)
It would be unfair to give a rating to these games. For hearing young children they are absolutely fine and the package represents good value for money but for young deaf children they are not suitable.

Deaf Gamers comment:
Not suitable.