If you grew up watching Jacques Cousteau on television, you’ll be pre-disposed to like the title by his son, Jean Michel Cousteau’s World: Cities Under the Sea: Coral Reef (Enteractive). You won’t be disappointed. Submerged in a virtual bathysphere, looking out on an excellent animation of an undersea world, you face a sleek console with two rows of icons.
One row is chapters (called Labs): Energy Flows, Cycles, Living Community, Biodiversity, Adaptations, Changes & Evolution, and Connections, as well as an Intro and a How to Use section which makes navigation clear and simple. The other row has tools like Bookmark, Glossary, Text, Links, and Help. For a comprehensive study on the topic of coral and coral reefs, you need look no further. The disc is filled with superb video, a good thing given the subject, terrific animations, and edifying text. M. Cousteau gives an introduction to the Labs and in each one you have subdivisions, represented by vivid color graphics that you click on, which might give you video or slides, audio, and the choice of text. This is the best part of the disc – jumping into all the multimedia. There is also an old game with underwater action that you can download and play: Ace Ventura. Enjoy!
Cities Under the Seas: Coral Reefs is filled with action and color as well as serious content. If the subject interests you, this CD-ROM will thrill you.
