Pokemon Project Studio

This is the one piece of holiday software that is causing more stir than any other. Unfortunately, it is not worth all the 'stir.' If you have a Pokemon fan in your house, like I do, they will hardly care that this is only a mediocre program with outdated interface.

Pokemon Project Studio comes in two forms. The red version, and the blue version. Each program contains only part of the 151 (we have to say 151 now that the movie is out!) Pokemon. What a smart marketing ploy on their part. Unfortunately, you can't necessarily tell from the box which Pokemon are in which version. Hopefully your kids don't have one favorite they can't live without, or you will be buying both versions.

The first problem we ran into was that the program would not work at all on one of our computers. It continually spit out error messages. Giving the program the benefit of the doubt, we moved to computer number two. After all, I would rather have a root canal then tell a seven year old his Pokemon program does not work! Here we had no problems, but kept waiting for some sound. Ooops, there is no sound. We were hoping for the Pokemon theme song or something! We would have settled for some beeps and dings in the end.

There are quite a few projects to choose from. You can create cards, calendars, stickers, key chains, certificates, signs, tattoos and more. Many of these projects require special accessory packs, but the program comes with a good selection to get you started.

The interface is not difficult to use, but is terribly old-fashioned. The screen consist of numerous pull-down menus where you make your selections. This program is reminiscent of older versions of Print Master or Print Shop. This particular interface is not designed for younger children, the target audience of the program.

There are enough things here to keep your Pokemon fan happy, but that's it. Nothing spectacular, and certainly nothing terribly useful. Looking at this program left me with the same feeling I had watching Pikachu's Vacation.......could it possibly get any worse?

The Learning Company has a captive audience with Pokemon. They have our children drooling for decent Pokemon software. Unfortunately one gets the feeling that they knew this. The program was released too quickly, and with not enough thought given to what could really be done with these characters.

Grading for Pokemon Project Studio Educational Value: 1 Entertainment Value: 2 1/2 Replay Value: 2 1/2

Buy Pokemon Project Studio at Amazon!