Software Review: This panther is not 'in the pink'

It's sad to note that this series of video games for kids is so forgettable.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
pink panther softwar 224 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
pink panther softwar 224 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Pink Panther: Animal Rescue, a CD-ROM by Compedia (www.compedia-usa.com) for ages 4 to 7 Pink Panther: Saving Planet Earth, 5 to 8; Pink Panther: Mission in Space, 6 to 10 Each game requires Windows XP or above and Pentium 800 mhz PC or better, has a separate English or Hebrew version and costs NIS 80. Rating: **1/2 Few regular moviegoers are able to forget the Pink Panther series of comedy films starring Jacques Clouseau, the bumbling French police detective played for years by the incomparable Peter Sellers - and the catchy theme music composed by Henry Mancini. Thus it is sad to note that this series of three video games based on the character and produced for kids by the US branch of the Israeli software company Compedia is so forgettable. This panther is not in the pink. It is admirable that the themes of two of the three games are pro-environment. There are animals and the planet Earth to be saved, and if all is lost, one can always go live in space. But there is nothing new or imaginative in the series. The Pink Panther is literally two-dimensional and never says a word but just taps his foot. He is actually a delivery boy, serving as your messenger to various sites with conventional games nominally linked to the games' themes. For each mission, he is equipped with a "cellular phone" and dispatched by a pony-tailed, bespectacled young woman. In Saving Planet Earth, the activities include fixing leaky pipes; recycling paper, glass and organic junk by moving a cart right and left; shooting down garbage before it hits the sea bottom; and sorting geometric figures by color and shape. To top it off is an activity center to produce scenes based on the environmental theme. I recall most of these games from previous Compedia titles. The Animal Rescue game has a Tetris-like game with falling squares that have to be organized by species; asks you to choose one of two animals according to its "voice" and to match sets of animals and their printed names by clicking on pairs of covered windows. Ho-hum! Mission in Space presents somewhat more difficult assignments in space stations on half-a-dozen planets that you have to fix, such as placing squares on a grid according to color; meager scientific information is provided. A new Pink Panther movie is coming out in February. That explains why these (disappointing) games are here now.