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spacer all reviews > > > trivia software

Code Head X-Treme Culture

Knowledge Adventure

Ages 9 to 12

Rating Scale
5 = great,    1 = poor
Educational Value
3.0
Kid Appeal
4.2
Ease of Use
4.5

Code Head X-Treme Culture Screen Shot System Requirements

PC / Mac Price Survey

Product Support

Code Head X-Treme Culture is a wacky version of a 'test your knowledge' style quiz show  which can be played by one or two people.   A multiplayer/Internet function is also available. Topics  cover history, geography, language arts and more.

Code Head X-Treme Culture has an imaginative, offbeat flavor.   The voice commentary has a fresh wild and crazy flavor to it (nothing offensive). Players sign on for a game which consists of three rounds of 5 questions per round.   Users start by 'making' their player representative.   Odd hair, eyes, mouth, and body choices abound, but no one gets to choose their own nose!   Questions vary from unscramble, spelling challenges, vocabulary, jumbles, sequence, match-no match, multiple guess, all with weird names like 'buzzwords', 'cha-ching', etc.

Contestants select  three topics in each round. Answering a question correctly is good but answering it fast is better! Timeliness, as evidenced by the disappearing alarm clock at the bottom of the screen, counts.   Players can lose points by answering questions incorrectly.   The Hex, a thunderbolt, is a quirky option available during two player play.  It allows a player to bet that their opponent doesn't know the answer. Points are awarded if the hexed opponent gives an incorrect response. A hex can only be applied once per round.

Educational Value
Code Head X-Treme Culture tests knowledge, and also gives a brief explanation confirming the correct answer with  a brushstroke of extra information when appropriate. The word scramble and sequencing questions reinforce cognitive recognition skills.  The match/ no match questions often ask the question in such a way that the contestants have to think what the question is really asking - not simple know the correct information.

Kid Appeal
This lively, zany contest of wits is sure to strike a note with kids. One eleven year old tester loved the off-color, collage style graphics - "I really like how they just stick these people in these strange pictures".  Picture your grandmother wearing a neon yellow dress as one of the columns of the Acropolis - something to that effect.  How many kids don't like staring at a screen of extremely pink sprinkle doughnuts?   Or a laughing Godzilla-sized rat prancing in an indigo metropolis? 

The program is geared for children 10 and up. Boys and girls as young as 9 years old may still be able to answer enough questions to be hoodwinked by its fun format. Somewhere around the magic age of 13-14 years, some  kids may feel it is beneath them to partake of such wild and crazy antics and will think it is "stupid & boring." (those were the words of one ancient 13-1/2 year old tester).   Hey, I liked it!

Ease of Use / Install
Installation on our Windows ME test machine was quick and painless. Navigation through the program was straightforward.  There is an instruction manual on the CD  which was clear.  Reading about the Hex option was about the only detail described that wasn't  obvious from  just playing the game.

Best for... / Bottom-Line
Boys and girls 9-12 years old will have fun with the novel, eccentric approach  in CodeHead X-Treme Culture which will beguile most kids in the Nickelodeon age range.   Parents and teachers who want to provide a constructive free-time entertainment option will enjoy having this in their cache of choices particularly since it can be enjoyed by more than one child at a time.  

See SuperKids' comparisons with other trivia software titles, and the Buyers Guide for current market prices of the PC and Mac versions.

System Requirements
PC: Windows 95/98/2000, Pentium 166 or faster cpu, 50 MB hard drive space, 32 MB RAM, 16-bit (high color) display, 12X or faster CD-ROM, Windows compatible sound card, mouse, speakers, and keyboard. (Internet access optional)

Mac: System 8.6 or later, PowerPC 120 MHz or faster cpu, 50 MB hard drive space, 32 MB RAM free, thousands of colors display, 12X or faster CD-ROM (Internet access optional).

Reviewed on:

  • Pentium III - 600 running Windows ME, with 128MB RAM and 24x - CD-ROM
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