One of the best edutainment titles ever made, Cross Country Canada is an excellent game for kids aged 4-9 designed to teach them about the geography of Canada.

Your goal in the game is to take various delivery jobs drive by driving a truck across the country. The game gives you the starting location and the destination, and your task is to load commodities and deliver some of them along the way. The game not only teaches geography, but also involves a lot of strategic decisions. For example, you may have to deliver corn to Vancouver. You have to check the map and choose the city where it would be most economical for you to stop and load the corn (usually there are 3 cities to choose from). In a nod to realism, you have to budget the time to sleep, eat, and fill the tank with gas.

While doing all this, you will learn many interesting factoids about various Canadian cities (ranging from the weather, terrain, to cultural differences), basic map reading and interpretation skills, time and distance factors, gas mileage calculations, and even a little economics. The game uses a user-friendly interface that lets you type in commands similar to text adventures, and the graphics are crisp and clear, even with the limitation of 4-color CGA palette.

The game even allows 2 players to compete on the same computer by taking turns driving their own trucks. Two thumbs up, way up!

Review By HOTUD