A Bug's Life: Active Play

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: November 03, 1998
• Genre: Educational
• Style: Educational -- General
• Similar Games: Rayman Activity Center (IBM PC Compatible), A Bug's Life Action Game (IBM PC Compatible), Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride Active Play (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

You and your child may have seen Flik and his fellow ants defeat the evil grasshoppers in Disney and Pixar's A Bug's Life. But those relentless arthropods still insist on making life as difficult as possible on Ant Island! Now it's up to your child to help Flik create a contraption to stave off another invasion.

In Disney/Pixar's A Bug's Life: Active Play, children must navigate throughout the world portrayed in the popular computer-generated movie so as to collect the six items necessary in developing Flik's device -- a flower, a feather, a mushroom, a card, a thimble and a button. Effective use of the mouse is essential to succeed in six of the program's eight activities.

Some of the feats necessary include aiding the performers in P.T. Flea's circus in their act, helping a lost beetle overcome obstacles on the way to finding his father and organizing the four parts of a picture-story correctly. Along the way, children can learn more about certain bugs by taking pictures of them and even challenge a friend to a simple board game that emphasizes basic math skills.

Though the voice of Dave Foley as (Flik) is absent, many of the movie's high-profile voices appear in the game. Some include Phyllis Diller, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Hyde Pierce and John Ratzenberger.

Roots & Influences

This program aims to teach basic concepts to children ages 3 to 7 through the use of Disney/Pixar's popular characters and settings from A Bug's Life.

Review: Overall

If there's one mega-corporation you can count on to use the source of its movies for educational games, it's Disney. Of course, 1998's Pixar-developed feature A Bug's Life was no exception. Through Disney/Pixar's A Bug's Life: Active Play, kids get the chance to learn with all of their favorite characters from the movie. As you might expect, the result is undeniably cute and effective for the most part. While not perfect, it's a solid way to introduce your children to the computer.

The program aims to teach familiarity with the mouse as well as many basic skills you might expect for children ages three to seven. By following the directions of Flik the ant and other Bug's Life characters, kids should be able to navigate their way throughout the eight activities fairly easily. However, parental supervision is advised until they get the hang of it. Though only a very small amount of reading is involved, there is enough to confuse a youngster.

Of course, reading is one of the many basic skills emphasized in the game, but not to an extent that will overwhelm a child. The most involved reading experience occurs after taking a snapshot of a bug with the camera icon. From there, an encyclopedia-like entry about the insect portrayed presents itself, with plenty of text that lights up as a narrator reads it word for word. After a snapshot has been taken, the picture remains in a scrapbook so that your child can access it as often as and whenever he or she chooses to do so.

But effective mouse clicking appears to be what Disney most wants kids to get out of this title. Wherever your child might be on the map -- a few settings include Ant Island, the city, the circus and the Bug Bar and Grill -- he or she can almost always click on a character and have it react in some way. In many cases, such as the game in which a young beetle must be routed back to his father as he avoids the hazards along the way, this reaction can help complete the situation at hand.

The best activity devoted to mouse clicking is easily the circus. Here, your child must not only listen to the characters' reactions but also help organize them so that the performers can successfully complete their act. This also helps develop organizational skills and offers the program's biggest one-time challenge.

However, the "one-time challenge" represents one of the greatest drawbacks to Active Play. In most cases once a puzzle has been figured out, it's been figured out. How many times do kids want to redo something they've already accomplished?

Of the eight total activities, only two offer any real sort of meaningful replay. One of these is a board game not unlike many you may have played as a child. It stresses basic arithmetic by having players advance their pieces based on the number indicated by a spinner. Along the way, cards are drawn with commands like "go back three spaces" or "lose a turn." It's a fun little board game but odds are that you have something like this in your house already.

The other replay activity is a very cute puppet show based on the movie scene. There are five possible stories here, each of which can have certain aspects changed. For instance, your child can make the queen run away, jump for joy or even break out crying after seeing Flik's new invention.

All in all, Disney/Pixar's A Bug's Life: Active Play is a good way to introduce young children to the workings of a computer. However, be advised that there are many similar programs out there. Choose one along the lines of something you're positive your child will enjoy.

Review: Enjoyment

If your child likes A Bug's Life, he or she should thoroughly enjoy the Active Play experience.

Review: Graphics

Not quite as impressive as the visuals in the film, but definitely not unattractive.

Review: Sound

Clear voices (many by big-name stars from the movie) and a simple yet effective musical soundtrack.

Review: Replay Value

With the exception of two of the games, children most likely will not return to the activities they have accomplished more than a time or two.

Review: Documentation

A solid instruction booklet.

Production Credits