Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #183 in Software
• Brand: Avanquest Software
• Released on: 2000-06-18
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 95

Amazon.co.uk Review
DK Interactive's I Love Spelling is a souped-up spelling lesson loaded with characters, humour and more than 5,000 words ranging in difficulty from "here" to "Kalahari". A game-show host with a skewed toupee leads kids to one of four planets: On "Aquatica", intrepid spellers hear a word, then chase and burst bubbles containing the letters that spell the word, all while a gangster fish named the Codfather eggs them on; "Amphibia" is a pond-like planet where kids guess the mystery word by choosing the correct letters with the help of a bluesy frog--picture a game of Hangman with swampy ambience. On "Anagrama" kids turn scrambled letters into words by dropping placard-bearing bunnies down the correct hole, while planet "Arachnia" hosts a spidery spelling bee in which kids hear a word, then spell it out.

Two more games help kids recognise misspelled words and choose the correct spelling. In "Word Attack", players must quickly click on the correctly spelled word from misspellings that hurtle toward them onscreen. Kids can easily ace the activity by clicking frantically until they randomly land on the correct spelling, so don't be too impressed if your child is a high scorer here.

Three levels, customisable word lists and places to peek at scores and misspelled words make this program parent friendly; a two-player function is another nice feature. Our biggest complaint: that this program lacks "the big goal"--the only rewards here are points, a weak "bonus round" and the ubiquitous printable certificate. A final compliment: puns and word play in the script reinforce the potential for fun in words and letters. (Ages 7-11) --Anne Erickson

From Children's Software Revue®
Classic word puzzles like Hangman and Letter Shoot teach nearly 2000 words ranging in complexity from "coat" to "bureaucracy." Words are grouped by topic or spelling pattern. As kids play, they score points, which are recorded in a high score list. Cartoon-like graphics and humorous banter from onscreen characters keep the game lively. In terms of design, the games are solid but nothing new. In Aquatica, children race the clock to pop letter bubbles to spell words. In another activity, kids play a game of hangman in a jungle setting. The main drawback to this program is a general lack of purpose. Once kids earn the points, there's no where to spend them- which decreases their motivation when playing the game. Navigating the activities is also confusing- children must go through a short maze to get a game started. But the primary weakness of this program is its inability to customize word lists making it impossible to focus on spelling words from school lists. Strengths of the program are its excellent graphics and use of humor and the set of options that allow parents to customize the game's timing, adjust the amount of feedback, or pick from upper and lower case letters. Test families with more than one child appreciated the two-player option that lets kids play at different levels. They also liked the way that the program keeps a spelling word file based on the child's mistakes. On the whole, this is a solid spelling program.
Teaches: spelling
Age Range: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Copyright © 2000 Children's Software Revue

Manufacturer's Description
Turn spelling frustration into spelling fun!

I Love Spelling is a spectacular animated adventure that teaches and tests spelling for children ages 7-11. Players take part in an intergalactic game show adventure, playing challenging spelling games on weird and wonderful planets and meeting their funny inhabitants. Children can customise the games by choosing special word groups to play with - names of their favourite animals, parts of the body, country names and many more. Teachers and parents have access to more than 50 spelling-pattern word groups that target key spelling problem areas. Packed with hundreds of hilarious animations and jokes, I Love Spelling makes learning to spell more fun than it's ever been!

Planet Arachna - Spell the words you hear on batty, buzzing Arachna. But watch out for the spiders!
Planet Aquatica - Burst bubbles to spell the words you hear on Aquatica.
Planet Anagrama - Can you sort out the jumbled-up letters to make a word on Anagrama?
Planet Amphibia - Ready for a spelling spree? It's guess-the-mystery-word time!

Customer Reviews

I love "I Love Spelling"
I love spelling is a great CD rom .With its host who will guide you through all the levels it couldn't be easier to find out how to play.With one player or two player mode you can have fun trying to beat your opponent, or try to stop the evil alien from destroying spelling .I think that this game could only have made two improvements ,the space balloon could look more interesting and the alien could have been easier to understand .The word attack is very unexpected and really fun words start to fly at you from all directions and you have to shoot the rightly spelled word. Dorling Kindersley have really made a great game as they always do.

Installation nightmare
I Love Spelling has the polished presentation we have come to love from DK's previous educational offerings but its installation routine leaves much to be desired. If you are unfortunate enough not to get this program running at the first attempt, you will find lacking instructions in the package's readme file. (Hint: if it doesn't progress past the title screen, install the WinG drivers in the D:\SUPPORT folder!). This clumsy piece of organisation on the disc costs it two stars in my estimation. Don't expect the child of the house to install it without adult help, though the games are simply understood when you have passed this pain barrier.
DK has done and can do better.