Thomas & Friends: The Great Festival Adventure (Jewel Case)

For Atari to continue selling this (I don't care who they bought it from) is criminal.

Do not buy this title unless you're running a 9x-based machine. Better yet, don't buy it at all or anything from Atari until they sell software that will run on operating systems that are not five years out of date.(..)


Doesn't work   July 15, 2003
 18 out of 21 found this review helpful

I've got a dual boot 98/2000 system. It obviously wouldn't work under 2000 but neither would it run under 98. The furthest I've got is the end of the intro movie and it hangs. I went as far as reformatting the OS drive and reinstalling 98 and 2000 so they were both clean but it still doesn't work. Working for a games developer myself I know how little work is involved in ensuring a game is compatable with new OS's and more recent versions of DirectX. Releasing a patch wouldn't be too painful. But then Developers have a different agenda to Publishers. Don't let the Atari monika fool you. This is the same old Infogrames under a new name to try to disguise their past from newbies. Despite the fact this game is still appearing in the shops they won't support it. I don't know what their excuse is. The BBC has at least put in writing why they refuse to upgrade their games past win98/directX 7. Because (apparently) most game players don't use Win 2k or XP. Most game players use 98/ME. Excuse me? Any games player who knows anything about getting the best from their gaming experience will be using 2k/XP, certainly not 98 or the abomination that is ME.

In short ... if you've recently bought a computer for your child, don't expect this or other games in the series from the BBc or Infogrames/Atari to work without a considerable amount of effort.


For small children   January 3, 2003
 4 out of 5 found this review helpful

My son is almost 3 and this game is much to easy for him. Of course it being Thomas he still likes it, but the other games are much better. If your child is familer with the computer at all and over 2 1/2 dont' buy this, but for a first game it would be great!


Not for a 2 yr. old   December 31, 2002
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

We gave this game to my 2 yr old, who loves trains. The game looks and plays well, my 4 1/2 enjoyed it, but my 2 yr old was unable to play it, due to the dependance of pointing-and-clicking. Once the kids master hand-eye-mouse control, then they should enjoy it.


Dangerous   September 1, 2002
 10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Have you ever seen a 3 year old addict? Buy this game and you will. No more Reader Rabbit. No more Mickey Mouse Toddler. No more JumpStart. Thomas, Thomas, Thomas! And it hasn't stopped with software. He's moved on to videos and books. He's recently begun playing DIRECTLY with the trains. We've tried to get him into rehab but they're all full.