Babyz
Ages Everyone

Well - the little tykes are adorable. It takes a while scrounging around to start feeling comfortable with your adopted baby - a little like a new parent without a copy of Dr. Spock's guide for new parents. Essentially, there is no manual and you learn what to do by the contextual suggestions provided at the bottom prompt line - which is not a bad way to go about it.

The virtual life techniques creates a baby that will learn to respond to your attention. Feed it something green in a bowl and it will fling spoonfuls at the kitchen cabinet. Bathe it and it will be entranced by the bubbles. Pick it up and rock it and it will start falling asleep. Put toys in front of it and it will play with them. Neglect it and it will start to cry but it will stop if you give it a bottle or change it's diaper (no - it's not smelly and all the parts that might offend or interest someone are discretely hidden). You can also teach your baby to speak using the microphone included in the package. But if you feel a little bit strange repeating Ma Ma to a computer screen - you might try the other Mindscape game - Creatures which doesn't expect you to talk to them.

You can have up to three babyz, but let me tell you - besides slowing down the program, it's like having triplets, and although you can park them with Grandma - it's a handful. It's a suprisingly attractive pastime. The designers went to the effort to make the babyz sound and move realistically and everyone knows how irresistible babyz can be. Babyz can hang around your computer for a long time. I neglected mine - left them alone for weeks but to this day they are still very much alive.

Genevieve 3/00