May 4, 2005

Backyard Hockey 2005 (**** out of four) is a fun-filled 3D animated hockey game featuring pro hockey players from all 30 NHL teams. Players such as Joe Thornton, Martin Brodeur, Mike Modano, Rick Nash, Nicklas Lidstrom and others are there for you to coach. The catch is that they are now playing as kids in the Backyard Kids Gang. And you get to call the shots.

First you’ll choose players for your team. You’ll be shown the stars and their player strengths and weaknesses (not many weakness though in this crowd) for each player, or you can create your own player(s) with his or her own makeup. Once decided, you have a choice of several types of play. Jump right onto the ice with the Play Now option and play a spontaneous game with randomly selected teams and players on a randomly selected rink. This mode of play is good for practice and outcomes don’t affect your season play stats. In the Pick-up Game you get to choose teams, rinks and players. This mode is also good for practice, and the outcomes are not recorded.

The Season Play mode is where it’s at with you leading your team through a rigorous BHL (Backyard Hockey League) season. In the Pickup and Season Play modes you get to choose from 30 NHL and 11 Backyard teams and six standard rinks, two street rinks and four secret bonus rinks that you unlock by your winning play. You can play at Easy, Medium or Hard difficulty levels, and you can change some of the rules, such as turning off penalties (a hockey game without penalties??), use rock/paper/scissors game to settle disputes instead of fisticuffs and others. As a fun bonus, players can obtain special Power-Ups, allowing them to have extraordinary abilities such as shooting a puck that steers away from everything in its way or shooting a fireball puck and others.

Player and game control use both mouse and keyboard and is easy to learn. The game is action filled and fun for all.

Resumes & Cover Letters for Dummies (***) helps you create resumes and cover letters and also gives you other tools to help organize and carry out your job search.

The program starts by asking you to select the type of resume you want to create (chronological, functional, targeted, hybrid and others) and then offers a fill-in-the-blank format for creating that type of resume. You can fill in as little or as much information as you want and include as much or a little detail as you want. Once you’ve filled in the blanks, the program produces your resume in the format you’ve selected (or converts it to one of the other formats whenever you want). You can change or edit your resume at any time, and you can also create a custom resume or template.

There’s also a section for creating cover letters to accompany your resume. The program includes a large selection of pre-written types of letters that you can use as is or edit to suit your needs. Each letter contains helpful hints for all the details you need for the letters, such as where to put dates, punctuation and the like.

Once you’ve created your resume and cover letters, you can use the included contact list manager for sending your information and the organizer for scheduling appointments. Fill in names and other contact information on the contact list, and you can have whatever information you want automatically filled in on cover and other letters. Mail or email your resume and cover letter and then use the organizer to schedule and tract appointments.

Resumes & Cover Letters also includes pre-written letters for follow-up and thank you after interviews, accepting positions and more, all personalized with the information in your contact list.

The program is easy to use, but if you have problems, help is available on screen or in a printed user guide. The User Guide also includes Getting Jobs for Dummies, by Joyce Lain Kennedy, a nationally syndicated careers columnist and best selling author. The booklet is filled with useful information for writing a resume, creating a cover letter and many other types of help for finding the job you want. The program and book offer basic information that’s likely to fill most job hunters’ needs.

Learn French (ages 12 and up)

EazySpeak French Level 1 & 2 (***) is an interactive, immersive animated program that places you in everyday situations, such as hotels, shops, a police station and more. The program displays various cartoons while French is spoken and the French words appear in a talk balloon. No English given, so you have to use the context of the situation to know what’s being said. If you respond wrongly from the various selections, you are told so, in French, so try again. Repeat the word or phrase as often as needed to hone your own pronunciation.

In addition to a vocabulary of 800 words, the various animated situations give you practice in basic everyday French phrases. The approach is light and fun, but since you are not "spoon-fed," you do have to pay attention. You can jump around in the program to repeat areas as often as you like. No lengthy grammar either, just French speak. And practice, practice, practice.

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