                 Bodyworks 3.0: An Adventure In Anatomy
                     CD-ROM Multimedia for Windows
                        Reviewed By Dale Larson

	I'm a naturally curious person.  I like to know how things work.
So I jumped at the chance to review this title, thinking that I'd
quickly be drawn into learning neat new things about the human body.
I was wrong.  I was slowly drawn into learning neat new things about
the human body.
	Installing the software was a snap on my OS/2 system, but I
discovered that to get sound out of my Sound Blaster for a Windows
application, I'd have to upgrade OS/2 or boot under Windows.
Booting under Windows, I found that Bodyworks doesn't use much
sound.  It does, however, precisely pronounce all of the labels for
different parts of the anatomy.  This is an important feature you
can use to help overcome embarrassing mispronunciations before your
next doctor visit.  On the other hand, you'll probably have to hold
your nose closed to achieve intonation anything like that used on
this CD.
	After clicking around a few places, I quickly got bored.  There
was no exciting introduction, no guided tour, no compelling intro
screen (just a skeleton with various labels).  I discovered that you
could click on the icons for several different systems (i.e.,
skeletal, muscular, digestive, nervous, etc.) and major organs
(i.e., brain, heart, lungs).  There is also an icon for a health
section.  On the left side of the screen was a picture for the
topic, and on the right a list of parts.  Clicking a part (either in
the picture or in the list) brought up a small description.  Double
clicking a part might take you to a new topic or subtopic with a
picture of its own.  Some pictures had unexciting interactive 3D
views attached to them.  Some had better QuickTime movies attached
to them.  I didn't feel drawn into the information, and didn't have
much motivation to follow the hypertext links in the descriptions or
to double click items which would take me to new screens.
	It all seemed shallow, and I was ready to put it down and write
a boring review of a boring product.  I was going to highly
recommend a guided tour mode, hoping that would have given me the
extra push I wanted.  I figured that before writing the review,
though, I should at least finish reading the short manual.  There, I
had a few surprises waiting for me.
	Hidden in the very back of the manual, I found out that the
program had a Lesson mode and a Quiz mode.  There was no overall
guided tour or introduction, but I could take a series of lessons on
different topics.  Each of the lessons would take me through several
screens in a logical order, but allow me to explore at will before
moving on to another screen.  This served as the push I needed.  Now
I was quickly exposed to enough material that I wanted to explore
further.  I discovered a surprising amount of depth on many
subjects.  I witnessed a birth for the first time.  I watched
kidneys emptying into a bladder.  I was impressed.
	On the down side, some of the movies seem quite dated.  The
actors are wearing 70's styles, and the blood donation movie, for
example showed a local anesthetic given by injection and blood
products handled by workers who've obviously never heard of AIDS.
As well, the "animated cutaways" have a minor visual bug (they
display as cut away while the text window fills in, then they become
solid for an instant before the animation), and there are a few
inconsistencies (for example, the manual shows that there is a movie
for the eye, but the software doesn't have one).  All of these flaws
are easily overlooked, but I hope SMC will fix them before 4.0.
	If you are interested in anatomy for some reason, or are just
naturally curious, I'd recommend Bodyworks to you.  No age range is
given for the software.  I think the vocabulary would probably make
it unsuitable for pre-teens.  If you have a teenager, though, I'd
probably recommend this title for him or her, as long as you check
to see that the reproductive sections don't clash with your beliefs.
If you do get it, just make sure you turn to the back of the after
you've gone through the installation so that you can be drawn in
quickly.

                     Software Marketing Corporation
                         9830 South 51st Street
                             Building A-131
                           Phoenix, AZ 85044
                             (602) 893-3377

   Mr. Larson is a consultant and the author of several technical and
general computer articles, as well as a book on computer communications.  
              He is an expert in TCP/IP and the Internet.
                 You may write him at: dale@iam.com

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