A Cross-Country Bore

Manley & Associates’ “Are We There Yet?” is a series of puzzles badly disguised as a cross-country family vacation. The game is plagued with as many problems as you might expect from actually driving across country with mom, dad and two teen-agers trapped in a car together, with the same expected result--irritation.

Distributed by Electronic Arts, this game collects every tortured puzzle, maze and brain twister your mom tried to entertain you with on extended car trips. Then it tries to trick you into thinking that solving all the puzzles will be fun.

The game is disguised as a vacation won by the Mallard family in a cereal sweepstakes. This dysfunctional family is trapped in this vacation until they can solve all of these puzzles. Each puzzle is accessed by selecting one of the 48 states from the menu. Nothing gets much more exciting after that.

Each state offers two puzzles. Some puzzles prompt you with simple directions, and others just sit and stare at you. Make a guess as to what they might want you to do. Collect your souvenirs, solve the granddaddy puzzle at the end . . . and go home.

“Are We There Yet?” might have some redeeming entertainment value except for one thing: Who wants to play games designed to entertain bored adolescents in the car unless they are in a car with bored adolescents?

All in all, if you’re going on vacation with your kids, go to the dime store for a better collection of puzzles. You’ll get a lot more bang for your buck.

Are We There Yet?

Rating:*

IBM or compatible; 640K RAM; hard disk, VGA and sound card optional; List: $49.95.

Computer games are rated on a five-star system, from one star for poor to five for excellent.