I had a blast playing the Czech-localized version of Bioscopia until the CD got scratched and it started crashing. I was terrible at gaming (still am but can look up guides now) so I never got past the starting area and reception. Still, the interactive encyclopedia kept working and I went through most of it. I recently pirated a working English-language copy (developed by Tivola together with the German one, I think) and had a blast. It would still crash at later points but I was able to hack the required items in through the plaintext XML save file, as well as 99 credit on the keycard (not as interested in biology anymore) and finish the game.
I remember that series, it was basically Myst but as a learning game. I played a bit of ‘Chemicus’ as a child but also never got far. These games where probably all way to hard for children. I wonder, do learning games even exist anymore? I spent many hours with games like ‘The Mystery of Mathra’.
I think they do make some kind of edutainment but not like this. Point-and-click adventures were relatively easy to integrate some education into but the kid needs the time and patience to find a solution when they inevitably get stuck (perhaps with hints but not walkthroughs). Their attention span is too short nowadays because content comes more often than on 1 CD-ROM per month for the delayed gratification of exploration and puzzle-solving to work.
