What does Eingana mean? If you know without Googling or wiki-ing the name, then colour us suitably impressed, as we didn't. Eingana is actually an aboriginal snake Goddess, who created all animals and humans.

By using the name, we guess that the developers of this fully 3D atlas of the Earth are trying to suggest that they've given birth to a new world themselves. A virtual, real-time, 3D world that the user is free to roam around at will, with a mouse click or two zooming you across distant horizons.

And while a detailed 3D replica of the globe sounds like a top idea, the reality falls short of the mark. The program plumps for a simple two-stage interface: there's an overview map, which is used to pinpoint or search for countries or places of interest, and the actual 3D world itself.

The search function is reasonable, but occasionally quirky. When we were trying to locate Mount Everest, for example, it was drawing a complete blank until we realised we had to type in 'Everest', as the snow-capped giant was listed as 'Everest, Mount.' There are also niggling text errors throughout the program, as it's obviously been written in French and then translated into English, and simple things like pop-up tool-tips are missing.

When you've found where you want to go, heading out onto the 3D map is a bit of an anticlimax. Sure, there are some sights to see, and gliding up onto the top of Table Mountain or around the Himalayas is quite entertaining for a short spell. The movement controls are a little clunky, though, and the 3D rendering can be jerky even on a reasonably fast PC.

The frame-rate slowdown would be more acceptable if the environment was suitably detailed, but large sections are very barren and most cities basically look the same; like a building site. That could be a clever piece of social commentary on the constant roadworks and renovations that councils tend to carry out, but it seems unlikely.

Some notable landmarks are missing, such as Ayer's Rock, which made our visit to the Alice Springs area a disappointing experience. Still, at least there were fewer flies than in the real world version.

The developer has tried to capture some sense of a living, breathing world by adding elements such as weather and animals. This is a sound idea, but the odd smattering of beasts and occasional snowflake does not a fully living and breathing world make (more like one which is struggling along on an iron lung, and a rusty one at that).

These measures far from compensate for the general emptiness and generic nature of the Eingana environment, although they do teach the user the geographic habitats of certain animals. It's a shame the programmers couldn't have gone a step further and included some basic encyclopaedia entries on the animals, as that would have furthered the educational resource aspect.

A bonus CD called Planet Observer is bundled with Eingana. This provides a satellite map of the UK and close-up maps of London, Liverpool and Cardiff. You can zoom in a bit on them, but not very far, and only major towns are marked. It makes for an interesting five minute browse, but the lack of any features other than a slight zoom is disappointing.

Eingana falls squarely in the great-idea-but-poor-execution camp. In all fairness, at the budget price level it does offer some value for money, and as a basic exploration of the geography of the world it does its job. However, the opportunity to create a truly alive and exciting 3D world has been sadly missed.