Another excellent edutainment title from Davidson & Associates, designed by Jay Davidson himself. The description on MobyGames says it all: "An updated version of the older Math Blaster! educational game. Unlike the previous version, this one's not in BASIC! A new GUI greets users, called the "Davidson Student Desktop Interface" – this allows people to switch from one portion of the game to the next without all that nasty typing. The math is broken down into five subjects: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions/decimals/percentages. The game itself is broken into five activities: - Countdown – a flash-card style "game" with no scoring or timing. A problem, with its answer, is shown on screen – upon request, the same problem appears sans answer, and must be answered correctly
- Ignition – the problem is given, and upon a correct answer, motivational messages and animations pop up. The player has two chances to answer correctly, and receives a scoreboard at the end showing the number of problems, the number solved, etc. (This scoreboard appears in the next two listed activities as well)
- Lift-off – problems are given with their answers but missing an internal component (like 2 * _ = 12). Three chances per problem are given to answer correctly. Once again, there are encouraging messages and animations – and a certificate of achievement may be printed out.
- Orbit – three problems appear on-screen with portions of each in boxes; these boxes may contain errors and need to be changed by the player. Each correct answer earns a star, and the player can attempt to answer twice. This one also can print a certificate of achievement.
- Blasternaut – the action-oriented math activity – you control a Blasternaut that must get into a rocket aimed at the correct answer to a shown problem. Bonus points are awarded if you can rescue floating Blasternauts – apparently slamming into them with the nosecone of a huge rocket constitutes help.
The math problems aren't randomly generated, but are pre-written lessons (which are handily printed in the instruction manuals). Math Blaster Plus! can be used to create new lessons, or in a classroom setting to track individual students' performance, and can print stored lessons as paper-based quizzes/tests for more traditional (and more boring) use." Definitely one of the best math programs ever made, despite its age. Highly recommended, especially for pre-schoolers. Reviewed by: Underdogs |