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Post by zerker on Sept 10, 2014 16:52:35 GMT -5
I loved "Super Solvers: Challenge of the Ancient Empires!" The Indianapolis Children's Museum had a computer lab that you could pay to use for an hour, and they had a bunch of Sierra games, Carmen Sandiego Games, and some other educational stuff. That Super Solvers game was one of my favorites to play, though; I loved the puzzles in it. I've still got my copy of the game, and configured in DosBox no less It almost feels like cheating, because the educational conceit of the game is 'puzzles and logic', which is kinda the point of most puzzle & adventure games. I also remember playing Midnight Rescue in the computer lab. And Sim City . Except we never had the copy protection card available, so we inevitably played in pause modes using cheats to get more money.
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Post by Joseph Joestar on Sept 10, 2014 16:56:58 GMT -5
I loved "Super Solvers: Challenge of the Ancient Empires!" The Indianapolis Children's Museum had a computer lab that you could pay to use for an hour, and they had a bunch of Sierra games, Carmen Sandiego Games, and some other educational stuff. That Super Solvers game was one of my favorites to play, though; I loved the puzzles in it. I've still got my copy of the game, and configured in DosBox no less It almost feels like cheating, because the educational conceit of the game is 'puzzles and logic', which is kinda the point of most puzzle & adventure games. I also remember playing Midnight Rescue in the computer lab. And Sim City . Except we never had the copy protection card available, so we inevitably played in pause modes using cheats to get more money. I was (am) too stupid to figure out Sim City. Or Sim Earth. I remember playing a lot of Sim Earth in computer lab my Freshman year of highschool, all I really would do was murder everything with ice meteors or whatever and then try to make lizardmen.
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Post by spekkio on Sept 10, 2014 21:44:42 GMT -5
Oh man the Munchers. Also there was a PC game I used to play in school, I think late 90s, where you are in a jungle and it had a river portion and a on foot portion where you discover animals. Sounds like the Amazon Trail, which was a spinoff of sorts of Oregon Trail. MECC released other games in the series such as Yukon Trail and Africa Trail, which were of varying quality. Speaking of which, one edutainment game I liked was Museum Madness. It was published by MECC, but developed by Novotrade. It featured a boy and a robot, and the objective (if I remember correctly) was to repair the various exhibits within the museum by completing puzzles. The museum had 5 different sections with 5 exhibits each, for a total of 25 "levels." If I'm correct, the topics covered were physics, astronomy, biology, world history, and American history. The history based exhibits in particular featured animatronic robots designed to look like historical figures, whom you had to interact with and give/trade items with. As a result, it was essentially a point and click adventure at heart, which is probably why I have more fond memories of it than other educational games. However, there are some puzzles that are needlessly difficult, to the point that it can easily lead to frustration. Fortunately all the exhibits are available from the start, so if you're having trouble with one particular exhibit you can move on to a more enjoyable one instead. In addition, the game had some surprisingly good music.
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Post by Feynman on Sept 10, 2014 21:53:30 GMT -5
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Post by Sac (a.k.a Icaras) on Sept 10, 2014 22:08:48 GMT -5
Oh how could I forget about the Carmen Sandiago games! I 1st came across them in Primary School, where there was almost always a copy installed on the old PCs at the primary schools I atteneded (I went to a few as my old man was in the army back then and we moved every few years).
I actually had where in the world on my personal PC and would play it all the time.
The really old-school/EGA versions were the best I think, tho I have tried some of the later ones where you had video footage of your boss (apparently some woman from a game show version?), but I only got to play it a little when it was setup on a PC in department store (Which reminds me that said store had a boxed version of Monkey Island 2. I wish my younger self had had the cash to buy that!)
I do remember trying some of the other varties at school, like europe and where in time, but I think where in the world was the best version.
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Post by Feynman on Sept 10, 2014 22:21:33 GMT -5
I actually had where in the world on my personal PC and would play it all the time, I even stole an atlas from one school to keep for when I played the game My aunt got me a copy of one of the Carmen Sandiego games when I was a lad, which I played extensively on the shitty monochrome DOS computer my mother owned. As I remember the version of the game I got even had an atlas included, which was pretty cool.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2014 22:57:06 GMT -5
There was an independent mall store full of sciencey gifts and toys that I loved being in as a kid. They had a PC kiosk which ran demos of educational games, and I told my parents I just had to own Super Solvers: Gizmos and Gadgets after trying it there. It's still near and dear to my heart, with its Prince of Persia-lite action segments and snappy, clearly understood diagrams of physics questions. Unlike with Sonic's Schoolhouse, I can definitely say I was educated by it - I had no conception of the difference between kinetic and potential energy before playing Gizmos & Gadgets, or the types of simple machines, or that uranium is used for nuclear power.
Zoombinis: Logical Journey is another charming edutainment game that I enjoyed a lot. I can still remember "FLEENS? You're not Fleens!! MAKE ME A PIZZA!" Its educational value is a bit questionable, but I'd like to think it trained me to try and solve problems in a more patient and thoughtful manner. One of my relatives is friends with one of the developers; maybe I should track him down and ask if he could provide some background on its history.
Math for the Real World was worth it to screw around in the "music video editor" and hear the laughably bad songs in the rhythm minigame.
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Post by The Great Klaid on Sept 11, 2014 0:15:02 GMT -5
Oh how could I forget about the Carmen Sandiago games! I 1st came across them in Primary School, where there was almost always a copy installed on the old PCs at the primary schools I atteneded (I went to a few as my old man was in the army back then and we moved every few years). I actually had where in the world on my personal PC and would play it all the time. The really old-school/EGA versions were the best I think, tho I have tried some of the later ones where you had video footage of your boss (apparently some woman from a game show version?), but I only got to play it a little when it was setup on a PC in department store (Which reminds me that said store had a boxed version of Monkey Island 2. I wish my younger self had had the cash to buy that!) I do remember trying some of the other varties at school, like europe and where in time, but I think where in the world was the best version. I had some version in between the 2 everyone always talks about. Some Windows 95 version I think. All the characters were cartoony. I should really hunt that down someday again. The only problem is I havent played a lot of those educational games since I was 10. So going back to them is an exercise in realizing how much school taught me. Although playing Memphis Math (made by Novell, an egyptian adventure game where you climbed pyramids and collected treasures using math) again was a lot of fun, because the last time I did play it I could really only add and subtract. Actually, it was a really good game. Busted your brain. It covered pretty much all areas of arithmetic. So you had to divide fractions at the highest level. I even want to say it had algebra too, but I'm not that certain about that. Oh, and it would scale. A lot of it was timed and so if you did really well, or really quickly it would bump you up. Hence my fustration as a kid, because by the end of the game the last boss was asking questions I couldn't have fathomed the answers to. That was a really solid educational game. I should find my copy again if I end up teaching like 5-6 graders. Oh and the cutscenes were the coolest. They had this old pulp comic book style to them with dark vibrant colors and the square jaws. God I love that game. Part of why I can do math so quickly.
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Post by alphex on Sept 11, 2014 5:53:50 GMT -5
I also just remembered - The Castle Of Dr Brain, designed by Lori Cole!
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Post by ZenithianHero on Sept 11, 2014 9:28:38 GMT -5
Oh man the Munchers. Also there was a PC game I used to play in school, I think late 90s, where you are in a jungle and it had a river portion and a on foot portion where you discover animals. Sounds like the Amazon Trail, which was a spinoff of sorts of Oregon Trail. MECC released other games in the series such as Yukon Trail and Africa Trail, which were of varying quality. That's it! Thank you, I doubt I want to play it again but the title slipped my mind for so long.
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Post by Colonel Kurtz on Sept 11, 2014 10:24:53 GMT -5
Altered Beast. Taught me all about greek mythologic human-beast transformation.
Naah, I never bought one. I chose my games from the start.
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Post by moran on Sept 11, 2014 11:07:11 GMT -5
I never owned any educational games but I played the Carmen Sandiego games at school since I didn't have a PC at home. I also stumbled across the Mario Time Machine/Is Missing titles through renting them. I really thought they were going to be standard Mario games.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2014 16:53:56 GMT -5
The Lost Tribe is pretty great. A tribe is on the lookout for a new paradise after a volcano destroys their ancestral one. You're elected leader and have to make decisions that cost time and potentially lives. There's an approval gauge you have to maintain before you're authority is stripped and you're left to fend for yourself. It's very tongue in cheek and has a charmingly campy, hammy(occasionally anachronistic) vibe. At one point the notorious Piltdown Man tries to scam you. Also a fun bit to trivia: in the intro of Where in Space is Carmen Sandiego you can see the Shufflepuck Cafe
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Post by caoslayer on Sept 11, 2014 19:33:59 GMT -5
No doubt that the best ones are Professor Layton games. Most people dont ever realise these games are educational.
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Post by vetus on Sept 12, 2014 10:02:17 GMT -5
The only edutainment that got my interest and I enjoyed them are Typing of the Dead and Brain Age.
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