Developer: Didactoons
Publisher: Artax Games
Platform: Switch
Tested on: Switch
BodyQuest – Review
As we have experienced ourselves, not every educational game is entertaining enough to entice children (or even adults) into learning something new. Some hit their marks, others have great aspects but neglect others, and some are just awful. A year ago, MathLand was an interesting educational game that taught us the basics of calculus, gradually increasing the difficulty as we went. In the latter, exercises served as the puzzles for you to progress through the different top-down adventurous levels. This time, Didactoons are ditching the pirate theme, and have us fighting a virus inside the body of a patient instead. Very fitting with the current pandemic still having half the world in lockdown, we hoped to at least eradicate one virus in our lives.
Story
We dive into the 22nd century where scientists are trying to combat a nasty virus. They have found the cure, but sadly the virus doesn’t want to go down that easily and thus sends out its minions to steal the cure, as well as the AI who needs to administer it. To get the cure back, you’ll need to collect all the vials of the cure, as well as rescue Jarvis, the captured AI.
Graphics
While still adhering to a simple flash-like style of animations, the team has clearly learned from their previous enterprise. BodyQuests feels a lot smoother, more diverse and just better polished as a whole. The style is still very reminiscent of the one used in MathLand, albeit with a futuristic theme. The different parts of the storyline offer a variety of environments, and everything is quite clear. The quizzes you’ll have to solve are also properly presented. While there is still room for improvement, the presentation as a whole is well taken care of.
Sound
When playing through the game, you’ll have adventurous upbeat tunes playing in the background, that correspond well with the Sci-Fi theme of the game. There is not much more to say, other than that the backdrop is fitting and enjoyable. Even though there are dialogues in the game, there is no actual voice acting, except for a bit of a made-up gibberish language you’ll hear.
Gameplay
Just like MathLand, BodyQuest is an educational game with some adventure elements thrown in the mix. This time, however, we trade in calculus for quizzes on how our body works, in terms of the nervous system, organs, and other bits and bobs. We do have to say that this game is a tad more difficult, as it handles a subject that is often neglected for younger children. Nonetheless, the offset was clear, as we had to guide our character through different levels, solving simple puzzles, battling nasty viruses and bringing quizzes to a successful ending.
You’ll be dropped into 25 different levels, where you’ll have to reach the ending by solving the quizzes presented to you by the Guardians of that specific organ or body part. Sometimes you also have to collect ‘materials’ in order to progress. It doesn’t really matter how high you score on the quizzes, as long as you try, and bring them to a successful end. This means you can try to get to correct answers for each quiz, even if you don’t get the answers correctly the first time. The more answers you get right the first time, the more diplomas you earn. These diplomas are a necessity to unlock more cosmetics, together with the normal currency you can find when playing through the different levels.
The levels themselves are easy to figure out. You’ll just run around while solving simplistic puzzles and battling nasty bacteria. The further you progress, you’ll also get more tools at your disposal to clear blockages, etc. Exploring will reward you with extra collectibles that tell you fun facts. The game also supports touch screen controls for the quizzes and some of the hazards, which is a nice touch.
Sadly, not all is well in the land of BodyQuest. More than often you get stuck in passageways that are more than wide enough, at other times you are glued stuck to a checkpoint and you can even accidentally press to submit your answer during a quiz, even without selecting a single answer. The game will not warn you or say that you need to select something, you will just get punished and it will detract from the number of diplomas you can earn.
Conclusion
BodyQuest is a very interesting educational experience, that allows you to learn new facts and tidbits on how our bodies work. While the game has a bigger threshold than MathLand, it is still a very solid educational game. Exploring the levels is quite fun, the quizzes are clear, and the overall content is sufficient. Even though you have more options with calculus than the repeating quizzes in BodyQuest, we feel that his game is more polished as a whole. Adding the incentive of the relatable story and the unlockable cosmetics will entice younger players to press on.
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