MindRover: The Europa Project

Other products by CogniToy

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000053UII
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 30, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,498 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

CogniToy's first game, MindRover, takes gamers to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, in an intriguing new adventure designed to bring intellectual challenges back to competitive gaming. With an immersing 3-D environment, a compelling soundtrack, and its innovative graphical wiring system, MindRover asks the gamer to think more and twitch less. MindRover players find themselves in a research station perched on the ice-covered moon as Jupiter dominates the sky overhead. Your task is to construct small robotic rovers that compete with one another in a variety of challenges. What's particularly new and unusual is that it's not just a matter of choosing weapons. The player actually gets to control how the robots react through a visual programming metaphor that CogniToy calls "wiring." In the construction lab, players choose bodies, drive trains, sensors, weapons, and manipulators for their robots from a large array of possibilities, then visually wire the sensors to the controls to give each rover a unique set of behaviors. The rover is then moved to the competitive arena and set free to take on all competitors. In one arena, the competition may be a race, and players would likely choose small, fast vehicles with sensors tuned for staying on the course and avoiding obstacles. But in the very next room, the goal may be simply to be the last robot standing, in which case it might be a good idea to festoon a tank with a whole array of weapons, along with radar units to guide them. The game includes puzzles, mazes, treasure hunts, and other unique problem-solving tasks.

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best computer game yet?, November 30, 2000

By	John M. Byers (Williamsport, IN USA) - See all my reviews

Mind Rover may well be the best computer game yet. At the very least, it's a game that you'll be still playing years after you buy it. Why? Because it's not really a traditional game at all. In Mind Rover, you design small robots or "rovers" using various components such as engines, radars, rockets and so forth and, using an easy graphical interface, turn your creations loose in various scenarios (races, battles, etc.) to see how they perform. You can play against the rovers supplied by the game, but the real fun comes in designing rovers to play against those designed by other people. Since the files that make the rovers work are fairly small (less than 20KB in most cases), it's simple to e-mail them to friends or to one of the many websites that hold continuous Mind Rover competitions. And no matter how clever you think your design might be, there's always someone that will give you a challenge. Mind Rover can be played on several levels. The excellent manual and the built-in tutorial make the job of "programming" easy to learn, and make the learning a fun experience, too. And while the game is a challenge to professional programmers and designers at the highest levels, I've seen rovers designed by children as young as seven years old that did pretty well in competition. Cognitoy, the company that designed Mind Rover, also maintains an excellent website where players can ask questions, submit ideas for new components and scenarios and communicate with other Mind Rover players. Cognitoy is constantly adding new components and scenarios, too; all of these are available for free download. Cognitoy's support of the game is excellent; the best I've seen from any company. If I could have just one computer game, Mind Rover would be the one.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most addictive game I have ever played!, November 30, 2000

By	Daniel J. Geuss (Marietta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

I'm the kind of guy that tries every game when it comes out. Most games will hold my interest for about 1-2 weeks. Mindrover is the exception. I've been playing it for 6+ months and will likely play it for 6+ more. That's just how good it is.

Even long after you have beaten the scenarios provided in the game, there is online competition. The online community for competing is great. Competitions are held daily. Once you get started there is no turning back. The more you play this game, the more you will like it.

If you've been watching Comedy Central's Battlebots and want to do robot competition, but you don't have the tools or the money then this is the next best thing.

Every game review site has given this game nearly perfect reviews. Play it for a while and you'll see why.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Game that I've always wanted, December 2, 2000

By	Jason Day (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

After playing a lot of games this one has kept my interest and keeps me coming back for more. No matter what level you want to play at Mindrover keeps delivering challenging play and cool graphics. The most interesting thing is after you design your vehicle you sit back and let it do it's work. I find myself cheering for the robot that I created.

Mindrover I believe is a break out game.