Math Evolver - Virus Origin

by TOPICS Entertainment

Product Features

• Stop the virus from spreading with your gaming skills and brainpower; sharpen your math skills as you unlock the secrets of the abandoned laboratory
• All skills covered correlate to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
• Kids learn pre-algebra concepts they need to succeed in school through completing missions in a virtual education gaming environment
• 15 pre-algebra and Algebra 1 concepts covered
• Target key objectives covered on state tests

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0013PVVY0
• Item model number: 80957
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 9, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,130 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #11 in Software > Education & Reference > Secondary Education > Math
  • #50 in Software > Children's Software > Math

Product Description

Amazon.com

Mission: Stop the virus from spreading. Solution: You, your gaming skills and brainpower.

Dodge, Jump, and Neutralize. Boss Guardians require extra skill to defeat.

Using Prime Nautilus shells, work your way through the maze that is Xeno Island.

Along the adventure, gain access to the Cruiser--a hovercraft that flies at incredible speeds.

Xeno Island
Enter a world where nature and technology came together, with most unpleasant results. Sharpen your math skills as you unlock the secrets of the abandoned laboratory.

Virus Origin
Breaking into a deserted research facility is just your first job as part of a skilled team determined to discover what happened in the secret Xeno Island research facility.

Once inside, things quickly get exciting as you fend off creatures left behind to protect the lab's secrets.

Your math knowledge expands as you crack the codes needed to enter the lab and expose the bizarre research that led to the island's sudden abandonment.

Parents' Mission: Get Kids Learning Math
By completing "missions" in a virtual education gaming environment, kids learn pre-algebra concepts they need to succeed in school. Delivered in a stunning first person action adventure video game format, kids are impressed with the graphics and action, parents and teachers are impressed with the skills it teaches.

Challenges come in an exciting video game format that entertains as it educates. All skills covered correlate to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) as well as various state standards, and target key objectives covered on state tests.

Kids' Mission: Stop the Virus from Spreading
Daughter of a brilliant scientist, Darienne Clay finds herself shipwrecked at sea after a university research vessel meets with disaster. Luckily, she washes up on the shores of an abandoned island. While searching the island, she stumbles upon the reason the island is abandoned. A military biotech experiment went awry, infecting the island with bizarre creatures seemingly fused from nature and technology. Now, the 'experiment' threatens to spread into the ocean.

Darienne assembles a team of crack scientists and inventors for a return to Xeno Island to search for clues and a way to end the threat. As part of that team, you'll need your gaming skills and brainpower to crack the codes protecting the virus and its origins.

In Missions 1--5, you and the team land on the island and try to decipher the mysteries found around every corner. You must break the code to bypass a security system and access the Research and Development Facility. Using math skills that grow as you investigate the island, you'll check energy readings, crack codes, strap on a jet pack, and fly through the trees.

Darienne and her team need to stay focused. Guardians are lurking around every corner watching for you.

Use your helmet visor to uncover the math underlying objects.

Skills Covered

• Prime Numbers
• Prime Factors
• Additive Identity Property
• Commutative Property
• Order of Operations [PEMDAS]
• Even & Odd Numbers
• Greatest Common Factor
• Additive Inverse Property
• Distributive Property
• Equivalent Fractions
• Perfect Squares
• Least Common Multiple
• Associative Property
• Multiplicative Identity
• Comparing Fractions

About the Developer
Tabula Digita is an educational video game company focused on delivering innovative and effective educational games to students and institutions. Through its fusion of education and technology-based immersive learning systems, Tabula Digita successfully offers standards-based, high impact educational tools that engage middle and high school students in learning and applying pre-algebra and algebra 1 concepts.

In 2006 Tabula Digita received both the Macworld Editor's Choice Award and the Mouse Awards. In 2007 the company received the prestigious "Newcomer of the Year" CODiE Award from the Software Industry Information Association [SIIA], for "offering a product that has the potential for significant impact on students and teachers."

Ages
10 & Up

Grades
6-9

ESRB Rating
E 10+ for Mild Fantasy Violence

Product Description

MATH EVOLVER is pre-algebra learning for the generation. Unlike other learning programs, Evolver applies the latest in 3D video gaming technology to create an immersive, entertaining, program that covers standards-based high impact educational objectives as defined by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). By completing ¿missions¿ in a virtual education gaming environment, kids learn pre-algebra concepts they need to succeed in school. Delivered in a stunning first person, action adventure video game format, kids are impressed with the graphics and action, parents and teachers are impressed with the skills it teaches. What teachers are saying¿. "The biggest problem we have with the program is that students don¿t want to stop playing ¿ our summer school students wanted to keep going!¿ Dr. Jim Wohlgehagen, Secondary Mathematics Coordinator, Plano Independent School District President, Texas Assn. of Supervisors of Mathematics (TASM).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Video game first with a side of math, June 19, 2009

By 

H. Sapiens "Amanda" (SF Bay Area, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Math Evolver - Virus Origin (CD-ROM)

I am definitely *far* from being a kid, but I did want to try this game out before passing it on to my 10 year old son (and my 4-year old girl wants to give it a whirl too).

**Mac Note**
I have successfully installed and run this game on both a PPC and Intel-based Mac running Leopard. It plays just fine.

Pros:
1) Game fully loads! No need to install the game disc every time you wish to play (why do they do this with kid's games? Do they hate us???)
2) Players are able to customize their own character with backstory and save their own information (e.g. good for multi-player household)
3) First level includes a tutorial on how to play and control the game (which is good, because the controls were not exactly intuitive)
4) Instructions are clearly spoken, mission notes can be read, and there are plenty of ways to get help - thus reducing frustration
5) Has a very video-game like feel - definitely appealing. I wouldn't even bring up the fact this is a math game, just hide the box (sort of like hiding eggplant in brownies I guess).
6) Several missions and levels to complete keep this game interesting - there are clear objectives and a clear trajectory

Cons:
1) This is a video game - the math is really secondary to the game, so don't purchase this thinking it will solve your struggling 7th grader's math woes, but it may give him/her a leg up and build confidence
2) The math covers a pretty wide range, so expect a tad bit of frustration at first
3) Math does take a back-seat to the game, but I don't actually know that this is a con (if you know the Leapster/Didj systems then this is more similar to Didj - better graphics with the learning slipped in but not forefront)
4) The controls do not appear to be customizable, but I discovered you can use the direction pad to control movement, even though it says to use letter keys (hard for a leftie)

Bottom line: Entertainment over edutainment - a tad light on the instruction but good compromise between interest, excitement, and math (blah!). A bit difficult to master may lead to some frustration for say a struggling 6th grader. Otherwise, woohoo!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Math Evolver, September 10, 2008

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Math Evolver - Virus Origin (CD-ROM)

I am 8 years old. I got math evolver for my birthday. this game is fun for learning math. I get to shoot the guardians with my EMP blaster. In mission number three called "The Valley" I go up to the top of really tall towers with green lights at the top and I get into these turrets, and I over load guardian's shields. its kind of scary because in the fifth mission, the building's so dark. I especially like missions 1 & 3 "Xeno Island " and "The Valley" You need an Intel Processer to run this on a mac, so make sure you have one. Also in the valley there are guardian sentinels and they don't have shields so you can just kill them, but the ones that do have shields are forming something my visor calls a guardian phalanx. its fun because throughout the game you can find out about different types of guardians. I recommend this game because it's exciting and teaches math while you have fun!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Is this game educational?, May 3, 2009

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Math Evolver - Virus Origin (CD-ROM)

I'm 12 years old and got Math Evolver missions 1-5. It's pretty fun and very Education! I'm learning stuff way over my head like "communitive property of multiplication" and uderstanding it. My school doesn't teach much about primes and this game kept me sharp with them. The best part, for me, is that I can play this and sometimes forget this game has math in it! so over all I loved this game and would reccomend this game to any kid.