Do you remember all those crazy multiplication tables you had to learn as a kid? I do. Even though I was pretty good at them, they were still a pain in the ass, and many math students would probably agree. Now, compare that learning experience to a game that every kid who went to school in the late 80s/early 90s knows and loves- The Oregon Trail. What better way was there to learn the history of westward expansion than by needlessly murdering local fauna (you could only carry back 100 lbs anyways), foolishly fording rivers and randomly dying from dysentery? Clearly, there was quite an void in the arithmetic curriculum... until now.
Math Sniper 3D aims (no pun intended) to bring the joys of mathematical edutainment to all the little girls and boys, one headshot at a time. No longer will kids need to hear the jubilant voice of the Cookie Monster as he subtracts tasty treats from a table. Gone are the days of the Count's addictive, additive cries of “ONE! TWO! THREE! THREE BATS! AH! AH! AHHH!” Nope, ma and pa, all you need to supercharge your little snowflake's standardized test scores are a few rounds of lead to the domes of unsuspecting secret agents (who are ostensibly trying to smuggle our amazing math knowledge to third world despots). So hide the Halo and conceal the Call of Duty put your kid's n00b-pwning abilities to good use!
Actually, Math Sniper is pretty much just a knockoff of those Flash-based sniper games you can play in your web browser, with the addition of simple arithmetic problems at the top of the screen, a timer, a hit/miss counter and floating numbers inside each stick figure's head. It's all very crudely slapped together and looks a bit like a game that was made in a few hours of drunken programming the day before it was due, but I guess this type of game is about learning, not presentation. Although, seriously, if your game only has 3 controls (2 analogs, one trigger) and it's supposed to be 'educational' you should probably take a minute to make sure your control diagram doesn't say “left trigger” with an arrow pointing to the “right trigger”. FAIL.
Anyways, I'm still amused that someone thought combining basic math skills and sniping would create a formidable educational tool. I find this to be absolutely hysterical. I really do hope this was a joke, because the target audience for this level of math wizardry (5-8 year olds) is not generally the impressionable crowd most parents want to be crowning guys with a .50 cal.
While I would personally encourage my friends' children to learn this way (only for personal amusement at the ensuing antics), I feel that I'm solidly in the minority on this issue. Also, I would encourage children to set their sights higher- this game is simple, gore-free and relatively unexciting. They should be learning math by more useful means, such as poker, sports gambling and securities fraud. The world will have plenty of ditch diggers, but you never know when we'll run short of CEOs.
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I don't know how long it will take to actually show up in marketplace, but I just lowered the price of Math Sniper 3D to the new 80 point. For those that thought about buying, but didn't want to spend 200, watch for the price to drop in the next few days!
I figured you would get it. I could tell from your original review. Keep up the grief killing. Some people really do deserve it!
Ha. I definitely understand what you're saying. I would support kids learning this way if they're already playing other shooters, but of course I don't pretend to be an authority since I don't have any (and some people would say opinions like are why that trend should continue). But I can relate, I'm told I was smart but school often bored me and I wish I could have learned Calculus this way.
Honestly, I don't find the game objectionable in the least, but as I said, I think I'm clearly in the minority and I presumed this game was targeted to an age range that most would consider a bit too impressionable for learning-by-assassination. If I was responsible for an idea like this, I probably would have added cartoonish exploding bodies, land mines, etc... just to be impertinent.
Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed the review. I hope your son enjoys the game. I love your racing story- I remember vividly my sister tattling on me for racing around the track the wrong way and smashing into all the other cars... and look how well I turned out!
Note: I still take great joy in griefing and team-killing when people deserve it. Some things never get old. =)
I am the author of MathSniper3D and couldn't help but post a reply. At first you might think I am going to post that you are all wrong and I don't like what you posted, but I am going to surprise you by saying that I love what you wrote! Pretty much everything you wrote is correct, but maybe not for the reasons you think. I laughed and laughed as I read your post. I love the way you right and what you wrote is so true in many ways.
Let me start by saying that I wrote this game for my 9 year old son. He was having trouble in school with math. Not because he didn't know how to do it, he is pretty smart, he just didn't want to because it wasn't fun. He is a lot like me in that way.
Without getting into a big long post, let me just say a couple things...
The building ending up looking like a school was TOTALY accidental. I actually created the texture for the building from a picture of a 3 story OFFICE building that was one of the few good pictures I could find of a building that was straight on and close enough to make a texture out of. I am not an artist at all. I just took the first good building shot I found and went with it. I didn't realize it was going to be such a big deal and really didn't realize it looked like a school until someone else said something (you are not the first to make that comment).
The biggest thing I want to say is that many of us, as parents, don't understand very well what or why kids like the types of games they do. I have six kids of my own. They play xBox games. Most of the time they play the game the way it was intended for a few hours and then end up doing the same thing with all of them. Lets take a car racing game. They start by racing around the track for a while and then end up playing "smash each other over and over" with the game. They play Lego star wars for a while getting the achievements and things done and then soon they are just blasting stuff and each other. The other day I watched them push each other into the lava for about 20 minutes straight.
I am not saying that shooting people over math problems is a good idea. I am hoping that people can tell the difference between a game and real life. I focused so much on the "catching the spy" story of my game I didn't realize so many people would not get that. The bottom line is that Math Sniper is what my kids usually turn all games into. Shoot something. I was just hoping to make math a little more fun for my son and it worked.
Again, thank you for writing about the game. I LOVE what you wrote....
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