Overview
Brain Quest flashcards and workbooks just got a techie facelift. Brain Quest: Grades 5 & 6, a game for the Nintendo DS, incorporates 6000 questions typically found in fifth and sixth grade curriculum into video game playing.
These questions appear in three different modes: Quest, Brain, and Multiplayer and cover the following academic subjects: math, science, English, geography, history, and a catch-all category called "Grab Bag."
In each of the modes, kids play to earn points and accolades. The points can be traded in for stickers to use in an art designing area. There is also a robust Sudoku Mode offering 4 x 4, 6 x 6, and 9 x 9 Sudoku Puzzles.
Three Modes of Play
In the Quest Mode, which provides a light story to help motivate kids to tackle the questions, you become a contestant in the Quest Extreme Games festival. Each Extreme Game represents an academic subject. For example, to compete in a soccer match, you will do math challenges.
With the Brain Mode, you jump right in and start answering questions delivered in rounds of 5 questions each. And in the Multiplayer Modes, you can play cooperatively or competitively with a friend using just one Nintendo DS and one game cartridge.
Game Analysis
Brain Quest delivers on its slogan "It's Fun to Be Smart" with a snappy presentation of academic questions in a video game format. While this isn't a traditional video game with cutting edge gameplay and deep storytelling, it does a great job of making learning fun by mixing up the format of the questions. You'll find multiple choice, select an image, matching, sorting, fill-in-the-blank, word builder (add a letter to the beginning of a word to change into another word), and crossout (cross out a letter in a misspelled word) questions.
Accompanying you while you answer these questions with your the DS stylus, is uplifting funky music. Plus the game is always telling you how good you are when you answer questions correctly. This game is so supportive that even reluctant learners will want to play.
Best For
Brain Quest: Grades 5 & 6 is a good game to have when traveling -- whether to soccer practice or on a long trip. Try having someone read the questions out loud so that the whole family can join in.
All tech products are judged on a five star scale by looking at the following factors: fun, education, ease of use, value, and technical.
