Review: Math Blaster

Title: Math Blaster

Creator: Knowledge Adventure (makers of Jumpstart)

Short Description: MathBlaster.com is a futuristic online adventure packed with wacky aliens, high-tech gadgets and, of course, math! As new recruits at the prestigious Blaster Academy, your kids will play arcade-style math games and race through high-speed missions with the help of a cast of characters that are out of this world! After learning the ropes in Blaster Academy, new cadets will join the Intergalactic Space Patrol (ISP), an elite team of Blasters sworn to explore and protect even the furthest galaxies and deepest black holes of the universe. Armed with the most advanced gadgets and fine-tuned math skills, the cadets of the ISP will travel to exotic new planets, discover bizarre alien races and face extraordinary challenges!

Review: Feb 2009 I did a review for Jumpstart's virtual world. So when Knowledge Adventure contacted me asking if I would review their latest virtual world: Math Blasters I happily accepted!! My kids have been playing jumpstart's virtual world on and off the last year and were thrilled with getting the chance to try out the newest features in both worlds! Of course Math Blaster did not disappoint us one bit!

The kids enjoyed making their online character and went straight to work playing the games. Their favorite game turn out to be Oozami (pictured above). In this game you have find the correct math problems and make it to the top before the ooze gets you. 

For example you can choose to work with place values. The game, for example, will tell you to find the 3 in the ones place (see picture below).  At various stations there are numbers.  You have to find the correct number with the 3 in the ones place. You have to find so many of them before the time runs out and the ooze catches up to you.

Besides place values you can do math problems or work with money. Personally I like the money version of oozami the best seeing WP (my daughter) still needs to work on this skill. In this version of the oozami you have to find the correct money combination that is equal to the value you are looking for. For example the game can tell you to find 31 cents. If you see the combination of a quarter, nickel, and penny then you would want to select it because those things together equal 31 cents.

Another cool feature of this game, besides working on math skills is how it (for members) can link up to jumpstart.com original online world at jumpstart.com. My kids enjoyed being able to go from one world to the other by using the portals within the games themselves. Math Blaster can be a stand alone game, but it's really an extension to jumpstart.com virutal world. Membership to Mathblaster.com gives you full access to mathblaster.com AND jumpstart.com AND the ability to download 4 downloadable PC games. (Membership costs $74.99 per year)

Honestly, my kids have enjoyed Math Blaster so much that I'm seriously considering buying the Nintendo DS version of the game for them. Math Blaster even has mobile versions of the game: only compatible with IPhone, IPad or ITouch.  (FYI: I seen on Math Blaster's Facebook Page that they had a promo code for the mobile game: Math Blasters HyperBlast and are looking for reviewers.)

Overall I'm really pleased with what Math Blaster has to offer and that's saying a lot for a site that is only about 2 months old. Knowledge Adventure has done a fantastic job with the site and I look forward to seeing what is in store for Math Blaster's future by following the Math Blaster Blog and the Math Blaster Facebook Page.

Disclosure: I was provided with a membership good for Math Blaster and Jump Start at  no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.

Review: Jumpstart

Title: JumpStart

Creator: JumpStart.com

Short Description: JumpStart is an award-winning adventure-based 3D virtual world that is super-personalized, wildly imaginative and really fun, but don't let that fool you - it also teaches math, reading, and critical thinking skills so kids get a real jump start in life.

Review: With the JumpStart program there are two different account options FREE and PAID (membership). For the sake of this review I was given a free membership by JumpStart. Having the membership allows us to access ALL of the gaming features. With the Membership there is actually access to 5 different games. 1 online game and 4 different (CD) games that you download directly unto your computer.

The downloaded games:

Preschool: My First Adventure

Kindergarten: Legend of Grizzly McGuffin

First Grade: Trouble in Town

Second Grade: Quest for the Color Meister

For the sake of this review I only downloaded Quest for the Color Meister. This is because my kids are 7 and 8 and that seemed to be the most appropriate game for them. If I wanted to I could have download all of the games.

With the free version you are given limited access to what worlds you can access within the online game. The membership allows you to have unlimited access to ALL of the online words including Future Land which is designed for kids ages 8-10. Please refer to the Free vs Membership Chart for more details.

For those FACEBOOK people you can even link JumpStart to your Facebook account which according to JumpStart's website will allow you to see what your children are up too and allow you to link to your facebook friends and their kids so that you all can play and compete against each other. (I do not have a facebook account and will not get one  just to test this.)

We LOVE this program! We LOVE both the download game and the online game. Web-princess and Superstar every day ask "Momma can we play JumpStart!?!"  I happily let them because of the "educational" value of the games, especially the downloaded game. This is one fun way to help supplement my children's education. 

Thank-You JumpStart for allowing us the opportunity to play and do this review. I'm really thankful to have this program now because it gives my kids a fun way to reinforce their phonics, math, and reading skills. Not only that but they keep coming back for more and more because they LOVE it!

They love the games and being able to have pets. Web-princess's favorite pet is the brain. It's a little blue brain that follows her where ever she goes. Superstar loves doing the car races. In the car race game he matches up words with the letter sounds he's looking for. The only thing they disliked was that at times the game froze up on them. (This only happen a handful of times and was an easy fix.)

The game freeze has NOT stop them from wanting to play! They still come back for more and more. They just understand that sometimes glitches like that happens, especially when it's an online base game. We have similar issues with other online games.

The online world also has theme based games within the game. These themed games are based on the current seasons/holidays. Currently to celebrate Valentine's Day our kids can collect hidden candy hearts as part of the Valentine's Scavenger Hunt. The kids have enjoyed this and are delighted when they find a new heart. They also enjoy seeing other people online and interacting with them. In a safe way I might add.

On the parental end of things: I like that fact that I could, on the downloaded game, review what games my kids were playing, what skills they worked on, and how well they master those skills. I also like the fact that the online world is a safe environment for them to able to interact with other people.

Despite the game freezing up the program has 6 thumbs way up in this house. 2 thumbs from Superstar, 2 thumbs from Web-princess, and 2 thumbs from Mommy!!! If you are looking for a safe fun games for your kids to do online then JumpStart is the way to go.

Disclosure: I was given a FREE 1 year membership to JumpStart by JumpStart.com  in order to write my honest opinion of this product for this review.