Serious Game Classification

In this sixth Magic School Bus title based on the book series by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, the class mission is to travel to the Costa Rican rainforest and clone missing parts of the ecosystem so they can turn their classroom into a virtual rainforest.

In the classroom there are reports to view and and projects to hear about by clicking on items and characters in each of the two rooms. Clicking the lockers brings up a board of 14 rainforest/ecosystem themed games, ranging from jigsaw puzzles to dodging falling raindrops to mini-platformers. Most actions throughout the game are performed with the mouse; some games use the keyboard arrow keys, and there are printer options available in some sections.

Once on the bus, the player has a number of options - pressing the steering wheel begins the trip to one of three parts of the forest: the Understory, The Canopy, or the Treefall Gap. There are more reports to view and a travel log that records the places the player visits.

Off the bus, the player can use tools from the toolbox to hear animal sounds, inspect creatures through a magnifying glass, watch videos, capture wildlife and clone it for their virtual rainforest. When the right samples have been found from the clues given, clicking the inside of the toolbox will show how the selected sample has changed the classroom.

This educational game is suggested for children aged 6 - 10, and focuses primarily on science skills, observation, experiment, and listening. [source:mobygames]

Distribution : Retail - Commercial
Platform(s) : PC (Windows)

Links

• http://www.mobygames.com/game/scholastics-the-magic-school-bus-ex [...]