12/9/2023 0 Comments Spellstone delight![]() This is a puzzle game where you construct words based on prefix and suffix formulas that is fun for about two minutes.ġ1. The full title is actually “Spelling Stone” (and the Amplify website lists it as Spell Tracer). Spell Stone: Slightly misleading title… There are no magic spells. Venture: A repetitive adventure-themed interactive worksheet where you answer multiple-choice grammar questions and collect coins, which is fun until you realize there’s nothing to buy with the coins. Thirteen games is a lot, and with no in-game descriptions, how is one supposed to know which ones to play? Fortunately, I have played through all thirteen and ranked them in reverse order for your convenience. Which leads me to ask, why embed them in the adventure game at all? Accessing them through the main Lexica adventure lets you play them for only a short time, giving you a brief taste of the good ones and forcing you to engage with the bad ones. The thirteen mini-games embedded within Lexica are also accessible from the main menu, which is definitely the preferred way to experience them. ![]() Considering the range of literary characters represented (from Cheshire Cat to Tom Sawyer), the game could have benefited from more stylized artwork. The characters look nice and have some entertaining dialogue, but they suffer from a fairly severe case of uncanny valley syndrome: they look realistic enough that their stiff, mechanical mannerisms feel jarring and unnatural. Overall, I was not too impressed with the movement mechanics.Īlong the way you meet more characters, complete quests, and explore new areas. Why not wait until there are actual enemies present (which don’t appear until about three hours into the game) before unlocking the punch? There are also a few platforming challenges, all of which I found to be either trivial or extremely frustrating. You can jump and punch, but there’s absolutely nothing to punch in the first level. More on those in a bit.)ĭon't worry, the swinging guillotine doesn't actually hurt you. (And holy cow, there are a lot of mini-games. Along the way, you meet more literary characters, read short descriptions of novels, and get to very briefly play some mini-games. The next few activities involve fetching items for various characters hanging around the library. Next, you must search for another character’s missing Tarzan of the Jungle book. Walking a bit further, you run into Cheshire Cat, from Alice in Wonderland. Much to everyone’s surprise, your presence causes the story to come to life and a massive pirate ship appears from the book. ![]() Soon you run into a man reading the book, Peter Pan. You begin by choosing an animal avatar to represent your character, then set off to explore the beautifully rendered castle-library of Lexica. The majority of the activities in the main game involve collecting items, completing quests, and playing mini-games. Lexica is not just one game, but a collection of 13 fully-realized ELA mini-games wrapped in a grand role playing adventure targeting middle school students. We got our hands on the pack and took a look at the flagship title-indeed, the one that garnered the most adulation: Lexica, a role playing adventure where players explore different worlds featuring characters from literary classics. ![]() The bundle of 30 games was released on March 2015. As part of its ambitious vision to build next-generation digital learning tools, Amplify, the education division of News Corporation, brought on a dozen indie game studios in 2013 to develop a suite of educational games focused on English Language Arts (ELA) and STEM. ![]()
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