Windows

Physicus: Save the World with Science!

Physikus ist ein recht einfaches Lernadventure. Selbst Kinder, die noch keinen Physikunterricht in der Schule hatten, können durch Physikus einiges an Grundwissen aus dem physikalischen Bereich erlangen. Aber auch Erwachsenen ist es möglich mit diesem Spiel entweder einiges dazu zu lernen oder ihr Wissen aufzufrischen. Jung und alt werden mit einer Spieldauer von ca. 10 Stunden ihre Freunde an diesem Lernadventure haben.

Physicus, an edutainment title from Tivola, evokes these images in my mind's eye. It has the same sort of craftsmanship that is reminiscent of the quality and care evident even to a child in those toys and really makes one feel that the creators understand that a learning tool for children can be beautiful and fun as well as instructional.

I found this game to be fun, with lots to do and explore. While the theme of saving the world is a bit trite, the execution of this game was well designed. The game is short, less than 10 hours for an experienced gamer, but the calculations needed may take a while if you choose to go it alone without a walkthrough. I have thoroughly enjoyed this series of games by Heureka-Klett and Tivola, and hope that the others may be translated to English, and imported to the USA.

Building a game so overtly around physics was a brave move, particularly given the database aspect. So too was trying to appeal to such a broad target audience. Yet Physicus succeeds, and does a much better job of providing an interesting and entertaining game than many non-edutainment titles. It would be a mistake not to play this game because of its edutainment tag, whatever your feelings about such titles.

Physicus is an excellent audio-visual reference tool for middle-school tutelage. Those still in school, or just plain interested in honing up on fundamental physics like myself, will likely refer to it often, well after having played this enjoyable game through.