LogFAQs > #949862088

#54 Operation Neptune (MS-DOS, 1991)

Operation Neptune is the only educational game to make my top 100. I played a decent amount of The Learning Company games as a kid, but this one was without a doubt my favorite. It's a very well-produced game that combines action with occasional homework problems. All the problems in the game are math-based, and I enjoy math (for the most part), so I considered the problems to be "fun."



The premise of the game is that a space capsule containing research canisters and toxic chemicals crash-landed in the ocean, and a submarine is sent to collect the pieces. The player controls the submarine as it navigates through a two-dimensional level broken up into several screens, while avoiding marine life that can cause damage. Throughout the levels, word problems are presented that have to be solved in order to continue, and they mostly all make sense in the context of the game (e.g. calculate the average speed of the vessel).



As the game progresses, the submarine encounters increasingly dangerous enemies that must be dodged or temporary subdued through the use of an ink gun. It would probably be pretty easy for an adult, but at the age I played this game, it was a challenging game that took me a while to work through. And probably helped me with my math skills in the process.

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