This Tales of Mathasia review will be a relatively short one. First, it’s math(s): my nemesis. Second, it’s aimed at younger players to teach them arithmetic in a cute, jolly environment – story thread and all.
Developed by Pancake Games and published by Ultimate Games, Tales of Mathasia is an educational game that supports counting, addition and subtraction. Set in the lands of Mathasia, you’re introduced to a handful of characters that tell the prophecy of a great mathematician that will save the lands. Guess who that is?
An evil sorcerer named Sparrow is effing it up for everyone, corrupting the produce and being an overall menace. Fortunately, your new friends are stoic and refuse to be pushovers. Honing your number skills, you’ll help thwart the baddie and save the day. Simples.
Tales of Mathasia Review: The Numbers Game
Without a doubt, Tales of Mathasia is a colourful, vibrant environment with cute characters and pleasant music. The opening stages, of which there are 16, split into four biomes, were verbose. The tutorial was lengthy and repetitive and, for a crusty such as myself, very easy to smash through. But I’m not the target audience. That said, the balance of text and gameplay is skewed.
For starters, the dialogue should be shorter for younger players. Initially, my little girl embraced these cute little animals and their instructions, but having to do it for almost every new level was monotonous. The vocabulary is broad, neither focusing on a specific age group nor witty (to entertain the adults). It is voice-acted, but the intonation is way off and unnatural. We ended up reading it together.
Story aside, the gameplay involves counting sprites and adding or subtracting by dragging and manipulating items on the screen. This was intuitive and, for the most part, an excellent opportunity to learn formulas together. Don’t lean back and let tech take over – this is where you be a parent, sit with your kids, and demonstrate techniques to help them. On that part, Tales of Mathasia was productive as we advanced from finger counting to learning patterns.
Meet Your Match
When matching up some of the numbers, the options you’re presented with won’t match, so you have to sacrifice the numbers you have by dropping them in a well. Think of it as a change of hand. This changed the dynamic; my daughter couldn’t understand what was happening. Despite the lengthy tutorials, I had to explain and demo what was required a handful of times for her to get it.
The illustrations appealed to her more than the gameplay (who wants to study maths outside of school!). But having been a teacher in the past, I appreciate that focusing on the fun element makes them forget they’re learning. So devious…
Anyhoo, yes, Tales of Mathasia is an educational game that will benefit your child’s development, but more of a supplement. As soon as we covered a few levels, she wanted to do some drawing, so whether there’s longevity in it remains to be seen.
