Odyssée numérique

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[quote][b][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtransaction]Warning: In-Game Cash Shop[/url][/b] This game is infested with a toxic mobile app style cash shop. You will be prompted to and expected to give money/credit card details to the developers through this cash shop to buy in-game goods so you can play the game.[/quote] "Odyssée numérique" is a free educational game from the University of Quebec, funded by Quebec to teach digital competency to French Canadians. The game itself is incredibly shallow, you're a guy with a robot on a planet and you need to wander around and do basic computer quiz/puzzles in French to save the planet earth from pollution. Like almost every educational game out there, this isn't making education better, but it is making gaming worse. The "developer" didn't bother with an English translation, but we don't need one. The language of shovelware is universal. In terms of visuals, this features fairly low quality low poly 3D graphics which will deter a lot of gamers, understandably. Gaming is a visual medium, and while some developers struggle with creating high quality visuals, failing to do so is a disservice to gamers. It's very difficult to…

Really nice concept! I played for a bit of time, and I'd really like to see a more advanced version of the game. [h3]Positive points[/h3] [list] [*] Well, for starters, it's free! [*] The concept is really original and fun to discover. [*] Really relaxing ambiance IMHO [*] I like the graphics [/list] [h3]Negative points[/h3] [list] [*] No tutorial, almost nothing explained, and no explicit feedback at the end of missions. Like, what is the difference between each social media? Someone who is not from research might find it hard to understand the difference between each puclication medium... [*] The character cannot be customized much. [*] You get bored really fast, since each mission is substancially the same. [*] Very VERY easy gameplay [/list] [h3]In short[/h3] I put a thumb up because the concept is innovative and fun, but it is very simple and you'll quickly get bored. But try it youself! It's free!

I really wanted to recommend this game but it falls flat very quickly. While I appreciated that figuring out the mechanics by ourselves through the first mission was intriguing, it only took one more mission to realize that the whole game was going to follow the same formula. There were so many related educational objectives that could have been enhanced - but were not, probably because they may have been out of scope or the developers just lost steam - such as learning about disinformation and creating effective communication products. The lack of this enrichment makes the game seem hollow; we might as well have been using flash cards and multiple choice quizzes to learn. It also felt like the mission objectives (e.g. fixing environmental disasters) were completely disconnected from the game play (collect items and read articles), which ultimately makes the exercise feel useless. Additionally, saving your game is bugged - it says your game is saved when you quit, but after several missions all my progress was not saved and I ended up starting again from the very first mission. Finally, I was expecting much more, coming from a project funded by the Government of Québec and the Un…