Perhaps I just haven’t been paying attention because I don’t have kids of my own, but it feels like educational games haven’t been releasing as frequently as they used to. When I was a kid there were all sorts of educational games. Games like Elmo’s Number Journey, Elmo’s Letter Adventure, and even The Oregon Trail were once touchstones in merging gaming and education. BodyQuest, Didactoons’ latest game, is one such educational journey.

In BodyQuest, you play as a doctor in the year 2134, attempting to cure a young boy of a variety of illnesses. After a mishap that causes you to lose your nanobots, you must shrink down and go into the young boy’s body to solve various issues from the inside. What is fascinating about BodyQuest though is its approach to difficulty and tailoring experiences for multiple ages.

There are three main age brackets that BodyQuest caters to, ages 6-7, 8-9, and 10+. The difference between these brackets is surprising. The younger ages get easier levels and fewer quiz questions. On the other hand, older players will get tougher enemies and levels, along with more (and sometimes tougher) questions. It is a great way to make the experience fun for both parents and kids. You could easily play BodyQuest right alongside your child and talk about what they are learning.

Surprisingly, as a 27-year-old, I sat down with Lisa (our managing editor and my mom) to watch her while she played through it. We both enjoyed our time playing, and I am already considering suggesting it to several family members who have kids. The levels tend to go through a pretty simple, standard formula.

You navigate through levels, collecting bluish-colored orbs which can be used to purchase cosmetics between levels. Additionally, you collect discs (or other collectibles) to solve whatever the level’s goal is, and ultimately deliver them to the endpoint. Along the way, you get upgrades that let you traverse various obstacles.

Also, when you collect the discs or get a new gadget, you have to answer questions. These questions tend to be about the part of the body you’re dealing with, whether it is the musculoskeletal system, the digestive system, the anatomy of your ears or eyes, and beyond. If you get all the questions correct, you get five “Diplomas” which collectively unlock new cosmetics for sale.

However, if you get any questions wrong, you may only get 2, 3, or 4 diplomas instead. This incentivizes you to redo the quizzes again in between levels and try to get to that perfect answer. I wish the game would provide short lessons before the levels so you can try to quiz on what they told you, but it isn’t much of an issue really.

Along the way, you can also collect items that give you background on historical scientists and doctors, as well as medical implements and types of medicine. It provides you with all sorts of talking points and fun facts, so you could easily talk to your kid about Marie Curie (as an example) and then research her with them later.

BodyQuest would benefit from two alterations to its gameplay. Firstly, I think a map would help out. Granted, the levels are small, so you won’t really get lost, but the lack of a map would save some time. Secondly, the dialogue moves on its own and moves rather quickly. As a result, kids who have dyslexia, reading issues, or just slow readers might have trouble. If they didn’t want to make dialogue move slower or add a button for advancing it, voice acting would help.

Truthfully, I really like BodyQuest. It is a cool game, with a cool aesthetic. It reminds me a lot of Saturday morning cartoons and has an art style reminiscent of shows like Recess or The Magic School Bus. The music is funky and fun, the levels are cool, and there’s just something charming about it.

If you have kids, little cousins, or spend time with small kids at all, consider looking into BodyQuest. I hope we see more games like this releasing in the next few years. It is great to have things like this so parents can be active in their kids’ education. Besides, how much better is it to instill a love of learning in kids, than by making a game of it?

A Nintendo Switch review copy of BodyQuest was provided by Artax Games for this review.

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BodyQuest

$5.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Great for Parents and Kids
• Educational but Fun
• Difficulty Scales by Age
• Fun Visual Design
• Catchy Music

Cons

• Needs a Map
• Dialog Auto-Advances
• Needs Voice Acting