I’m not a big fan of educational games, but I’ve played enough of them over the years to know that there’s a fine balance between too fun to be educational and too educational to be fun. The original “Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?” is a great example of a game that was both lots of fun and quite educational. I would categorize Digit Defenders more as “entertaining” than fun, and it really does more to strengthen known concepts than educate you on anything. Still, if you’re into math or need to know math for your studies, this is a good way to reinforce what you’re learning.

The basic premise is that you have items falling from the sky, and you must use your mathematical skills to destroy them before they reach the bottom of the screen and harm you. There are 4 overarching categories which include Counting, Arithmetic, Algebra and Base Conversion. You can choose to play strictly within one of these categories, or you can opt for Classic mode which walks you through all of them. My personal favorite so far is Algebra, mainly because even on hard Counting and Arithmetic are too easy, and quite frankly I don’t remember much of my base conversion lessons. Therein lies the main caveat with Digit Defenders – if you don’t already have a grasp of the various concepts, this isn’t going to teach them to you. Instead, it’s really a tool to help you get better at what you already know.

In Counting groups of objects fall from the sky, and you just have to enter a number indicating how many objects are in a given group. Arithmetic provides you with basic math problems ranging from simple addition and subtraction to equations that have multiple operations in them. Once you get to Algebra they start throwing in variables. I did run into a problem in this category because I couldn’t find a way to enter multiple values in for a single equation, which meant I could never solve anything. With Base Conversion you start by providing the decimal equivalent of binary numbers. To “attack” you simply type the answer to a given problem in the numeric keyboard at the bottom of the screen. There are buttons for deleting one character as well as for completely clearing your entry, a button for adding a negative in front of an answer, and a button on either side of the keyboard for firing. The buttons are easy to hit and were always responsive.

The graphics are nothing fancy, but they serve their purpose. For the Counting category you’ll get pictures of various objects, and for the rest of the categories you’ll just see numbers (and letters where variables are used). When you successfully “shoot” an object it will wobble and fade away, though there is no bullet or laser effect. That would have been a nice little touch. The sound effects are fairly basic like the visuals. However, when you shoot an group in the Counting category they did a pretty good job of making the sound reflect whatever object is in that group. There is no background music, which is good or bad depending on your ability to concentrate. Some music with the option to turn it off would have been nice.

Digit Defenders definitely has some good points. There is a nice variety of problems to solve, and the overall presentation is decent and accessible. It could certainly use a little more flash to keep certain audiences interested, but the aesthetics are not the worst out there by far. My biggest gripe is the issue with not being able to enter multiple values for equations with more than one variable, effectively making the Algebra category unplayable after a certain point. I also think this has a bit more limited market than many educational apps because it simply reinforces rather than teaching. Of course, that’s really a matter of what you’re looking for in a math tool.

Final Verdict: On The Fence
App Store Link
App Shopper Link

[All About Quick Looks]