Atari 8-bit - Avalon Hill - 1984
Divex
1 / 4- Genre
- Education - Mathematics
- Year
- 1984
- Language
- BASIC
- Publisher
- Avalon Hill
- Controls
- Joystick
- Developer
- Intelligence Quest Software
- Players
- 1
- Country
- Programmer(s)
- Scorupski, Richard W.
- License
- Commercial
- Graphic Artist(s)
- —
- Medium
- Sound
- —
- Rarity
- 88
- Cover Artist(s)
- —
- Serial
- —
- Dump
- Download
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Missing original tape and disk images!
INSTRUCTIONS
Loading instructions: type RUN"D:DIVEX at the prompt.
ADS (1)
BOOK / MAGAZINE REVIEWS (1)
Electronic Games · February, 1985
The gamer mans a laser cannon and battles invading forces in this shoot'em up arithmetic drill. It's just the thing for action arcaders who need a little practice on multiplication and division. The shooter must destroy all alien rockets representing wrong totals, while allowing rockets with correct answers to land. It's a merry onegamer war against mathematical errors requiring a steady firing hand and quick reflexes plus a good working knowledge of the multiplication tables.
The joystick moves the player's cannon back and forth across the bottom of the screen. At the top of the screen is a multiplication problem, along with four possible answers. Below each of these answers is a rocket ship which swiftly descends toward the bottom of the screen.
There are other aliens in the skies as well. Drones fly across the screen then try to land. If one does make it to the bottom, it reduces the distance the cannon can fire so the alien rockets get further down the screen before the gamer can start to blast them away. There's also Divex, a red sparkbug who'll try to eat the cannon's energy supply. The cannoneer has to shoot a blast of bug spray at this creature to chase it away.
The second part of the program helps gamers get a grasp on division by highlighting a divisor at the top of the screen. In this section, the four rockets represent four totals, and the gamer has to shoot the ones that are not evenly divisible by the highlighted number, while allowing the divisible rockets to land.
Divex is demanding enough to hold the interest of arcade-style gamers, while drilling mathematical skills. It probably will never be easy to get Junior to practice his arithmetic lessons, but this game may help. It won't take the place of entertainment programs, since it has such a strong dose of educational tonic included in its makeup, and its rather plain graphics don't even begin to compare with true arcade-style games. But it's about as painless a way to practice school skills as anyone has ever devised. Kids will know the multiplication tables better after playing Divex and they'll have had fun learning.
The joystick moves the player's cannon back and forth across the bottom of the screen. At the top of the screen is a multiplication problem, along with four possible answers. Below each of these answers is a rocket ship which swiftly descends toward the bottom of the screen.
There are other aliens in the skies as well. Drones fly across the screen then try to land. If one does make it to the bottom, it reduces the distance the cannon can fire so the alien rockets get further down the screen before the gamer can start to blast them away. There's also Divex, a red sparkbug who'll try to eat the cannon's energy supply. The cannoneer has to shoot a blast of bug spray at this creature to chase it away.
The second part of the program helps gamers get a grasp on division by highlighting a divisor at the top of the screen. In this section, the four rockets represent four totals, and the gamer has to shoot the ones that are not evenly divisible by the highlighted number, while allowing the divisible rockets to land.
Divex is demanding enough to hold the interest of arcade-style gamers, while drilling mathematical skills. It probably will never be easy to get Junior to practice his arithmetic lessons, but this game may help. It won't take the place of entertainment programs, since it has such a strong dose of educational tonic included in its makeup, and its rather plain graphics don't even begin to compare with true arcade-style games. But it's about as painless a way to practice school skills as anyone has ever devised. Kids will know the multiplication tables better after playing Divex and they'll have had fun learning.