Brain Quest for the Iphone

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Modality and they asked me if I’d be interested in reviewing a piece of educational software called Brain Quest.  Being a homeschool mom, of course I jumped at the chance!  I chose the 7th grade version as I thought I could probably use it with both kids.  I downloaded my copy from the Itunes store and synced my Iphone.  When I opened the app, the first thing I noticed was that the splash screen was unobtrusive and didn’t last long.  Two quick credit screens and the app opened.  Nice.  The intro on the app itself was also very quick which I really liked.  There’s nothing worse than a long intro that you have to watch over and over each time you use the app.   We’re off to a good start here.  The graphics are clear and pleasant, well designed and easy on the eyes.

You can store up to three players’ stats within the app to keep track of everyone’s progress. Create your user name and you’re presented with a screen that has four choices: “Your Quest”, “Trophy Room”, “Progress Report”, and “Free Play”. The only one that’s unlocked is “Your Quest”, so that’s where I went.  You can choose from six different subjects, Science, World History, Math, English, Geography and Grab Bag. Within each subject you have different activities that you can run through, earning points and unlocking other areas. I felt that the questions were a good mix of difficulty levels and I had a ball with it, but I’m easy - the real question was, would the kids like it?

On a day that we had a particularly long drive ahead of us, and the husband was there to do the driving, I handed my phone back to Haley and let her play with the game, occasionally peeking at her to gauge her reaction.   By the time we got to our destination, she was still fully engrossed!  On the way home, I gave it to Travis and he too really enjoyed it.  The general consensus was that it was a lot of fun, with enough challenge to keep it interesting, but not so hard that it got tedious.

My overall impression is that for the $4.99 price tag, it’s well worth it!

Full Disclosure:  Modality provided me with a code for 1 free copy of this app and absolutely no other compensation.