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Monday, September 5, 2011

Math Blaster–Review and Giveaway

At Math Blaster, your kids will begin their training as Blasters in the Intergalactic Space Patrol. With membership, your kids can achieve top ranks and unlock even more fun features and games!

  • Earn high-tech gadgets like the B-force Blaster Glove
  • Enjoy the complete selection of avatar pieces
  • Play member-only games and unlock bonus levels

From simple addition to more advanced topics like fractions and equivalents, Math Blaster makes practicing math fun! With membership, your kids will have access to our complete selection of math challenges.

  • Unlock new levels based on 1st - 6th Grade curriculum
  • Build speed and accuracy in high-speed challenges
  • Reinforce math lessons learned in the classroom

New planets, math challenges and alien races are constantly being discovered at Math Blaster! With membership, your kids will be invited to join the Intergalactic Space Patrol on every mission.

  • Use math to save robots in exclusive Bolt Cruncher levels
  • Tame exotic aliens with brain power in Alien Wrangler
  • Access more challenging HyperBlast and Zapper levels

Membership to Math Blaster also dive you  membership to JumpStart.com completely free with your upgrade. At JumpStart.com, your kids can enjoy fun-filled critical thinking games and much more!

  • Explore a magical online world packed with learning
  • Hatch, raise and train mythical creatures
  • Practice over 100 essential skills for school
Math Blaster: Master the Basics - Download 20401

Math Blaster - The Basics Download
$27.99

Math Blaster in the Prime Adventure 20888

Math Blaster in the Prime Adventure
$19.99

Math Blaster PreAlgebra 20146

Math Blaster – Pre Algebra
$29.99

My Thoughts:

First off, let me say that I’m not a big fan of games with mythical, magical creatures.  I’m a big fan of imagination, but often graphics in games like this tend to be creepy.  In setting up your account, or your child's account, you personalize your avatar and your screen name.  You have a variety of selections that range from looking like a normal cartoon character to looking like a freaky alien.

In order to use Math Blaster, you need to download their 3D engine, Unity.  The download directions are quick and simple.  However, after downloading Unity, my computer began to have major issues, to the point I had to uninstall the program and actually do a system restore to get back to normal.

I emailed customer service and they were quick to say there had been issues with their site at the time of my installation and attempted use of the Math Blaster site.  I was given thorough instruction on how to uninstall, reinstall and clear cookies, caches’ and other items that may cause issues.

I reinstalled Unity a 2nd time and again my computer immediately began having major issues.   Again I had to uninstall and do a complete system restore to get my computer back to normal.   After this 2nd attempt I contacted customer service and was given the same information.

Now, in the defense of Math Blaster, my computer has Vista and we all know Vista can make the simplest of things a nightmare.  So I can’t truly say if Math Blaster’s 3D engine, Unity, is to blame or if it just doesn’t work well with Vista.

So having said all of that, I can’t really say much about the math aspect of Math Blaster.  Each time I’ve installed, we’ve gotten to the point where we have our creepy little avatar set up, but we’ve never been able to get far enough into it to actually see, much less DO, any math. 

I gave the folks at Math Blaster the option of retracting their offer for a review and give away.  However they graciously pointed out that they weren’t looking for a positive review each time, but an accurate review…which really impressed me.   So even though I can’t say wow their product rocked, their customer service and integrity does!

The Give Away:

One lucky winner will receive a free online 3 month membership to Math Blaster!   To enter to win, simply leave a comment below.   The contest remains open until midnight on Monday, September 12.  A winner will be announced on September 13.

 

Disclosure: I was provided with a membership good for Math Blaster and Knowledge Adventure at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.

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8 comments:

  1. That does say a lot about the company that would still want you to review them. :) This sounds like it has great potential especially since my little one loves math and video games. :) Thanks for the review!!! If you can stop by and take a look at my giveaway today too! http://bobjenjack.blogspot.com

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  2. My boys love the jumpstart.com and mathblaster.com websites! I've just let them use the free areas of the sites for the last year or so, and after much begging (and seeing that they actually continuously used that website!) I decided to try a membership this month to see how it goes. They LOVE it. I had no idea that they had actual Math Blaster games. I'll have to check that out! Thanks for sharing your experiences!

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  3. My son would LOVE this. He adores math to begin with, but would eat something like this up with a spoon!

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  4. I'd like to win this one! ;) Thanks!

    jessicanunemaker at littleindiana dot com

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  5. Would love some math fun! martyandhope1 at hotmail dot com

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  6. i think my son would really enjoy this.

    weelittlemonkeys (at) gmail (dot) com

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  7. My son being a video game freak, would likely love this AND he'd get some math practice at the same time (hopefully!). That would be nice.

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  8. We started using this to help my son with information retrieval speed. so far, so good. Would like to try out the full online membership.

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