"MathLand" Review

"MathLand" is so earnest and straightforward that you can't help but look at it sideways. Is there something ironic going on here? Where is the twist?

You can stop squinting and searching. There is nothing more to "MathLand" than math itself. A purely educational experience, the game is a sneaky way to get kids -- as well as rusty adults, for that matter -- to drill and kill arithmetic until it becomes second nature.

The $6 download is a throwback to such elementary school computer lab classics as "Math Blaster." Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are all there to help you hone your skills as you make your way through isometric levels.

The slate of minigames tasks you to select correct answers, rewarding you for your speed and accuracy. Developer Artax Games could have gotten cute by instituting touch-screen number drawing in the vein of "Brain Age" or "Professor Layton," but the multiple-choice approach is the most clean and effective.

While lazy players can guess their way to success, the only sure path to victory is to memorize and apply number skills. That's life in "MathLand," as straightforward and methodical as can be.

Publisher provided review code.