Game Review: My Pyramid Blastoff

My Pyramid Blastoff
Reviewed by Tracey Kirkland

My Pyramid Blastoff was developed by the USDA to teach children ages 6-11 about proper nutirition and exercise.

Okay, I'm liking the little astronaut graphic that has a child's-drawing-on-the-refrigerator quality, and the rainbow colors of the rocketship. Or is that a space shuttle? Enter first name, gender and age. Easy enough.

To blast off, I need to get 60 minutes of physical activity and smart food choices to last me for one day. I can 'add to the fuel tank' with food or I can 'add to battery' with activities. I have to confess, the "How to Launch" instructions are a bit confusing. Especially for a rocket scientist like me.

We start, logically enough, at breakfast. As I moved through choosing food for the meals (you have to choose each meal, the game doesn't automatically move to the next meal), I mixed what I really would eat and what I know I should eat. The object is to get enough fruits, vegetables, milk, grains, meat and beans. You also need to keep within the day's allowance of calories.

After you're done, you get your Mission Report. Based on my fuel choices, we were unable to blast off. Not only did I forget to choose any activities but I chose too much food. You do have the choice to go back and try again, start over, or go back to the main menu.

I enjoyed choosing the foods for the mission, but thought it was confusing when the game didn't prompt me to choose any activities. And I needed to go back to be reminded to drag the foods over to the rocket ship. I know what you're thinking: I will not be one of the first humans on Mars with this poor record of space travel. The game had nice spacey graphics, was very informative, but was a bit confusing and needed more prompts.