[typing]
It's time for another game from the edutainment shelf!
And I'm in the mood for something tricky to pronounce.
"Quarky and Quaysoo's Turbo Science," developed by Jeff Tennell Productions
and published by Sierra Online in 1992 for MS-DOS.
Quarky, I get. But "Quaysoo?" Or "Kay-soo?" "Kay-so?"
Mmm... queso. I'm gonna go with that.
Anyway, this is the first game in the Turbo Learning Series by Jeff Tennell Productions
And if that name sounds familiar, it's probably because you're a Sierra gamer.
"The Adventures of Willy Beamish" is the big game they developed that this one resembles the most,
with several of the same designers and artists being responsible for Turbo Science.
"LOOK OUT! You're Surrounded By Science!!"
"It's in your skateboard. It's in your lunch."
"It's in that gooey stuff that collects on your Nintari powerpad..."
Ha ha, "Nintari."
I really need to play Willy Beamish again.
The chunky box of Turbo Science is stuffed full of beefy contents,
including the game on a trio of 3.5" diskettes,
leaflets for contacting Sierra Online,
a brochure introducing parents and teachers to the Sierra Discovery Series,
and a shockingly sparse quick reference sheet
that basically just tells you you're a moron if the sound isn't working.
Then you've got a booklet telling you how to play the game
and, to top it all off, there's a hefty Turbo Science Research Guide,
which isn't so much a manual as it is a guide.
For researching.
Contained within are 152 pages of scientific knowledge
presented in a friendly and inviting way that is not only fun to read
but is absolutely necessary to answering certain questions in the game.
It also contains one tasty-looking recipe for queso.
Or maybe I just put that there.
Turbo Science begins with the Sierra logo
and that always-likable Jeff Tunnell monster,
followed by a totally RADICAL and GNARLY animated intro screen.
[radical and gnarly MIDI electric guitar riff]
Ah, 1992.
I can taste the Ecto-Cooler and hear the Home Improvement theme song already.
[whoosh]
After this, you're greeted with the main menu
with the titular characters slapping each other around
vying for your attention.
Signing in is the first order of business,
as is choosing your difficulty from one of two choices,
which correspond to learning levels appropriate for fourth grade or eighth graders.
After this, you can choose to play a
[deep, soulful voice] "Practice Mode..."
which lets you take a stab at the main game without any consequences.
You're also given the option to check out the competition in the locker room,
and, man, I just freakin' love this art and animation style.
It's so reminiscent of so many games from my childhood that it just
makes me wanna sit around in spaceship pajamas and eat Pop Tarts all day.
But yeah, checking out this cast of characters is quite the thing.
Apparently, one of them is the Australian- born grand niece of Martin Luther King.
No word on if they mean Senior or Junior.
And the title characters' surnames are actually O'Ghandi.
Because even though they're extra-terrestrial space elves,
their family traces their origins to New Delhi, India.
I don't know how any of this works.
On to the main game itself,
which takes the form of checkpoint race across one of the most adventure-gamey looking maps I've ever seen.
Except that this is not an adventure game
and instead is a quiz game with point-and-click elements on the side.
This first location and each location you visit hereafter
is not only filled with fantastically psychedelic artwork,
but a variety of questions that need answering.
But while quiz games can be downright boring and are absolutely cliché in the world of edutainment,
the way they approach it in Turbo Science is a lot of fun!
So, back to that map screen.
Your goal here is to make it to the finish line before your opponents do, of course,
and there are multiple transportation methods to get there.
Each of them cost money
and the fastest ones cost the most money.
So answer as many questions as you can in each checkpoint
to grab those fat stacks and get out of there.
And the questions aren't horribly unforgiving, either.
If you get it wrong, you have a couple more shots to answer it,
at the loss of some time and money.
And each checkpoint has a unique theme going on,
from creepy castle laboratories
to pirate ships with Johnny Castaway cameos.
And with each theme comes a unique set of questions to answer,
mostly relating to physical science.
For example, on the beach here, you got dudes surfing waves,
the sun beaming down from above,
hot dogs being cooked,
animals making noise and helicopters flying by.
So this provides the opportunity to answer questions about electromagnetic energy,
thermodynamics, sound waves,
radiation and aerodynamic forces.
You're also provided an assortment of scientific measuring equipment
to help answer many of these questions,
the selection of which will change depending on the questions on offer.
And of course,
plenty of these questions can only be answered if you study the included research guide.
And, yeah, you can simply guess
and get them eventually for less money,
or maybe you're just awesome and know the answer already, which is fine.
But for the purpose this was designed for,
which is helping teach kids of a certain age
about physical science in an enjoyable and captivating way,
well I think Turbo Science excels in areas that few edutainment games can pull off.
A surprising amount of the answers require a legit understanding of these concepts at hand
and how to go about testing and measuring them in order to get the right answer.
Many other edutainment games simply require a rote memorization of facts and figures,
which is hardly any fun at all, even with a flashy UI and catchy music.
Well, thankfully, Turbo Science has all that stuff on top of a solid method
of helping kids learn new concepts and put them into practice in a safe environment.
And that would be awesome enough, but then you've got an impressive amount of dialogue,
cut scenes, animations and competition going on involving the AI characters.
Unfortunately, there is no recorded speech,
which makes sense, seeing as it's a floppy disk game,
but it makes up for that with excellent artwork and enjoyably funky AdLib music.
[enjoyably funky AdLib music]
The long and short of it is that Turbo Science is one of those rare edutainment titles
that takes something as ostensibly boring as pop quizzes
and twists it up into a package that's delightful to play, even as an adult.
Well, at least for a time.
I mean, it wears out its welcome pretty quickly after you've beaten the first set of opponents
and have to start replaying the same checkpoints over and over.
And a couple of them are painfully obnoxious to endure, even the first time around.
[goofy music and clowns laughing]
However, for kids, this is prime educational enjoyment
and it's one that I desperately wish I had when I was nine or ten years old.
I love the style, the gameplay, the music,
and I love that I own a copy.
Shame that it's not more readily available online these days, at least not yet,
but hopefully that'll change because "Quirky Queso's Turbo Science," or whatever,
it still holds up mighty well.
[gnarly/radical MIDI electric guitar riff]
And that is all for Edutainment Month 2016.
We'll see y'all next year for more of this.
And of course, there's way more coming in the near future.
All sorts of hardware, software, Tech Tales, Thrifts and things are planned, so stay tuned!
And as always, thank you very much for watching LGR.