Climate Mission is a free Nokia-published game with a green message behind it. It has players recycling, planting trees and controlling hordes of ants with the aim of teaching us a thing or two about climate change and the environment. But don't let that put you off. It's one of the most enjoyable free Ovi Store games we've played for a while. Read on to find out why.
Climate Change has been available for free on the Ovi Store for a few months now. But if like us, you find yourself stumbling across it, don't let its green theme stop you from downloading it. It's so much more than an interactive lecture on climate change.
Using your phones touchscreen skills, Climate Mission features four different types of games (Stone Mulching, Ant Mania, Recycling, and Trees) across 20 varied levels to increase eco awareness. These games will have you recycling, guiding ants, gathering white rock and planting trees.
Recycling is the first we played. The aim is to drag waste using your finger to sort it into groups to reach the goal displayed in the top right hand corner. It works just like those games where you have to match same amounts of colours in a row to score points, but with recyclable materials such as aluminium cans, paper and apples.
Once you group five or more items, they'll start flashing, signalling to you that they're ready to recycle. Tap them to score points to reach your goal. Controlling is done by swiping across or down the rows of items to sort them into groups. It's great fun, but be quick. Take too long and the recycler will fill up and end your game.You'll learn something too. Did you know that recycling an aluminium can saves 95 per cent of energy?
Another game, called Ant Mania involves drawing and guiding ants to collect plant matter to bring back to their nest within the allotted time. It's a simple game of collecting things. Ants are apparently good at cleaning up forests from biomaterial in order to reduce carbon emissions from leaking into the atmosphere. Eco issues aside, Ant Mania could also be a separate game in itself.
Earlier levels are a little straightforward, but later levels see you navigating rocks and avoiding water to notch up as high a score as possible to represent more of a challenge. Watching the array of ants scurry around with the needles they have to collect is an unexpected pleasure - their realistic looking movement makes it as fascinating to watch as the real-life critters.
Stone Mulching has players place white rocks onto a field. It's a method used in India to protect crops from heat and heavy rain. As a game it's not the most challenging, but is a nice diversion from the more taxing recycling, as is Trees, where players must shoot seeds onto a designated target in a game about saving forests from deforestation.
Climate Mission might only contain the above four minigames, but with varying difficulties and level variations we'd have forgiven Nokia for packaging each as its own individual title.
We're equally pleased with Climate Mission's presentation and graphics. Booting the game up, it makes its eco credentials clear from the off, before bringing up a world map scattered with levels to play and unlock. And with lots of helpful, clear menus explaining how to play, displaying eco trivia and more Climate Mission offers an intuitive user experience: flitting between levels is a wind turbine-powered breeze.
Overall, Climate Mission is a rarity - an educational game that is genuinely fun to play. Despite the eco theme it never feels preachy. And with four different game types spanning across 20 levels there's plenty of variety and challenges to keep Nok gamers occupied. As free Ovi Store games go, Climate Mission comes highly recommended.
Check out our Climate Mission Photo Gallery below:
