Game Review: Ben's Game

I just played a game designed for kids with cancer called Ben's Game. It's a neat skateboard style shooter. In the game, players skate around shooting cancer cells with a choice of 4 weapons collected while avoiding a monster that spits puke or rashes at you. At the end of each of the seven levels, players collect a shield rewarding them for defeating the monster and healing every cancer cell on the level. In the level you must manage 3 meters for health, medicine and attitude which can be replenished by skating into one of the three corners of the room. The players skating skill is tested by avoiding electric barriers that reduce health. However after the player defeats the monster, the life meters stay at maximum so you can use the same barriers to perform tricks. The game supports two players and allows players to pick from a diversity of characters.

I was going to write up how the game needed more ramping between the levels and varied enemy patterns, but then I focused in on what was unique about the game. It was designed by a kid. It gives us a view into how kids play. Kids like a mix of goal-oriented and free play. At the end of each level of Ben's Game, the rules are removed so the player can simply skate around the board. At the end of a level most games just eject the player. Games presume incorrectly that just because the goal is met, play is over. Play for the sake a play is an important message that Ben's Game shares. For a nice discussion of different types of play read about Paidea and Ludus on ludology.org