Never has preparing for imminent

destruction been this much fun

Play Stop Disasters! at stopdisastersgame.org.

Showcasing some of the worst of Mother Nature’s fury, Stop Disasters! has five different scenarios to choose from. Take on the gale force winds of a hurricane or face the hell that is an earthquake. Its got huge potential with its catchy art and bag of knowledge. Tedium does creep in to the folds but the gameplay more than makes up for it. The predicament of preparing a city for a huge disaster should be overwhelming yet gameplay is kept simple with more than enough depth to challenge any gamer, young or old.

Funded by the UN International strategy for disaster Reduction or UNISDER, the game aims to teach young students about the importance of education and pre planning in order to prevent a crisis during a natural disaster. Spread out over 5 different scenarios, each level has the same goal; reduce the amount of infrastructure damage and loss of lives. With only a limited budget to work with, it's up to you to protect your city as best you can. Disguising learning with excellent gameplay, Stop Disasters! would be a great asset for any classroom, turning the learning process into a fun and exciting event, rather than a boring and mind numbing endeavor.

You can choose between 5 different scenarios including wildfire or flooding.

A good portion of the game is building homes and subsequently upgrading them to withstand the fast approaching shit storm. Upgrades change names from scenario to scenario but their use never changes, reducing the risk of all out destruction for any given home. Simple upgrades like raising the height of surge boxes to help during a flood, installing stoppers on septic tanks to keep them from over flowing, strengthening a house to keep it on it’s feet during an earthquake; it's all here. Not only do they work in-game, such simple fixes could easily be implemented in any house. By not limiting itself to just the general facts, Stop Disasters! manages to teach the player skills that could easily be applied to the real world. 

Some of the most obvious structures that can be built are defensive ones; barricades, walls, seismic sensors and other defenses are available. Don't be fooled however; added more for what feels like a sense of completeness, these defenses can be built on individual tiles yet seem to be completely useless. A wall of breakwaters, structures that are supposed to protect bays from large waves, get swept away with all the other boats during a tsunami. Large drainage ditches may keep its own tile dry during a flood but it seems to have little effect on the surrounding land.

You can even build trees during a hurricane for protection! How in the name of Chuck Norris is that going to help?! Lets just give more ammo to Mother Natures mini-gun! However, because of this, and the overall effectiveness of upgrades for individual homes, perhaps it is a subliminal message to the public that such defensive structures offer only limited protection. The best protection is for each individual to be informed and take their own steps to ensure their own safety.

On top of the this practical knowledge is a handy information tab, included with anything you can buy in the game, giving you a brief background as to the items pros and cons and its use in the real world. Quick and easy to read, its subtle touch to the game makes it seem like you're learning how to sharpen your gameplay rather than, heaven forbid, learn something new. Like Global Conflicts the learning and facts side of the game is cleverly woven into the gameplay itself. Using the real world facts to its advantage, it kills two birds with one stone; teaching you why the item is useful both in-game and in the real world.

Stop Disasters! sports simplistic yet effective graphics reminiscent of SimCity 2000.

Can you spot the hidden disaster in this image?

Most serious games treat learning as you would treat a toddler who won't eat their vegetables; they force feed it to the player. Playerthree, the developer of Stop Disasters! managed to make a great broccoli and melted cheese recipe for the kids. Add to it the catchy art style, reminiscent of SimCity 2000 with tons of variety between buildings, foliage that fits the area, as the game travels to Asia, Australia and others, and awesome weather effects and it becomes a meal worthy of the classiest of restaurants.

The game may feel a bit unmanageable at first but it's easy to learn. Instructions are straight forward and it only takes a few tries to understand how to play the game. This will turn into a marathon of clicking though. I was afraid I was going to cave my mouse in while clicking each individual house in order to upgrade it. Its a small gripe indeed but one that kept me from replaying the game over and over again. Stop Disasters! is a terrific game though and this slight tedium doesn't overshadow it's awesomeness in any major way. Like the games barricades, I added this simply for completeness.

I've got nothing but praise for Stop Disasters! Not only is it a challenging game to master, it disguises learning with fun, using the real world facts to shape its gameplay in a very clever and intuitive way. The slightly tedious nature of building in game may keep you from becoming completely addicted to it but its a great resource that could be used in any classroom. Truly, a rare find.

Review by Smith

score
  out of 5

Art: Reminiscent of SimCity 2000. Good variety between buildings keeps things interesting. Superb weather effects.

overall
4.3

Gameplay: Daunting task made easy to learn. Informational tabs don't detract from the gameplay. Can be a little tedious at times; defenses don't seem to do anything.

Design: Teaches real world facts disguised as gameplay hints. Give practical knowledge that can be easily applied.