The Alphabet Rally

Learning with video games can be fun and enjoyable, but it’s not always the most practical thing. Although they come in handy for non-English speakers to learn the language, it’s difficult to convince gamers to do math or anything like that. Even so, a lot can be learned from puzzle games that challenge your creativity and critical thinking.

The Alphabet Rally is a racing game in which your goal is to drive a car and pick up the letters of the alphabet in the correct order. The whole thing takes place on a small and closed map, and the letters are randomly spread across the terrain. Naturally, there’s no actual simulation when it comes to car handling or the physics engine, but then again this is meant to be educational, not realistic.

You can choose between two vehicles when you start playing, although there are no differences when it comes to handling, speed, or anything technical. However, they look pretty different, which might help you avoid boredom for a while longer. Unfortunately, there is only one map, and it gets old really fast, especially if you replay the game a couple of times.

The only thing that changes every round is the placement of the letters, because everything is randomized whenever you start a new game. Sometimes this can lead to a few problems, such as overlapping letters, but you can quickly reset the whole thing and hopefully get rid of the problem. It would be nice to see more game modes or some kind of bonuses for finishing the race in a certain time, but nothing happens regardless of how fast you go.

It’s quite difficult to go quickly as well, mainly because the physics engine is more or less absent entirely. Thus, the vehicles react horribly to your input, and you cannot use intuition or common sense to steer them around. Even the graphics are pretty basic, but at least they are colorful and enjoyable enough not to be a bother.

All things considered, The Alphabet Rally comes in handy when you want to keep your children busy and help them learn something at the same time. However, everyone else is going to find the game very boring and repetitive.