Operation Neptune bills itself as a "deep-sea adventure that builds pre-algebra and problem-solving skills." As you scour the ocean floor in your submarine, you must answer messages from the surface ship or the onboard computer. Math problems are contained in these messages. For instance, the computer identified an obstacle 16 miles ahead -- if the sub is moving at 2 miles per hour, how long until it reaches the obstacle? Some problems involve number and computation; others focus on reading and interpreting graphs and ideas in measuring temperature, volume, area, perimeter, rates, distance and time -- content that is receiving increasing emphasis in schools today. All problems are set within the context of the game's story; they relate to topics such as the speed of the sub, the amount of food or water left, the ballast of the ship, the toxicity of the ocean, or the position of the sub.

However, the problems are not an integrated part of the game. The main action of the game is maneuvering the submarine around the ocean, avoiding sea creatures (which deplete your oxygen supply if touched), stunning those creatures with ink, and gathering capsules. If the light on the submarine suddenly starts blinking as you navigate the ocean maze, you are about to receive a "message." Your progress halts, and a math problem appears. You have a calculator and, in most cases, an unlimited amount of time to work on the math problems. Action in the game pauses until you are finished with a math problem (the fish that was on its way towards you will not "get you" while you're solving a problem).

There are four mathematical levels -- from problems that involve only whole numbers to those involving decimals, fractions and whole numbers. You can choose a level, or the game will start you at level 1 and increase in difficulty as you experience success. If you do not solve problems correctly, you get a hint; in some cases these hints may not be helpful. For instance, for the problem above, (an obstacle is 16 miles away, you're moving at 2 miles an hour, how long until you get there?) the computer offers the hint "Divide the distance by the speed." If you again enter an incorrect response, the computer will show you a solution ("16 / 2 = 8"), and you lose one unit of oxygen. Many children we observed solved this problem by reasoning about addition and multiplication -- a valid and sensible approach. ("If I'm going 2 miles per hour, then in one hour I will go two miles. In 2 hours I will go 4 miles, in 3 hours I will go 6 miles ... and in 8 hours I will go 16 miles. It will take 8 hours.") Advice to "divide the distance by the speed" is not likely to help someone who has made an error using this approach.

At the end of each sector (or level of the game) is a supply station. To enter and replenish your oxygen, you must find all the data capsules, and then open a combination lock. Many children found this puzzle difficult to decipher. They also found it difficult because, unlike the math problems in the rest of the game, it must be solved in a short amount of time.

Many 9 and 10 year olds had trouble interpreting the wording of the problems. For example: "Alert. Unidentified obstacle 16 miles ahead. Sub approaching at 2 MPH. Input hours to reach obstacle." Some children didn't know what MPH meant, and had difficulty understanding the goal of the problem, as stated in the final sentence.

Is the Game Equitable?

Many girls and boys told us the main reason they like this game was the context. They liked driving a submarine through the ocean "to look for things ... and you had to go through the ocean and I like water." Besides some NASA scientists in the introduction, there are no human characters other than narrators who tell the story and read the journal entries aloud. Once into the game, there is a friendly dolphin that replenishes your oxygen supply and a variety of fish (to be avoided). Although we saw many girls engaged with this game, some were turned off by the game's introduction, which spoke of space and had a military feel. Boys on the other hand told us they liked "how the introduction is about space and I kind of like space."

Operation Neptune contains many features that research shows appeals to boys, including time pressure (in the combination lock puzzle), challenging hand-eye coordination (using the arrow keys to direct the submarine around), and some violence, in the form of shooting without killing. The sub shoots ink pellets, paralyzing fish in a cloud of ink so you can swim over them safely. This feature particularly appealed to some boys ("when you shoot the ink pellets it sounds sick when you hit them so it's kind of funny"). Adults should consider whether they are comfortable with the shooting in this game before buying it.

Girls and boys both agreed that this was a game best played with a partner, and often mentioned the math as one reason. For example, "playing with a friend [is good] ... because ... for the math questions, some questions like I didn't know and he did and other questions I knew and he didn't." Another reason is the easy division of labor: one player shoots the ink pellets with the space bar while the other directs the submarine with the arrow keys.

Is the Game a Good Game?

In a seven-week study where children were free to choose among eight games, Operation Neptune was very popular with both girls and boys. Many children commented on the difficulty of the math. Whether this was a good thing ("It's hard. ... I like that it was hard" or "It wasn't too hard or too easy. Just perfect. Right in the middle.") or not ("I needed help on those, they were really hard for me," "[I would] make it easier by putting a fish only in every other [screen].") varied from child to child.

The workings of Operation Neptune can initially be somewhat difficult to master. It took some children a while to figure out that you can't touch the fish unless they're paralyzed in a cloud of ink. Many -- particularly those who did not yet know there was a limited supply of ink pellets and oxygen -- found it frustrating to have to begin a sector again once the oxygen supply was used up. These players would have been better off if they had paid closer attention to reading the "New Player Hints" that pop up periodically. However, persistence with Operation Neptune will fairly quickly establish its rules and patterns. This is also a negative -- with so many sectors and levels to finish to win the game, it can get quite boring and repetitive, even with the introduction of new kinds of fish and the disappearance of the oxygen-bearing dolphin. One girl said, "I recommend it if you like a lot of math and working and if you put a lot of time in it I think you'll like it, but I don't have a lot of patience. ... Finding the right thing, running out of oxygen, the problems, take a lot of time."