Top Ten Games that Teach You Something

[TNT]

Top 10 Tuesday: Top Ten Games that Teach You Something
Learn valuable skills before you go back to school with these games.
by IGN Staff
August 1, 2006 - Welcome to IGN's weekly countdown of the exceptional, fascinating, and absurd: something we like to call Top 10 Tuesday. Every week we'll feature the top ten games, characters, fashion statements or whatever else we can think of that in some way relates to gaming and its history. And just because it's called Top 10 Tuesday doesn't mean it's always going to be a list of the best -- we like to razz on stuff as much as praising it. From counting down the best consoles ever to revealing the worst use of fish heads in a videogame, this is where it's at.


Today's Top 10 is dedicated to all the students out there. We know that summer is still going strong, but school is right around the corner. Since the amount of free time that you'll have for your favorite pastime might be cut down because of homework, we wanted to give you all a helping hand when you return to those hallowed halls of learning

So we're going to take a look at ten games that teach you something. Regardless of what your parents or teachers might say, there are plenty of educational things to be found in video games, and we're here to instruct with ten titles that readily came to mind. Next time someone asks you why you're spending so much time playing instead of studying, tell them to relax and break out one of these ten examples as a way that gaming has made you a more educated individual.

10) Dance Dance Revolution Series



Some people say that Dance Dance Revolution is simply a fad or a rhythm game. Well, when the entire state of West Virginia, Caltech and Brandeis University decides to use DDR as a Physical Education class, it's evolved into a cultural phenomenon. While the debate on whether or not DDR will be able to teach the rhythmically impaired how to dance won't be settled here, it does appear to be a good aerobic exercise for players, which might help even the most sedentary gamer lose a few pounds.


9) Typing of the Dead



Quick and accurate typing is an important skill to have, but who wants to go through stale exercises on finger placement or drills of sentences when you can kill zombies with every key press? Typing of the Dead validated that the keyboard was mightier than the gun, using words like "synapse" and "ping-pong" to defeat the undead while testing your typing skill. It also included tutorials and mini-games to improve your speed, so while you were killing zombies and mutants, you were actually learning at the same time!


8) Guitar Hero



Are you ready to rock? Even if you aren't, you have to admire the strides that Guitar Hero made in gaming: it took a concept that everyone has thought about (being a rock star), melded a solid peripheral to it, and included songs that just about everyone likes. Think of it more like the study in musical appreciation of classic and modern rock.


7) Gran Turismo 4



Forget driver's education; all you need to know can be learned from Gran Turismo 4. Not only will the game drill you on the physics of racing a car, you'll learn the history and details of more than 700 vehicles from all over the world. We're talking everything from the first horseless carriages to the premiere tuned machines. Plus, budding mechanics will be able to tweak everything from gear ratios and suspension stiffness to the strength of your brakes.


6) Total War Series



Struggle and warfare has always been part of human history; when diplomacy has broken down, the resolution of conflicts has taken place on the battlefield. The Total War series has tried to capture the strategy and control of war with historically accurate scenarios, units and tactics. Whether it's fighting in feudal Japan, ancient Rome or through the Crusades in Europe, the Total War series has also given players options to correct the mistakes that some military leaders made throughout time with adept command of your troops. It's been said that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, but who says that you can't change it entirely?


5) The SimCity Franchise



Civic engineers aren't born: they're made, and there's no larger blueprint for these designers than the SimCity franchise. Will Wright's city building title proved that creating industrial and residential zones, building transportation and managing community taxes could actually be fun as well as educational (you never saw your city in the same way again after playing the game). Plus, you got your chance to respond to natural and unexplainable disasters, coming through as a hero from such things as floods, volcanoes and even Godzilla attacks.


4) Microsoft Flight Simulator Franchise



Still flying strong, Microsoft's Flight Simulator series has taught pilots and weekend aviators how to fly for more than 25 years. Thanks to the amount of detail and numerous add-ons produced for the titles, anyone can fly prop planes, Boeing 777s and other craft through real-world weather conditions and land at any one of more than 20,000 airports. So the next time a pilot and co-pilot get sick from eating fish, don't worry: you'll be able to land the plane safely thanks to this venerable simulator.


3) Civilization IV



Everyone thinks they can run the government better than the politicians in power right? Well, Civilization gives you that chance to prove your political prowess, building your own empire from scratch and shaping it into a global superpower. While you can conquer your neighbors, you can also attempt to influence the world's cultural or diplomatic advances, as well as launching humans into space. All the while, you discover other civic lessons such as technology advanced by research, the balance of industry and environmental impacts, and managing the needs of your citizens.


2) Resident Evil Series



Science can be a wonderful thing, but it can also be particularly dangerous in the hands of the wrong people. Take the Resident Evil series: it's proved that massive bio-tech organizations working with viruses can spawn viral zombie outbreaks. It's also educated dozens of players of what they'll need to do in such cases, such as gathering herbs and aerosol spray cans for health or to look for random puzzles to open doors. Survival skills like these can't be taught in school...


1) The Carmen Sandiego Franchise



Geography was a dull subject until Carmen Sandiego and her band of thieves came around. Somehow, they always managed to steal massive landmarks and cart them around the globe undetected. Plus, every time you thought you had Carmen, she'd always get away to another place of the globe, even escaping through time. The master thief even managed to steal her way onto television networks, educating kids while pocketing the goods of history.