Kerbal Space Program

February 21, 2013 by Adam in Adam's Games

This isn't actually my game - Sam had me buy it for him with his game money bank.  Still, I spent the first day he got it looking over his shoulder as he assembled rockets and tried to launch the little Kerbals into space.  It's essentially a sandbox space simulator, which lets you create rockets, space stations, and landers.  Each part you add to your rocket has drag, weight, and various functions. 

It took us a good hour to get into orbit, and we've crash landed on the moon a couple times after great effort.  At this point we're attempting to get an actual lander on the surface of the moon, though already our solar system is scattered with aborted attempts, flung off to orbit the sun.

Some of the failures are wonderfully spectacular, exploding dramatically or spinning out of control.  The game nicely displays the faces of the Kerbal astronauts, either cheerfully smiling as they successfully get into space or going wide-eyed as their spacecraft flies out of control into the ocean.

Sam's also learning orbital dynamics, getting a feel for increasing his orbit by doing burns at the right moment in the right direction.  I love it when games accidentally teach him things.

Dad - this is one I'd highly recommend for you.  You'd enjoy it immensely.