Brain Cell (http://www.desq.co.uk/braincell/braincell.htm) is a short but engaging puzzle of a game with 3D graphics and sound. It’s a room escape game with a science-fiction atmosphere and has been made by DESQ, an organization devoted to the development of Web-based and digital learning projects. You can read more about Brain Cell here.
It works well as an interactive reader, and can be given to learners either for homework, or as an activity for them to do in the computer room. If you give this to the learners for homework, then copy and print out the whole story below.
If you use this with learners in the computer room, then copy the sections entitled ‘Story’ below and print them out on different pieces of paper. Give the first one to the learners to set the scene.
I suggest writing the titles of each part of the story/game on the board and tell the learners to ask for the parts they need (i.e. when they get to that part) As they complete the puzzles, you can give them the next parts of the reading text, until they finish the game.
It should take about 20-30 minutes for them to do. Back in the classroom, you can focus on the language used in the actual story – there’s a lot of vocabulary and grammar there that is worth examining.
As a follow-up, you can ask them to write the background of the story (what happened before they arrived at the ship) and the next part (what happened after the game) .
STORY
Beginning:
Ugh! Where am I? how did I get here? It looks like the cargo bay of a spaceship. Now I remember – we answered a distress call from a trading ship called the ‘Avalon Star’, but nobody answered when we tried to make contact with the crew.
I remember me and my partner entering the spaceship. We had to cut our way in through the emergency air-lock. It was so strange inside – no sign of anyone. Where were the people? We started moving down the empty corridors of the ship, heading for the bridge. Then my partner, who was behind me cried out. I turned around and it all went black.
And now it looks like I’m alone in this cargo bay. Looks like the door to the cargo hold is locked – access denied! Let’s explore and see if I can find my way out of here.
Cryo Tubes 1
What are those things over there? Cryogenic tubes? That’s where the crew members would sleep if they were going into deep space. All but one are open, so the crew definitely awoke. Hmmm…one seems to be locked. And there’s no power either – very strange!
Computer Navigation 1
The computer navigation system is broken – that explains why the ship is drifting, I suppose. If the ship’s navigation system had a malfunction on the way to wherever it was going, then that would explain why the crew were woken up. But where are they? I know there must be at least one of them on the ship – or I wouldn’t have been hit on the head. At least, I suppose it was a member of the crew that hit me…
Security Console 1
This could be the key to me getting out of this room – it obviously controls the security in this room, and maybe the whole ship. so, I need to find a disc in order to activate it. That might be the trick. but where should I look?
Engineering Bay
Aha! This looks promising. Let me see – there are a number of revolving rectangles, and a pulsing blue circle. What happens if I press the space bar now? It seems as if the rectangles turn blue if I press the right ones and they reset to transparent if I press a wrong one. The key then is to press the right ones in the right order- I can change which lever is selected by moving the left and right arrows. I think the power will come on again if I manage to solve this puzzle.
Cryo tubes 2
Now the power’s on – let me see if I can work out the code to open this cryo tube. It seems that this involves turning all of the 8 lights to be ‘on’. Hmmm…if I can get all the lights to go out I can switch all the lights to the on position by simply clicking the middle. Let me try this sequence to see if it works….1, 2,2,3,2,2,3,2,1…Nice…and what’s inside? A computer data disc? Now where can I use that?
Computer Navigation /Security Console 2
Well, this is working OK now. And it seems like that data disc I found fits here. Rock n’ roll! Now what’s this? It looks like another puzzle. I think I’ve seen this before. If I remember well, the object of is to get the solid blinking square to the X square without touching any of the walls. The other squares are blockades which will keep you from touching the walls, and which will also help you get to the goal. The arrows tell me which way the square will move (so I’ll have to pay attention to the highlights).
The Door
Wow! That’s great…it looks like the door’s finally open . Now to find my partner and figure out what happened on this ship and who put me in here.
Walkthrough adapted from jayisgames.com
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