I am hoping in the future to teach History and/or U.S. Government at my monastery’s high school, Cleveland Benedictine, so online games that teach students about those subjects are of great interest to me.  I decided to explore in greater depth the games of Mission US and found the game “For Crown or Colony?” to have many worthwhile attributes.  The game is advertised as appropriate for middle school and high school students.  I will admit upfront that being fun to play is not one of this game’s more prominent features.  There is nothing to shoot at, nor are there humorous names, jokes, or amusing sounds.  However, the animation is of high quality, and the player has many opportunities to earn awards, to complete tasks, and to make decisions about where his character will go, what he will do, and whom he will see.  The game is a series of quests that eventually involve the character in a major American historical turning point, the Boston Massacre, and the events that led up to that calamity.

One of the best things about this game is its learning content, familiarizing students with colonial American terminology.  “For Crown or Colony?” gives the player the opportunity to click on terms with which he or she may not already be familiar, such as “pennywhistle,” “Townshend Acts,” “Redcoats,” and “Daughters of Liberty,” and a definition of the term is provided.  The player has choices for his or her character about how and when to complete tasks, and he or she may choose from menus about how to respond to other characters, such as Paul Revere, other Sons of Liberty, and those persons loyal to the English crown, while traversing through the streets, shops, and homes of colonial Boston, which are colorfully displayed.

A couple of possible drawbacks for this game are that it is not multi-player and that it may take an hour or two to complete.  However, the game has several parts or chapters that students may exit from and return to as time permits.  A student may complete one or two sections at one sitting and return later, or may decide to complete the entire game in one session.  This game may be especially appropriate for students who do not respond well to textbook and lecture explanations about the origins of the American Revolution, including learning disabled students, as well as enhancing learning from material encountered in those other formats.  This game is academically sound in my opinion and allows students to read about and make direct choices about how they and their character interpret the controversial issues that give rise to the American Revolution.

The game is easy to play with gradual learning through academic content offered throughout each game session.  Allowing students to guide the actions of an 18^th century Bostonian through role playing is engaging, but a limitation is that only one character, a young printer’s apprentice named Nat Wheeler, is offered to players.  Some more choices among gender, ethnicity, and occupation of the primary character would help some students to connect more fully to the game experience by being better able to inhabit the character.  Nevertheless, all players can bring their own lived experiences, personal qualities, and cultural values to bear on the decisions they make for the character.  Though “For Crown or Colony?” does not permit much in the way of character design or customization, the actions he takes are determined to a large extent by the player as agent.  The game is well-ordered, allowing the player to pick up and return to differing situations as necessary but proceeding to an historical climax, the Boston Massacre.

I would recommend this game either as an enjoyable homework assignment for one or two nights, or within the classroom I would have students play separate chapters of the game on several consecutive days in 20-minute blocks of time as an enjoyable learning experience to augment other learning formats and methods.