Food Force (Windows, Mac)

FOOD FORCE gives kids ages 8 to 13 a better understanding of how relief organizations operate. Produced by the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP), Food Force is a free Internet download at www.food-force.com. Kids join a crack team of emergency aid workers racing to save the fictitious island of Sheylan from starvation caused by drought and civil war. The team goes on six missions to help save Sheylan, each beginning with a briefing by an emergency aid character.

Kids play a hands-on game to score enough points to complete each mission. For example, in the first mission, kids pilot a helicopter by using the computer mouse, earning points by locating refugees. The additional missions cleverly use games to demonstrate how emergency aid teams acquire food, make food packs, deliver food, and establish long-term food supplies.

When kids complete all six missions, they can upload their cumulative score to an international database found on the Food Force Web site. The site also provides information about how kids can help fight hunger, and it allows them to explore more about the work of the WFP. Teachers will find lesson plans that incorporate the game.

Food Force effectively reaches tweens and teens with 3-D graphics and characters that resemble those in popular commercial titles. By using video gaming to create a dynamic learning environment, kids feel as if they're a part of the team who saved Sheylan. The WFP's free video game helps to bring closer to home the problem of world hunger, which often is thousands of miles away.