Math Patrol: The Kleptoid Threat

Overview

Math Patrol: The Kleptoid Threat is an educational shooter developed by GXB Interactive and published by Tomy for Game Boy Advance.

Players are recruits in Math Patrol, a futuristic military space squad. Their goal is to defeat the Kleptiod aliens invading Earth's solar system.

The game comes with a currently inactive GXB Rewards program. Players were encouraged to create a user ID on GXB Interactive's website. If they used it when they start their game, they could have received codes to exchange merchandise. The GXB ID exchange also unlocked players' progress reports and supplementary practices on the company's website.

Main Story

In the game's main story mode, players move at each planet in stages. They start at Pluto and finish at Earth. Each planet has a set of missions which are a set of designated math problems like adding North American coins, telling the time and simple multiplication, division, addition and subtraction equations. One math subject is covered for every mission.

Missions themselves may have players pilot their spaceship to face enemies or control a miniature avatar to defend a base. The goal for each stage is to search and shoot down the correct answer to the current problem with the A button.

Incorrect answers do not directly penalize players during spaceship missions, but it makes the mission longer; if a mission is too long, the spaceship's fuel supply will run dry and end in defeat for the player. Missing the correct answer during base defense missions lowers the base's defenses. Certain missions include special bosses that require multiple shots to destroy.

Difficulty is determined by the percentage of correct answers players achieve. Normal is the standard; Hard is 60%~80% and Pro is 90%~100%. Enemies will be faster and more aggressive on harder difficulty settings. Math problems vary in their difficulty.

Missions that are cleared reward Credits and Stars to players. Credits behave like North American currency. A maximum three Stars can be earned from any mission.

Credits are needed to be exchanged for new lasers, thrusters and shields for the player's spaceship at the Math Patrol Command Posts. Before the player purchases a part, they will be quizzed on how their purchase will affect their current Credit amount. Getting the subtraction question wrong will negate the purchase. Players will not lose any Credits but will need to try again.

Stars chart the player's progress and unlock additional missions. They are required to take the Rank Test for a military promotion. Rank Tests permit passage to other planets and the rights to purchase advanced ship models if they are completed successfully. Math subjects during these tests are based on the player's recorded progress in multiple math subjects.

Outside of missions, select planets offer the optional Galactic Quiz to earn Credits. These quizzes cover multiple math subjects and are simple word problems with multiple choice answers. Players can optimize the amount of Credits they can earn by betting everything they have earned onto one question.

Practice

Players can practice the mission mini-games any time from the main menu screen. The mini-game type, math subject and difficulty level of the questions and enemies can be manually altered to players' preferences.

Side Fighter		Side-scrolling shooting segments. Players have to dodge obstacles and keep their ship fueled. Press B to activate shields.
Explorer		Top-down shooter. Search for the correct answer and shoot it down. Press B to activate shields.
Base Defense		Move the fighter left or right. Press up and down to target and shoot the asteroid marked with the right answer.
Quiz		Multiple choice word problems. Select the right answer from four options.

Math Subjects

• Math Facts - Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems. The maximum limit for all equations is the hundreds.
• Money - Add cents. 0.25 cents to $1.
• Time - Tell the time using an analogue clock. Skips by hours,
• Vocabulary - Shape identification, even and odd numbers, and 3D shapes.
• Fractions - Proper fractions. Adding and subtracting proper fractions.

Players can check their progress for every mini-game they complete in the View Results screen.