Get ready for a really woolly math game! In Divide by Sheep, you must help flocks of sheep hop across islands and make it to a life raft. But you must have the correct number of sheep on the raft to earn a star (up to three stars in a level). But watch out because there are obstacles every step of the way that can dwindle your number of sheep, like smaller islands, hungry wolves, and even lasers that can cut your flock in half…literally! Divide by Sheep is a downloadable title for iOS devices and Steam (reviewed on iPad here).

Moving sheep from island to island is easy. Just touch the island that has sheep on it and swipe in the direction you want the sheep to go. But be careful. Some islands don’t have room for all the sheep, and some might fall in the water and drown. And if you combine two flocks together, they’ll make one big flock, which you may or may not want, depending on the level. Other obstacles include fences that keep you from hopping over them, TNT islands that explode after you hop from them, and trampolines that sort your sheep into two flocks and bounce them in different directions.

There are more advanced obstacles as well. Like wolves. You can make wolves hop around islands like sheep, and some levels you even have to save wolves as well as sheep. But if a wolf and a sheep end up on the same island together, the wolf will eat the sheep and get fat and you won’t be able to move him. So you’ll be out a sheep, a wolf, and a space on the island, so watch out! Other obstacles include lasers. If you make a sheep hop across those, they’ll be split in half. You can still make the halves hop around, and if two halves make it to a raft they’ll be a whole sheep again (duct taped and everything), so you’ve got some fractions to work with as well. With over a hundred mind-bending levels, expect to see more obstacles as well!

If you save the correct number of sheep or wolves in each level three times, you’ll earn three stars (two for two times, etc.). You can pass a level with only one star, but to unlock new worlds, you’ll need to have a certain number of stars, so you want to try to get as many as you can. The only problem I had with Divide by Sheep is that it gets pretty difficult, but then, I’m not very good at math anyway. Also, it would’ve been nice if they provided number equations to go along with the game, so you can see how your counts add up like how they would look in a math book. But I don’t know if that would be entirely possible. At any rate, Divide by Sheep is still a pretty creative math game for more advanced players.

Kid Factor:

Divide by Sheep is not for young kids for two reasons. One, the game has some dark humor and blood in it. When you make sheep hop across lasers, they’ll be cut in half, and they’ll leave blood stained marks on the islands. You can still make their bloody halves hop around, though, and if you lead these halves to the raft, they’ll duct tape themselves back together to make a whole sheep again. The other reason why this game isn’t for young kids is the higher level of difficulty and more advanced math concepts involved, like fractions. But honestly, that’s OK. There are plenty of math games out there for young kids that teach more basic concepts. It’s nice to see a game like this for older kids and teens, and even adults, that teaches math in a game as well.

Tags: Game Reviews