Thanks to Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day we all know how old our brains are. Now, Big Brain Academy gives us a peek inside our skulls to tell us how much our gray matter weighs. Those wary that this quick DS follow-up is more of the same need not worry. Big Brain Academy is a different (and in some ways superior) take on edutainment with a whole new set of activities and a completely different approach to flexing that muscle inside your noggin.
The Doctor is Out There
According to the faculty of Big Brain Academy the chubbier your brain is, the better. Well, when we say faculty we're talking about the game's host, Dr. Lobe -- a one-armed, blob-thing with a walrus mustache and a mortar board hat. This bizarre prof weighs brains through a series of five tests, each focusing on a different mental faculty. Once all five quizzes are complete brain weight is calculated (in metric of course, smartypants) and then the thinker is awarded with a final grade. The overall goal of the game is to score an “A” weight brain – which is no easy task.
Practice Makes Pudgy
There are 15 activities in all, three in each of five categories. Unlike Brain Age, there's nothing to unlock and no calendar to track your progress. Practice mode gives access to all of the activities and lets you practice each at three difficulty levels. The wonky hand writing and voice recognition of Brain Age are on permanent sabbatical -- simple tapping and line drawing is all there is to these mini-games. “Animal Lines” is a word search-style puzzle that asks you to trace through a row of creatures hidden in a larger grid. “Coin-parison” tosses two piles of pocket change out and asks you to pick the one with the larger cash value. This one's sure to be popular with the pan-handling crowd.
At first these puzzles seem deceptively simple, but as you progress through the game they get progressively harder. Paired with the time limit and demerits for wrong answers, the level of challenge is quite high. Scoring big in practice mode earns medals. Gold medals aren't too touch to score, but this level of achievement isn't enough to ace Dr. Lobe's final exam. To earn the coveted “A” grade, it's best to shoot for the secret “Platinum” medals. It's at this level that hardcore gamers are going to find the kind of challenge that they may have found lacking in Brain Age.
When Animals Taunt
Big Brain Academy is pretty spare in the art department. Apart from Dr. Lobe, the only other characters are the menagerie of animals, people and objects that pop up in the different activities. Animation on these characters is rudimentary, like the smile that cracks on a cartoon chimp's face or the opening and closing of a ladybug's mouth. But sometime that's all it takes to inject the little beasts with a little personality. When the clock is ticking on a particularly tough quiz it can seem like the little buggers are taunting you and your scrawny brain.
Report Card
It's easy to get wrapped up in Big Brain Academy's curriculum. The activities are challenging and numerous enough to keep those interested in building brain mass engaged. Platinum practice medals and the coveted “A” brain grade deliver the kind of rewards that goal-oriented gamers crave. There's also a reasonably fun wireless mutliplayer that allows up to eight players to compete with one cartridge. And let's not forget Dr. Lobe. Though odd, he's still a tad less creepy than the floating, digitized Max Headroom version Ryuta Kawashima from Brain Age. It's not far out to score Big Brain Academy slightly higher than its predecessor, mostly because the game contains none of the maddening verbal and writing input issues. Still, a perfect score isn't in the cards for Big Brain Academy – it's a solid, but ultimately lightweight game with an appropriate value price.
Article By: Gus Mastrapa
Video Produced By: Leila Strachan
