Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs Brain - Review
In the mid 2000’s, if you wanted to play games on the go, your choice was either a Nintendo DS or, really bad mobile phone games and the DS, Nintendo started to create games that weren’t really games, so enter the Touch Generation of games. This is where the first Big Brain Academy started and while it did get a Wii sequel just a few years later, the series has been dormant ever since, so in the 14 years since, does a game like this still have relevance?
While it might initially seem like the child version of Brain Age, and they do share similar gameplay concepts, Big Brain Academy is different in that the challenges are more akin to picture tests, compared to the maths and grammar of the Age series. Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs Brain keeps that going, by offering up a few ways to play, but keeps the challenges fun and light, keeping your brain active, though with more of a visual focus. The game is split into two modes, solo and multiplayer and while multiplayer is big part of the game, we shall start with the solo experience first, as this is where you will most likely spend a chunk of your time. There are a few parts to the solo experience, there is the practice mode, which feels like its not really an accurate name, as well as the Ghost clash and big test mode.
Practice is where you can run through each of the games as often as you like, you will get categories like Identify, Visualise and so on and then within each, are games that are related to the subject. This allows you to spend time replaying a singular group of games, if you feel you are good at them, or you want to improve at them. The main theme here is completing the assigned objective, as quickly as you can and with as few mistakes as you can make, because a single mistake can be the difference between a great score and an ok one at the end. Games like Whack Match are just as its title suggests, whereas something like Reverse Retention does need some explaining, but the game does provide some instruction on each of the games, so you are not jumping in blind.
When you start a round, you will start with the beginner levels, meaning there might be two options or a low number of things to count, but the more successful you are with getting correct answers, the more difficulty gets presented to you, all the way up to Advanced and Elite classes. With each successful guess, you are given points, based upon how long it took you to answer them, but for each incorrect guess, you are docked points, all of it comes together at the end with your Brain Score. The higher your score is, the better medal you get at the end and depending on the colour and level of the medal, you will earn coins and they will let you unlock new outfits for your little person to wear. Once you feel comfortable with that, you can join either the Ghost Clash to test yourself against the ghost data of another player in the world, or the big test mode, where the game links one test, from each of the five categories together.
The problem with all three modes is that there is no pause and while the rounds are only sixty seconds long each, if you press the plus button, you quit out of the mode, no matter where you are in it. This was an issue for me, as I dropped out of a big test, halfway through the fourth round, all because my nose was itchy and I had to start all over again. The other concern that I have is that the game, at least when not docked, will sometimes ask you to choose between a button only input or a touch input for some specific titles, which isn’t a problem, except if it doesn’t ask, then it means you can use either at any point. One final gripe here is that some of the wording is very American, like spring forward, which makes sense for them, but it is not a phrase that is used in Australia, or if it is, I have never heard anyone use it. So, when the game asks you to spring forward 135 minutes, my brain first had to understand what they meant by that term.
Of course, one of the big additions for the game is testing yourself against other players, which is where the Party mode comes into play, though if you are thinking this is like Mario Party, think again. What makes this mode unique is that each player can set their own level of challenge, meaning that if you are playing against youngsters, you can have them set their skill level to sprout, while your Mensa self can go to Elite or beyond. The games that everyone undertakes are the same, but the difficulty is set for each player, which helps make younger players feel like they have a chance at winning, rather than always losing.
In a strange twist the way games are selected is kind of weird, first is that you can manually select the games you want to play, via the category selection, or you can spin the wheel. Where things get a little weird is if the game on the wheel is one nobody wants to play, you can just manually select, which just feels like a weird undercut to put into the game. That though is the most that you can impact the party mode, because there really isn’t anything else there to do and while you can vary the number of players, there is nothing else there.
As for the games presentation, everything has that chalkboard looking art style that the series was known for, which looks really nice on the Switch, but it was never going to tax the system. The load times are almost instantaneous, which is nice and even though it can take a bit of menu navigation to get into things, once you are in, there is nothing to worry about. The menu for how you customise your little person feels dated, like it was something I would have expected to see in MySims from the Wii days, but it does work, so I have to give it credit for that. Sound design is fine, though hearing Dr Lobe, the teacher who leads you through everything, speak with that broken gibberish sound, does get annoying at times.
Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs Brain is not going to be the game for everyone, purely because it aint really a game at all, however if you come into this, with the mindset that it will give you some daily tests to keep the old grey matter working, you will find some enjoyable tests. The problem is, outside of that, it is really shallow, sure character customisation is cute and all, but really doesn’t add anything in the long term. If you are looking for a way to test yourself or members of your family this is an option, but as Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training is also on Switch and that has Sudoku, that would be where I would look and while Big Brain Academy is a charming series, best to skip class this time.
The Score
6.5
Review code provided by Nintendo
The Pros
+The games are fun and can ramp up the challenge for those who want it
+Multiplayer is interesting, given the ability to set levels for each player…
The Cons
-… but apart from that, there really isn’t much else to do there
-That same sentiment carries across to the rest of the game, there isn’t much to do
