Sep 05, 2017 Free your mind by working through a number of simple yet deep problems. Big Brain Academy features 15 activities that test their brain powers in areas like logic, memory, math, and analysis. Big Brain Academy is a puzzle video game published and developed by Nintendo for the. Think (Logic-themed questions); Analyze (Reason-based questions); Compute (Math-themed questions); Identify (Visual-themed questions); Memorize.
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree is a difficult sort of title for a video game reviewer to approach. Okay, sure, it has many of the trappings of a traditional video game; medals for playing well, a multiplayer mode, it comes in a box on a disc that you put into a console, that sort of thing. But as part of Nintendo's 'Touch Generations' line-up, it's probably as uncomfortable with me using the term 'game' to describe it as I am.
The difference is, of course, is that Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree probably thinks of itself as 'lifestyle software,' I think of it as the digital equivalent of a dog-eared primary school maths book.Now, that might sound like an overly harsh appraisal, but look at it this way. You could probably have just as much fun with a maths or a basic IQ test book.
The tasks are roughly as hard, you can give yourself especially big ticks when you get questions right and you can even 'go multiplayer' by seeing who can answer a page of questions fastest and get the most answers right. What's so different, really?You see, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, a sequel of sorts to Big Brain Academy for Nintendo DS (which we gave a reservedly above-average review last year) joins its predecessor by lacking many of the crucial hooks that made Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! Such a resounding success and so distinctly different from your average school test. Multiplayer mode Mind Sprint. Little more than a race to the finish, but the most interesting multiplayer game by far.The first big problem with Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, and arguably the most important, is that there is a lack of a meaningful goal. Whereas Brain Age gave you a nice obvious target to shoot for (a brain that's so sprightly and youthful it could be mistaken for a 20 year-old's) The Big Brain Academy titles ask you to 'raise your brain's weight.' Patently a load of old nonsense.I can imagine, after weeks of working on my Brain Age, my synapses and neurons being so synappy and neuronic that they look years younger than my decrepit 26 year-old noggin's should.
What I can't imagine is that I'm suddenly lugging around over three kilograms of brain when just last week it weighed a third of that.But it's not just the message, but the delivery. While Brain Training had only nine games to play, most were a rounded challenge that you could spend quite a while mastering. In contrast, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, like its Nintendo DS sibling, offers fifteen simplistic mini-games in five categories: Identify, Memorise, Analyse, Compute and Visualise. When taking a test, you're expected to complete the three games in each category numerous times in a random order of difficulty.Due to the speed in which you're expected to complete the games, it actually feels a bit like a Wario Ware title; albeit one with a limited range of games and a genuine lack of character. Which of these has eight legs? Yes, this is an example of a 'challenging' question in Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree.
Speed seems to have the greatest effect on Brain weight, the questions are so simple.While oddball Professor Kawashima managed to make the concept of lowering your brain age a short, fun, daily activity, the nameless jelly bean tutor of Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree has almost nothing to say for himself, and pays no attention to the player's daily performance as the game lacks any calendar function.The fifteen games on offer are all new, but they're not distinct or individually interesting enough to make the title particularly valuable if you've already got the Nintendo DS title. Indeed, the title falls into all of the same traps that the original did. You can rush through the practice mode and get gold medals on each game within a couple of hours. You can test your brain's weight as many times as you like.
There are no interesting comparison graphs or ways to observe yours (or a friend's) progress.Once you've maxed out your brain's weight, there's simply no reason to keep playing. We tried, we really did, but to be honest, we gave up on trying to play the game in small, daily chunks as we just got bored of walking all the way over to our TV to swap the disc in if we were busy playing something else, a problem we couldn't have with the Nintendo DS title, living, as it does, snugly in a case with our Nintendo DS. Miis, milling around in the academy. This is all that they do. You can click on them for a reaction, but it's not exactly Super Mario 64's title screen, or anything.The things which are supposed to really differ the title from its Nintendo DS predecessor also fall somewhat short of the mark. While (yes!) your Miis are used in game, they add nothing of substance, only cluttering the halls of the 'Academy' and adorning the cover of your student records.The new multiplayer section, too, adds little. With only three different multiplayer games on offer and only one, Mind Sprint, offering simultaneous play (for only two players at a time) it's at best a momentary distraction.The title does use the Wii's WiiConnect24 functionality in an interesting way.
Much like the Mii channel, which allows you to set your Miis to roam to your friend's systems, you can set your student records to be painlessly transferred to any of your friends who happen to own Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree. The most excellent thing of all? You don't need to enter a second friend code to do it. We admit that you could play this with your granny, though.
But she'd probably just moan at you to put Wii Sports back in, really.Of course, there isn't a huge amount of reason to share your student records, but you can at least use traded student records play against an A.I. Version of your friends in Mind Sprint.
The closest comparison I can think of is (surprisingly) Virtua Fighter's system of A.I. Opponents, but (unsurprisingly) the battles you'll have in Mind Sprint don't have any of a Virtua Fighter title's depth.This lack of depth is endemic in Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree. We'll only agree with it that it's a piece of 'lifestyle software' if that term specifically means something utterly forgettable that's over and done with in a few hours.At best, this might have been a cute piece of original downloadable content on a system that sorely needs some. As a full price piece of software, it's genuinely worth less than forty quid's worth of dog-eared primary school maths books.5/10.
Big Brain Academy | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 |
Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
Director(s) | Tomoaki Yoshinobu |
Producer(s) | Hiroyuki Kimura |
Composer(s) | Kenta Nagata |
Platform(s) | Nintendo DS |
Release | Nintendo DS
|
Genre(s) | Puzzle, educational |
Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
Big Brain Academy[a] is a puzzlevideo game published and developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was first released in Japan on June 30, 2005, and was later released in North America on June 5, 2006, in Australia on July 5, 2006, and in Europe on July 7, 2006. The game was planned to be released in China for the iQue DS system, and even appeared in the system's trailer, but this release was cancelled for unknown reasons. It has been compared to Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!.[1] It is marketed under Nintendo's Touch! Generations brand.
A sequel, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, was released on the Wii in April 2007.
The TV advertisements for Big Brain Academy were not only to debut the game, but also the Nintendo DS Lite system itself.
It is also a board game.
Gameplay[edit]
In Big Brain Academy, tests are done in order to measure the player's brain's mass. The heavier the brain, the smarter the brain is or the better its reaction time. There is no single game mechanism to Big Brain Academy; as it is an assortment of puzzles with no one puzzle having greater priority than the other. There are three modes of play: Test mode, Practice mode, and Versus mode.
Test mode[edit]
Test mode consists of a formal test containing five puzzles, with one puzzle taken at random from each of the five categories to determine the player's brain mass.
After the test, the player is given a letter grade. Dr. Lobe (the 'headmaster' of Big Brain Academy) also assesses what areas the player needs to improve in and what ranking they would be. Professions include museum curator, librarian, astronaut, investor, fashion stylist, diplomat, cave man, Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, politician, poet, banker, doctor, musician, etc.
There are five different categories of tests with three activities per category. The categories are (followed by their activities):
- Think (Logic-themed questions)
- Analyze (Reason-based questions)
- Compute (Math-themed questions)
- Identify (Visual-themed questions)
- Memorize (Memory-based questions)
Practice mode[edit]
Practice mode allows the player to select which specific activity he or she wants to do in order to train their brain. The activities available for play are the same as those available in Test mode. Each activity has three levels of difficulty, and the player can earn either a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum medal for achieving a certain brain mass on each difficulty level. A mass of 50 grams is required for a bronze medal, 150 grams for silver, and 250 for gold. The mass required for a platinum medal differs for each difficulty level of each activity, however the exact mass required for each platinum medal is not specified in the game.
Versus mode[edit]
In Versus mode, players can compete to determine who has the heaviest brain. Anywhere from 1 to 7 players can join a hosting player, whether or not they themselves have a copy of the game.
Reception[edit]
As of March 31, 2008, Big Brain Academy had sold 5.01 million copies worldwide.[2] It received a 'Double Platinum' sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[3] indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[4]
Notes[edit]
- ^Known in Japan as Soft Head Academy (やわらかあたま塾, Yawaraka Atama Juku)
See also[edit]
- Brain Age and Brain Age 2
References[edit]
- ^Harris, Craig (June 2, 2006). 'Big Brain Academy'. IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
- ^'Financial Results Briefing for the Fiscal Year Ended March 2008: Supplementary Information'(PDF). Nintendo. 2008-04-25. p. 6. Archived(PDF) from the original on 10 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
- ^'ELSPA Sales Awards: Double Platinum'. Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association. Archived from the original on May 20, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
- ^Caoili, Eric (November 26, 2008). 'ELSPA: Wii Fit, Mario Kart Reach Diamond Status In UK'. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017.
External links[edit]
- Big Brain Academy on Nintendo.com
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