Although Big Brain Academy for the DS was overshadowed by Brain Age, it was still a fun little game and for $20, the price was just right.
What’s up with Nintendo charging full price for the Wii versions of DS games? First Cooking Mama and now Big Brain Academy?
Needless to say, we rented this from Gamefly. Like I said, the DS version was $20 worth of fun, but I had my doubts about whether or not it was $50 worth of fun.
To make a long story short, I just might be wrong about that. Big Brain Academy is the best party game on the Wii. In the interest of full disclosure, I have not played Mario Party 8, but come on, it’s Mario Party 8. Been there, done that.
As you may or may not recall, BBA attempts to help players improve their cognitive abilities by offering strengthening exercises in five different disciplines: computation, identification, memorization, analyzation, and visualization.
Each discipline has three activities, which is the same number of activities offered in the DS version. Also, all of the games in the Wii version are new except for one repeat game.
Getting Started
The first thing that you have to do when you begin to play BBA is to register by enrolling a Mii of your choosing into the academy. I found this to be a very nice touch because, like many people, I have a Mii that looks just like me.
After registering, you can choose to go to Solo or Group Activities.
Solo Play
There are two things you can do in solo play. You can practice for the test and you can take the test. When you take the test, you will be assessed in each of the five disciplines and then assigned a grade based on your performance.
While it certainly takes some mental dexterity to do well on the test, the exercises are really fun minigames. It is a pleasant surprise that counting, categorizing, and comparing are so enjoyable!
My favorite game is the "Speed Sorting". This analytical game shows four pictures and a category like "Has a tail". The object of the game is to quickly choose the picture(s) that fit the category. The category changes with every question, and in the hardest modes, they try to get sneaky with categories like "Fourth Largest".
Other notable games are "Balloon Burst", which has players popping balloons in ascending order. This is easy-peasy until they throw in the negative numbers. It also doesn’t help that the balloons are different sizes, bobbing around the screen, and rotating. "Species Spotlight" has players determining which type of animals there are the most of in an interspecies group by using the Wiimote like a flashlight. Finally, "Train Turn" has players choosing the correct position in which to place the train tracks. The catch is that you have to think from the train’s perspective.
As I have already mentioned, there are fifteen total games- three in each of the five disciplines. I have listed some of my personal favorites. Each individual player is certainly going to have a unique perspective on which games they enjoy and which ones are just plain awful. I can’t stand "Covered Cages". This classic shell game has players following birds in covered cages. My husband excels at the game, but I can’t follow more than two birds- and two birds is offered on the easiest level!
Even if you are very good at a particular game, practice mode still has something to offer. Players can earn medals for good scores in the practice mode and very good scores can even yield unlockables, like an expert mode.
Group Play
This is a bit misleading. While this is certainly the place to go for multiplayer action, a single player can also enjoy what group play has to offer.
There are three multiplayer games, the most notable of which is "Brain Quiz". In this game, a Jeopardy-like board is presented with pictures of the various games. They even have new games that are not available in the regular game. Players take turns selecting the games and then seeing how many they can get right. But be careful - you don’t know what difficulty level you are going to get until after you select the game. Also, some games have hidden score doublers, and others have the dreaded expert level of difficulty! This can be played with a group, with the winner being the person who has the highest total number of correct responses. This can also be played with a single player trying to reach a personal best.
In "Mind Sprint", players race each other or a single player can race against their own record of that of another player. You can even send and receive records to your friends, though we’re still waiting for our friends to get their copy, so I can’t comment on the effectiveness of this feature. I will say, however, that this seems to be a step in the right direction for online play.
"Mental Marathon" has players seeing how many questions they can answer correctly before the time runs out.
Everything is bright, colorful, and fun in this game. The success of this game is directly reliant on the graphics. This is a very visual game, and you will not be disappointed by the graphical presentation. The game uses the graphics as part of many of the games; for example, you will be selecting the animated sequence that is different from the others and you will be identifying a picture as it comes into focus. The graphics are not very complex, but their simplicity works advantageously.
The music and the sound effects also add to the fun quiz show/party game atmosphere of the game.
The control scheme utilizes the Wiimote and its motion detection system well. It takes a bit of coordination, and more than one time, I highlighted the correct answer only to have the Wiimote slip and select another answer choice by the time I buzzed in. It is definitely fun for the whole family to point the Wiimote at the television to make choices instead of using a regular controller. One thing to note- many of the multiplayer games only require one Wiimote unless it is a head-to-head matchup. Some people might find it annoying to constantly pass the Wiimote back and forth, but this probably very useful for people who only have one Wiimote.
Also, we have a new baby, and I am often holding her when we are waiting for her last feeding before she goes to bed for the night. I love that I only need one hand to play the game and still do really well. I can hold my baby on one arm and still get a full game experience with the other.
And this also has broader appeal as well. Even people who don’t normally like video games can enjoy Big Brain Academy. The games are fun, easy to learn, and you can play with one hand!
On that note, this is a great game for children. There is absolutely no objectionable content, and the games are all educational. This is definitely a great family title.
I highly recommend Big Brain Academy. After an initial rental from Gamefly, we decided to keep the game. We play "Brain Quiz" every night, and we are working on unlocking expert mode in the practice mode games. I am looking forward to sending files back and forth with friends and continuing to use this as a party game when we have company over.
