I don’t know what it is, why do we
feel compelled to play these brain-style games that make us feel like we
aren’t exercising our brains enough? Trust me, after helping children do
homework, balancing the checkbook, reading a book on statistics, making dinner
and then playing my prerequisite game of online poker, the last thing I need
to be doing is playing a brain game. But since it’s my job and I kinda like a
challenge, I figured, why not. I mean, I practically ripped through Brain Age,
destroyed Puzzle Quest and ate a bowl of Frosted Flakes in like, two minutes,
I figured how difficult could another brain/puzzle style game be, should be no
problem, right? Well, that’s the problem, there was no problem.
"I got it, right?"
Brain Assist makes no qualms about
it – this is a game that drives straight for the right side of the brain.
Relying on colors and shapes to exercise the brain is fine with the series of
10 different mini-games, but then things get kind of strange. There are four
sister/nurses who appear and kind of direct you and cheer you on as you work
towards getting the right side of your brain healthy, these nurses do nothing
really for the game, they are too cutesy to be hot anime babes and too silly
to provide any sort of clever wit. Every once in a while a fifth nurse named
Eva shows up and lays down the law with harder challenges (moves you up to the
next levels).
Now the game has you picking
differences between pictures that may or may not have differences, counting
numbers or finding letters in order when different sizes and colors try and
befuddle you, finding the same picture amidst a sea of pictures and other
right-brained ideas. The graphics are pretty colorful and fit the game the way
it should, but that just really means the game is almost kid-designed in mind
and with lots of bright colors. I did, however, appreciate the music, which
I could see becoming annoying after a while. An upbeat-almost-disco feel that
worked well with the game and visuals.
Back to the game, it is
disappointing in how it relays how you did during the tests. Initially there
is a scoring system when you first are evaluated, but then things just sort of
fall apart. As you progress, you are left feeling like you don’t know how well
you are improving or not improving. You do play each game until you make three
mistakes, so there is the idea of challenging yourself and all that stuff, but
it is as if the game sort of drops the ball on how your progress is calculated
and maintained. I kept expecting to be told that I needed to work on "X" or
that I was slipping in "Y," but that never happened so I felt sort of robbed
in my brain-game experience. I guess I was expecting more smarts in my
brain-assist game.
"I’m an idiot."
Now one of the games more
endearing qualities is the fact it has single-card download play. By playing
against others you can have some good-natured fun with the competition showing
who has the healthier right brain. It is basically a round-robin style of play
with the same challenges being presented to the (up to four) players and a
winner being determined by the scores at the end. I liked this because we have
such a healthy competition when it comes to puzzle style games in the David
household.
Not much else here, the game is
what it is. It could have been a bit deeper, It could have had additional
puzzles, but for a brain game it isn’t too bad. There are better brain-style
games out there, and there are certainly worse. I almost would say this is a
game that is more for a 11-14 year old kid.
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Gameplay: 7.0
Simple, easy, nothing too
challenging.
Graphics: 6.7
They are very simple, yet colorful
and "pop;" I couldn’t help but think this was almost a Saturday morning
cartoon brain game.
Sound: 6.0
While entirely appropriate, it can
get annoying after a while.
Difficulty: Easy
Concept: 6.0
Nothing new, some clever ideas,
but nothing ground breaking.
Multiplayer: 7.0
The game gets some legs with the multiplayer aspect, with the right
person, there is some additional enjoyment found in there.
Overall: 6.4
Like I said, this is a pretty
simple brain game and certainly nothing new for the genre. If you don’t have a
brain game then this isn’t a bad start; if you have other games in this vein,
you may not need to pop this into your system.
