~~ I'm ADDICTED: Big Brain Academy for the DS ~~

Author's Rating:

Pros: Fun, addicting, thinking game

Cons: Can get frustrating

The Bottom Line: 
Big Brain Academy for the DS is fun and addicting. It is a thinking type of game and will offer many hours of fun.

Author's Review
I love Big Brain Academy!

My Experience
Big Brain Academy (BBA) for the DS has been extremely addicting!

To start, you must first create a profile. Each person has their own profile so they can collect medals and also keep track of their high score.

Modes
There are three modes: Practice, Test, and Versus. The Versus mode allows you to play the game -- a battle of wits -- against another DS player. Versus is a fun mode, especially when there are multiple players. However, I don't often get a chance to play the Versus mode.

The Practice mode allows one to hone in on the skills where as the Test mode is a 5 minute test of each skill.

Practice Mode
In the Practice mode, you can play each category to refine your thinking skills for each of the games. The categories include: Think, Memorize, Analyze, Compute, and Identify. Within each category are three separate games.

The breakdown in terms of games in each category is as follows:
- Think: Heavyweight, Pathfinder, Bone Yard
- Memorize: Sound Bites, Flash Memory, Memo-random
- Analyze: Missing Link, CubeGame, Animal Lines
- Compute: Coin-parison, Add Agency, Written Math
- Identify: Shadow Shift, Get in Shape, and Matchmaker

Test Mode
Taking the test is a bit nerve-wracking, especially if you are shooting for a higher and higher score and grade. The test covers all five categories: Think, Memorize, Analyze, Compute, and Identify. It randomly chooses one game from each category for the test. Each game is 60 seconds long. After taking the test, the Professor will give you your score, which is your "brain weight" and assigns a score to your brain weight (C+, C-, C, B+, etc).

Graphics
The graphics of Big Brain Academy are simple, cute cartoon-like drawings. The graphics aren't fancy. The Professor is a simplistic "blob" who doesn't have legs, has one arm, wears a strange hat, and has eye glasses. It looks quite strange and a quirky sense of humor when it "talks" to you (typed out in a dialogue bubble. When you solve the problem correctly, there is a green check mark, when it is incorrect, there is a red X.

Sound
Like the graphics, the sounds to the game are very simplistic. They consist of chimes and short ditties. The sounds are simple and quirky but add a nice effect to the game.

Play-ability
The Big Brain Academy for the DS is very addicting. There is a learning curve for some of the games in the categories, particularly the ones in the "Think" category. It has taken me a while to "get" how to play some of them without relying a bit on guessing and luck. I love that there are options to practice and also to take the test. During my recent travels, I have been playing Big Brain Academy while in the plane and it is quite engrossing and makes the flight go by quickly.

Currently, I have the brain-size of 1624 grams and a grade of "A-". It took me a long time to work from a C- brain to an A- brain. I am trying to beat my husband's current "Ace" status. What can happen is that the game can get quite frustrating to get higher scores or to get platinum medals in each game category.

I do like that the games are short and thus can be played in spurts. The longest is the test, which is five minutes long.

Overall Thoughts
Big Brain Academy for the DS is fun and addicting. It is a thinking type of game and will offer many hours of fun.

Thanks for reading!
Pooks
Copyright 2007