Review: Big Brain Academy for Wii (Wii)

Big Brain Academy for Wii is the first title Nintendo have released for the console under the hugely successful "Touch Generations" label. As such it is being marketed toward a wider and more mature audience, and it carries a lower price than other Wii titles. The game’s predecessor on the DS was always in the shadow of "Dr Kawashima's Brain Training", which sold more copies, and is seen as the title that created the world’s fascination with brain training games. It's a strange genre of game that you will either love or hate. It's not educational, as such, and yet will not satisfy the gaming needs of most Wii owners. One thing that is clear is that there is a market for these titles, and the phenomenal success of Brain Training has been a key factor in the success of the DS. With no sign of the Doctor making an appearance on the Wii, can Big Brain Academy establish itself as a system-selling title, and attract the gamers to the console that Nintendo hopes it will?

Big Brain Academy for Wii is a very simple game. It is presented as such, with uncomplicated but striking visuals, and the games are well thought out but not extravagant. The premise of the academy is maintained throughout, with a player's record being kept as a student file, and the menus appear as doors in the virtual campus. A player is represented by their Mii, and during navigation of the menus, any Miis that are stored on the Wii can be seen walking through the halls in a cell-shaded form. It's a nice touch, and although the novelty wears off pretty quickly, it does reiterate the importance Nintendo places on the Miis. Each person who plays the game must already have a Mii created on the console in a similar fashion to Wii Sports or Wii Play.

The Wii version of Big Brain Academy closely follows the format that was used on the DS. There are fifteen mini games designed to give your grey matter a workout, divided into five categories. Although the games themselves are different, the categories, and therefore the nature of the games remain. All of these categories are self-explanatory; you will be asked to study the pictures on screen and visualise an answer (Visualise), solve problems as fast as possible (Identify), remember and repeat sequences (Memorise), interpret information to produce a solution (Analyse), and study numerical data to find the solution (Compute). If this sounds more like work than play, the games are presented in an entertaining style, and are simple to understand. The Wii Remote is only used as a pointer, and it's not a game about gimmicks. The solution to each game is either one option of a multiple choice, or it involves interacting with the game as it plays. Examples include working out what a photo depicts as it comes into focus, counting coloured balls as they get thrown into a basket, or bursting numbered balloons in reverse numerical order. The games may not appear too taxing, but there are four levels of difficulty to get to grips with, and to get a reasonable score on the highest level is no mean feat.

The single-player aspect of Big Brain Academy comes in two parts; the test and practice. The test is a random mixture of the mini games in each of the five categories, and very time you take the test, the game's main character (a blob-come-hand-puppet that goes by the name of "Dr. Lobe") will rate your performance. The score you obtain in Big Brain Academy is apparently equivalent to your brain mass. For each question you answer correctly, the part of your brain that you used to solve that question will be allocated a weight. The faster you answer the question, the heavier the piece of brain is. At the end of the test, your brain will be weighed by the good doctor, and you are given a rating. The results of the test are saved so that you can monitor your progress each time that you play the game, by way of a series of graphs and charts. In the practice mode you can play each of the fifteen games individually, on each of the four difficulty levels. In the same format as the main test, your brain gets weighed at the end of each session, and you get awarded a different medallion depending on how well the practice went. The idea is to try and get as many platinum medallions as you can, which should help improve your test score. This adds some replay value, and the hardest difficulty level can only be unlocked by obtaining the highest medal. Big Brain Academy for Wii also utilises WiiConnect24, meaning that if you have exchanged Wii codes with a friend, you can send them your statistics. It's not a great feature, but it does mean that you have some incentive to improve your scores, if only to be able to boast to your friends.

Whereas the single-player game offers limited entertainment, the multi-player portion of the game is a far more enjoyable experience. The title is being marketed as a party game, and with the Wii’s focus on families playing together, Big Brain Academy offers three different ways to play the mini games in a group situation. Up to eight people can play at any one time, using one or two Remotes. The games include "Mind Sprint" (a head-to-head race where victory goes to the person who answers a set amount of questions first), "Mental Marathon" (a co-operative game where people take turns in attempt to correctly answers as many questions as possible), and "Brain Quiz" (players take turns to select random challenges, getting points for the amount of challenges they complete). The four levels of difficulty mean that players from all ages and experience levels can compete, and the three ways to play together offer a decent amount of variety. The idea of competing in contests of intelligence may not appeal to some, but the mini games are generally entertaining and do enough to make playing them exciting and engaging. The Mind Sprint is the best offering, and the spilt-screen action soon becomes frantic as the race progresses. This game could easily be a hit at family gatherings, and the simple controls and the basic nature of mini games are key factors. It's accessible and fun; two very important features of any party game.

Big Brain Academy for Wii is a game for the casual gamer. It is part of Nintendo's continuing strategy to attract more mature gamers to the Wii, and promote family gaming. It doesn't try to hide this fact and Nintendo's intentions are clear. That shouldn't stop anyone from buying this title, however, as it offers a decent distraction, and it is rewarding to see your scores increase over time. Although the jury may be out on whether playing each game actually benefits your mental ability, they offer enough of a challenge to make you think there is. The single-player game lacks longevity, and having more than fifteen mini games would have helped negate this. The multiplayer experience, however, is entertaining and will get people interested in playing the console. The game is priced at under £20.00, which is fair considering that there are other party game titles which don't offer as much enjoyment, and cost twice the amount.

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Chris Thornton