Mega Brain Boost
Score: 84% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Majesco Developer: Interchannel-Holon Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Edutainment/ Family/ Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: The next time someone pipes up to equate videogames with all the collective ills of children and society, point them to Mega Brain Boost or a game of its kind. Ask them to kindly explain how a game based on the learning theories of Makoto Shichida - a man that appears to be dedicated to helping advance the science of children's educational development - can do anything but good in the world. Surely there must be a counterbalance between games we can all agree do nothing positive and redeeming for society (think Postal or other similar claptrap) and this fine piece of eduware. If Mega Brain Boost looks and sounds familiar it's because you've seen it before in the previous installments, Brain Boost Beta Wave and Brain Boost Gamma Wave. A third group of exercises rounds out the total offering, making Mega Brain Boost a "3-in-1" compilation. This is nice for fans of either (or both) of the earlier games, since they'll have new content in addition to the Brain Boost "greatest hits." For folks new to the whole franchise, the visual style of Mega Brain Boost is more scaled back than some of its competitors. Screen real estate is filled but there isn't a premium on flashy graphics or touch-screen interaction to a large degree. Things like drawing, painting, turning the DS on its side, or using the microphone, aren't here. I don't mind the more static approach since it puts more focus on the on-screen action. Sometimes all the manipulation of the DS in other games can feel more like antics than a useful feature.
Gameplay: I won't insult the increased intelligence of you Brain Boost Beta Wave and Brain Boost Gamma Wave fans by recapping the entire contents of both games. The short story is that Brain Boost Gamma Wave focused on building problem-solving skills and improving perception. Brain Boost Beta Wave was intended to address concentration. Think of those beta waves as similar to the engine of your car, where improved combustion increases power. The gamma waves would be akin to the suspension and power-train, helping convert that raw energy into street-level performance. The third series of additional exercises are variations on some of the same themes but with different mechanics. Multiplayer is a nice feature to have in a game that might feel too insulated otherwise. Matching scores against a friend is just good fun, but also allows you to turn the whole brain development exercise into something fun. The game is designed in such a way that you'll feel like you're competing against yourself based on previous scores and achievements. Each time you launch a challenge, you'll see the level you previously reached, stated in terms of how well you managed to develop your right-brain, as a percentage. Unless you just got lucky, which is unlikely, you have to try and beat your score and obtain a higher percentage of brain development. Sample activities include matching colors, numbers, memorizing both, shape recognition, detail memory, counting, addition, and pattern memory/recognition. You'll work through answering a series of questions with the goal of beating a specific score under the clock. Do well and the Professor cheers you on. Do poorly and he'll give you some reassuring remarks. He's such a nice guy...
Difficulty: Contrary to what your perception may be about "brain games," it isn't about smarts, anymore than school is about smarts. Some people will have natural tendencies and excel in one or more of these exercises. I noticed weird things after playing for a while, such as being able to rock out with counting money/change while failing miserably on adding a series of numbers under ten. Addition was never really my thing, honestly, but why should it be easier to add by increments of 5, 10, and 25 rather than low numbers like 2, 4, and 8? The brain is a funny thing. It is possible to dwell on many of the exercises more than necessary. The advanced levels in each "mini-lesson" are really more about reacting than actually counting or dwelling on details. The point is that if you train your brain at the lower levels, it will serve you well without a lot of necessary delay for thinking and figuring. Mega Brain Boost includes a nice feature that scales difficulty automatically according to how well you do answering questions. If you flub a question, you won't get a harder one the next time. It's easy to be a victim of your own success then, since answering questions correctly will only result in being asked tougher questions. The word "boost" in the title makes Mega Brain Boost sound like some kind of energy drink... don't be fooled; there is a lot of hard work contained in here.
Game Mechanics: I mentioned earlier that the extent of fancy mechanics for Mega Brain Boost is tapping and touching. If you were enamored of games that included nifty touch devices like writing or drawing, you may be disappointed. The extent to which all that is necessary is challenged by Mega Brain Boost, since it eschews all the fluff and sticks to solid content. Every game utilizes the touch-screen control for tapping to select objects. You'll spend plenty of time stabbing at the lower screen while watching for clues or reactions on the top screen. The downside of not having a more creative use of the screen real estate is that Mega Brain Boost can feel a bit repetitive. Among the games included in this collection, you'll find plenty of variety. Sure, there are a few that simply vary on a theme, but it still feels fun. All the controls are responsive and the prompts on the screen make it easy to tell right away what you're required to do in order to drive up your score. It would have been nice to see more interesting use of the touch-screen controls for some pushing, sliding, or other mechanics. All the same, there is plenty of entertainment here in a neat package that is tailor made for the DS. The entertainment value of a training game is hard to quantify. Do we really just have an artifact of the same movement that is pushing kids to read when they're two and speak a foreign language at five? Is there some bolstering of the overachiever syndrome as kids play this game and feel like they're becoming smarter and better prepared for life than their counterparts? What's scarier, the kids or the parents believing that... All the brainpower in the world never prevented someone from being a dork, having clogged arteries, or being lonely. At the end of the day, kids need social engagement as much as they need healthy, right-brain development. Training for the brain is a great pastime and it sure is better than eating sugary cereals or reading sappy teen romance novels. Whether this is revolutionary gaming or just an indicator of society's obsession with making kids faster, smarter, and stronger remains to be seen. I'm not smart enough to weigh in yet on these hefty issues; I'm just trying to count how many little colored balls are bouncing around on my DS screen...
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
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