Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree

So, I've fiddled around with Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree for a few nights now. I am moderately impressed. The "min-games" were rather intuitive and slightly amusing. I am a fan of, what I like to call the "creepy faced kid" game. Essentially, a rainbow coalition of kids with creepy faces runs by the screen -- some have fangs, some look constipated, others with hippie stars in their hair and on their cheeks. You just have to remember what you've seen. Given how creepy the children I found it can be difficult to get the images out of your mind.

Like the other Big Brain Academy there were five main categories with three "mini-games" in each category. Each "mini-game" then has varying levels of difficulty and I would suspect an "Expert" mode that can be unlocked. (You randomly get the expert mode in some of the multi-player games.)

The control with the Wiimote is simple (unlike other games *cough* Marvel Ultimate Alliance *cough*). It uses a simply point and shoot feel. But I would have liked to have seen more variance in the way the Wiimote was used. It has so much potential for use (ala Wario Ware: Smooth Moves) and is truly one of the selling points of the Wii. Indeed, if you were not going to make full use of the Wiimote I question why you would put the game onto the Wii in the first place other than to allow multi-player.

None of the min-games felt overly difficult or hard. I am also not sure what the "replay" value of the game would be over time. I can see the same handful of games becoming rather monotonous. (Especially since in the one-player mode all you do is play the same 15 games over and over again on progressively harder levels with the goal of finishing them in a shorter amount of time.)

I also played the multi-player mode with some friends the other night. I enjoyed that more than the single-player. You can run a "marathon" where each person completes a certain number of games before handing the Wiimote off to the next player on the team. The mini-games that each side faces are different, however, and I think this can lead to unfair disadvantages based simply on randomization. (Some games just take longer to go through the necessary "intro" before you can complete them. i.e. watching people skate while being asked to memorize their face.) Further, I think if one player is more experienced with the way the Wii works -- i.e. just pointing and clicking -- it can also unbalance the game.

My biggest critique of the game was that there was too much talking. I hate having to cycle through pointless babble from the "host" character. Here, the host character is an amorphous blob who looks something like snot strand with a face. But apparently he is super smart. Whenever you start the game you have to cycle through multiple text bubbles as he greets you, tells you he is so happy to see you again, and then makes your Wiimote say something to you. It is all rather irritating. But the true irritation comes when you want to "enroll."

To play multi-player you cannot simply grab people from your Mii catalogue. Rather you have to individually enroll each Mii into the academy if you want them to be accessible during the game. So, when you have five-people over to play mini-games, it can take up to 20-minutes just to enroll everyone because you have to cycle through so much text just to get them added. I suspect that whatever smarts I gained from playing the mini-games I lost by being subjected to so much mind-numbering blabber from my snot streamed professor.

Overall I'd give the game a B-.

Do you have what it takes to beat me?

Games! Yes, I love strategy games. I am a game junkie. (Ask anyone). I can't get enough. I could play them until my eyes bleed (and then a few hours more).

So, I have found a new "mini-game" on the www.mightandmagic.com web page promoting the new Might and Magic V game. (They actually have a version for the Mac too! Woot!) Come check it out. Make an army. Challenge me to a duel. (My SN is Talith).

It is easy to play and uses a Rock-Paper-Scissors type strategy with the different troop types. And the more rounds you win the more money you have to buy better troops. So, click the banner below.