Brain Boost: Beta Wave
Posted December 4, 2006
Using video games as an educational tool is nothing new. I can recall playing titles like Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and Math Blaster as a child, which means they have been around for at least 20 years. What is relatively new is the concept of games that serve to sharpen the mind rather than merely educate it. The addictive Brain Age enjoyed well-deserved popularity for its ability to provide a fun mental workout. In its wake, the market has seen quite a few similar games pop up with the word brain in their name. Some of these stand on their own and some are rather sad imitations that fall far short of their predecessors. Brain Boost Beta Wave falls into the latter category.
Gameplay:
As previously stated, games like Brain Boost Beta Wave are not designed to educate, but to stimulate one's cognitive abilities. Still, it's kind of funny that a game that is supposed to make the player smarter begins with the line 'On a distant star, there is a doctor that researches robots.'
Brain Boost Beta Wave, much to its detriment, actually tries to engage the player by presenting a plot. Apparently, a robot named Dennis has lost his thinking cap and is now wearing a pasta bowl from a nearby planet on his head. To help his robot friend out, a little spaceman named Mickey travels to the planet to find the thinking cap. Basically, winning the cap back requires completing five puzzles on four levels of increasing difficulty.
The plot really makes the game feel as if it was designed for children in their earlier years of elementary school. If the puzzles were actually engaging, this could probably be forgiven. Unfortunately, the puzzles are too simple and repetitive to capture an adult's attention for very long. At the same time, they tend to be difficult enough that most children within the age range of the target audience will also be too young to progress very far in the game.
All of the games require the player to assess a situation and provide an answer within a short time frame. Find a Match consists of picking two matching items out of a group. Shape Recognition shows a large image on the left of the bottom screen and requires the player to select which of four options is identical to it. Addition consists of finding the sum of anywhere from five to twelve single-digit numbers. Remember Sequence asks the player to recall the order in which a number of pictures are shown. Moving Dots requires the counting of a bunch of, well, moving dots.
If the games sound boring, it's because they are. In comparison, Brain Age actually made its games fun and offered incentives to improving one's skills by offering unlockable content and tracking a player's progress over time. Brain Boost Beta Wave offers none of that and seems to expect players to want to play out of the belief that doing so will make them smarter. The instruction booklet claims that it takes three months of daily play to witness any results. Unfortunately, the game offers such an uninteresting experience that most players would consider it a feat to still be playing after three weeks.
Graphics:
The graphics to Brain Boost Beta Wave are at the low end of serviceable. The characters and animation are simple, but they fail to take anything away from the game.
Audio:
The audio also falls under the low end of serviceable. For what the game is trying to accomplish, the simple music and sound effects work just fine. The audio neither adds to nor diminishes the game.
Conclusion:
For all I know, Brain Boost Beta Wave could turn people into super-geniuses if they played it every day for the recommended three months. If that is the case, I hope they come out with a new version that is enjoyable enough to let people play it without it feeling like an unbearable chore. In the meantime, other mental workout games are available that offer a far superior and more engaging experience. Furthermore, if someone is merely looking for some short mini-games to play from time to time, titles like New Super Mario Bros. and Mario 64 DS offer a greater variety and quality of mini-games as bonus material than Brain Boost Beta Wave serves up as its main course.
Gameplay:
As previously stated, games like Brain Boost Beta Wave are not designed to educate, but to stimulate one's cognitive abilities. Still, it's kind of funny that a game that is supposed to make the player smarter begins with the line 'On a distant star, there is a doctor that researches robots.'
Brain Boost Beta Wave, much to its detriment, actually tries to engage the player by presenting a plot. Apparently, a robot named Dennis has lost his thinking cap and is now wearing a pasta bowl from a nearby planet on his head. To help his robot friend out, a little spaceman named Mickey travels to the planet to find the thinking cap. Basically, winning the cap back requires completing five puzzles on four levels of increasing difficulty.
The plot really makes the game feel as if it was designed for children in their earlier years of elementary school. If the puzzles were actually engaging, this could probably be forgiven. Unfortunately, the puzzles are too simple and repetitive to capture an adult's attention for very long. At the same time, they tend to be difficult enough that most children within the age range of the target audience will also be too young to progress very far in the game.
All of the games require the player to assess a situation and provide an answer within a short time frame. Find a Match consists of picking two matching items out of a group. Shape Recognition shows a large image on the left of the bottom screen and requires the player to select which of four options is identical to it. Addition consists of finding the sum of anywhere from five to twelve single-digit numbers. Remember Sequence asks the player to recall the order in which a number of pictures are shown. Moving Dots requires the counting of a bunch of, well, moving dots.
If the games sound boring, it's because they are. In comparison, Brain Age actually made its games fun and offered incentives to improving one's skills by offering unlockable content and tracking a player's progress over time. Brain Boost Beta Wave offers none of that and seems to expect players to want to play out of the belief that doing so will make them smarter. The instruction booklet claims that it takes three months of daily play to witness any results. Unfortunately, the game offers such an uninteresting experience that most players would consider it a feat to still be playing after three weeks.
Graphics:
The graphics to Brain Boost Beta Wave are at the low end of serviceable. The characters and animation are simple, but they fail to take anything away from the game.
Audio:
The audio also falls under the low end of serviceable. For what the game is trying to accomplish, the simple music and sound effects work just fine. The audio neither adds to nor diminishes the game.
Conclusion:
For all I know, Brain Boost Beta Wave could turn people into super-geniuses if they played it every day for the recommended three months. If that is the case, I hope they come out with a new version that is enjoyable enough to let people play it without it feeling like an unbearable chore. In the meantime, other mental workout games are available that offer a far superior and more engaging experience. Furthermore, if someone is merely looking for some short mini-games to play from time to time, titles like New Super Mario Bros. and Mario 64 DS offer a greater variety and quality of mini-games as bonus material than Brain Boost Beta Wave serves up as its main course.