Reviews

Posted by: jkdmedia

While Brain Quest might seem like a children’s game on the outside, the depth of knowledge, variety of puzzles, and challenging questions definitely kept players on their toes while playing through the simply structured story.

Educational games are a dime a dozen these days. Everyone seems intent to jump on the informational entertainment bandwagon that only recently became a standard medium among casual video games. With this up rise of meaningful content also comes an increase in popularity among younger children and parents of those children. Luckily for those parents paying for those games, the quality of this genre is also on the up and up.

Brain Quest, presented by Electronic Arts, is set to storm the educational atmosphere with two new installments in video game form. One game is geared to test 3^rd and 4^th grade children, while the second game is aimed at 5^th and 6^th graders. EA’s main goal was to envelope the main concept of education interaction with a veil of storyline and cuteness. The title provides a very accurate description of what Brain Quest actually entails. The player will dive directly into the heart of the game, and begin to solve problems that a number of characters are having. Tutorials are very frequent, appearing at the beginning of each new puzzle encountered, with a friendly dog to describe how to solve each fresh puzzle.

Each puzzle utilizes the stylus to match, mark off, or rearrange different items on the touch screen to solve the given question. With over 6,000 questions per game, children will surely be entertained and challenged for a decent amount of play time. Categories such as Geography, English, and Math populate the quest interface in the forms of different grid locations.

To navigate through the different locations, the player must simply use the directional pad to scroll towards the desired area. Within each area there are a number of characters to interact with. After clicking on a character, he or she will present a problem. Typically these problems revolve around some type of animal that is native to the location on the map. At one point, I found myself trying ever so desperately to please a walrus and get him to quiet down for his trainer. Fortunately I was able to locate his prized possession and return it to him swiftly.

Puzzles range not only in the criteria being used to educate, but also in the way the puzzle is solved. At times, I had to “X” out a letter that did not fit into the word. Another time, I had to rearrange a series of words in alphabetical order. With the variety of puzzle types, paired with the number of questions included, the combinations seem nearly endless. Only a few times did I find myself questioning whether a specific question should actually be asked of a 3^rd or 4^th grader. One particular question asked me to put four sisters from “Little House on the Prairie” in order of appearance in the book. Questions like these made me feel as though I was on the T.V. show “Are you Smarter than a 5^th Grader?”

Most of the time, puzzles are engaged in sets of five, with a given requirement of questions to answer correctly in order to be successful. A timer also keeps track of how long it takes the player to answer the question, and will award points accordingly. These points can then be used to purchase simply accessories, which the user can place on different scenic backgrounds. Each accessory can be arranged and moved around whenever desired.

Button control and layout is kept as minimal and simplistic as possible. Most of the action takes place using the stylus, with the occasional usage of the directional pad as well. Menus are helpful, and the friendly dog seems to appear whenever needed. There are also a number of ways to play the game, besides the default quest mode. Brain mode is like a free-for-all where children can access any subject desired and compete as often as possible to challenge their mind further. Finally, a Sudoku game is also included, which is sure to stretch any player’s brain power thin with its number based puzzle woes.  

As for sound, the audio is what you’d expect from a game directed towards children. A constant stream of light-hearted, calming music is always playing. Accompanying each stylus press, a simple noise comes from the DS. Other than these few necessary audio stimulants, nothing else is truly worth noting.

There are minor differences between the two editions, but only one major difference. The level of difficulty used in the 5^th and 6^th grader version of Brain Quest is obviously going to be slightly more difficult than the 3^rd and 4^th grade version. The host of each respectable game is also different, as the younger version uses a dog to guide the player, and the version directed toward older kids uses a young boy named Marcos. Each quest mode also provides a slightly different atmosphere and background. The younger version uses a safari-like backdrop to entice the 3^rd and 4^th graders, while the 5^th and 6^th grade Brain Quest uses an urban vibe. Beyond these changes, neither game is really all that different from the other.

Beyond the strangely placed occasional question, these educational titles both proved to be solid in terms of game play and effectiveness. I found myself re-learning how to obtain remainders when dividing and remembering those obnoxious rules involved in English.

Gameplay: 7
While the gameplay is very simple and elementary, the controls are extremely easy to learn and require very little time to adapt to. I mean, what else would you want from a children’s game?

Graphics: 5
The graphics were not emphasized upon during Brain Quest’s creation, as the visual attraction is not the purpose of the games. The graphics are not gorgeous, but they function well.

Sound: 5
More audio stimulants could be utilized within the game itself, but the idle music constantly playing in the background works well enough.

Difficulty: Medium
Some of the questions are overly simple, even for the grade level the game is aimed towards. On the other hand, some questions seemed completely out of place, and made no sense in terms of the grade level I was playing at. Either way, Brain Quest should challenge any child playing at their education level.

Concept: 7
The Brain Quest games are not fresh in terms of concept, but utilize the Nintendo DS well. The storylines are fun and silly at the same time, although they could use a little more involvement.

Overall: 7
While the Brain Quest series does nothing in terms of pushing the educational genre, the games do everything when it comes to making an educational tool for children to enjoy and learn with. The controls are simple, the storyline is simple, and the questions are challenging for the selected grade level. Overall, Brain Quest should provide an ample means of entertaining your child while still increasing their knowledge.