Welcome to VC Weekly, N-Europe’s guide to the wonderful world of Nintendo’s download service. Written by Sam C Gittins

If you've ever wanted to by a game for your brain, then look no further, if not then check back next edition for some proper game reviews as #VCWeek continues. Anyway enough from me and on with the game!
 
Available for download this week we have...     

Big Brain Academy



Price: GB £6.29, EU €6.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Released: 2006
System: DS
 
I'll be one of the first to admit that I purchased the original Brain Training when it was a fresh, original concept but ever since I've never really felt the desire to go back to these kinds of titles, thus whike Big Brain Academy is a valid piece of software with more of an instant appeal than the Brain Training titles; it's still never going to be something which has a massive impact on you but then again, it's not really supposed to. This is part of the "Touch! Generations" branding of software which it could be argued that over the course of these kinds of games being released on both the Nintendo DS and Wii consoles they are at least partially responsible for how popular software like this has become, albeit now more so on other devices, for this reason I've never really been a huge fan of them personally being more of a dedicated gamer but I can see that they have their place as they do at least serve some sort of purpose plus at least they sold well enough.

By measuring your intellect from how "heavy" your brain is - replacing the age from previous titles - the seemingly scribbled, crudely animated Dr. Lobe will attempt to work out how you think, amusingly there is nothing terribly scientific about any of this it just seems to go by some rather standardised research to reach a conclusion in direct contrast to the Dr. Kawashima way of thinking who will probably be remembered at least by the gaming community for that nicely rendered polygonal face if nothing else. So how does it all work then? Well you just get scribbling numbers, drawing things like animals which usually show little resemblance on the touch screen while trying to appear as if you're attempting to work out some sort of difficult puzzle, then the software does the rest.

Each of the challenges will fall into one of five different catergories which include; Analyse which checks if you're looking out for detail within the visuals, Compute where it's all about the numbers, Identify seems to be about telling differences between things, Memorise obviously checks if you can remember things and finally Think which logically is all about logic. If you wish to have your "head checked" as it were, then you'll need to take a test where you have a minute to perform well at one of the software's many puzzles, then Dr. Lobe will take a look at how you did so he can provide you with a mind-map of sorts which points out where you're doing well or where you aren't in addition to giving you a random label which describes the nature of your mind apparently; you can also opt to practice your favourite puzzles if you so desire.



Featuring some nice, cleanly presented puzzles which stand out well on each screen plus some rather amusing animations contained within, it might not be the most detailed game on the system but it certainly comes across well no matter how you choose to display it on the gamepad and/or TV screen. Audio is more of a subtle element, often offering some sort of ambience or just some strange sound effects, it's not terrible but then you aren't really playing this for the soundtrack being that this is merely functional software.

So if you feel like seeing how your brain works then this piece of software might just be for you, obviously the multiplayer mode is lacking though to be fair something like this has always felt like more of a solitary experience unless you feel like passing the gamepad around for someone else to have a go. There is space for this on the Virtual Console but really I feel that this would have been better distributed for free or even a reduced price because it's not something that anyone should feel particularly motivated to part with even just over six pounds for even though this is a slightly lower price point due to it not really being a game, buy it if you really want but there are better things to spend your virtual currency on.   

Verdict : Not particularly big or clever, simply functional.

That's it for another installment of VC Weekly which will return again soon. So until then, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!