Review; Encleverment Experiment

What to know
There is a professor. He’s performing an experiment.
Ok, so there’s more to it than that – but you get the idea. Professor Ivor Question wants you to take part in his experiment and he wants to “enclever” you. This isn’t your typical “brain game” as it’s more of a mini-game circus that could easily get you addicted. The real question will be for how long. I’ve been looking into brain games lately, mainly for the fact that as I get older I’m getting more forgetful. I’m not really sure with the content that Encleverment Experiment provides that my memory will get better, but I am sure it will be fun trying. There are very cute Mascots that you must purchase using the in-game currency called Noodles. They will stand by and “Rawr” you to victory. This game has full avatar support, use of the vision cam and…
The big button controllers! I’m so glad I could pull these out of my trunk again. No game store would take them back and I’ve been done playing the game they came with for months. It’s really nice to see developers utilizing the ability to make use of this old hardware.

Gameplay
Encleverment targets four types of brain activity; reaction time (big button controller helps this), memory, pattern recognition and mathematics. In the Take-A-Test mode there are five rounds and you can track your “encleverment” over time. I enjoyed the Game Show mode the most where you take on 15 different characters. If you buzz in first you get the most points and if you buzz in second, your points are plunged by 40. This can be made up as the very last round is a “score stealer”. If you answer first and are correct, you can steal 100 of your opponents points. This can turn a close game around very fast. The finest feature is the ability to make your own home-made game with an editor. You can choose which tests you would like to take (up to 30) and even take it online to get a 1 up on your opponent.

Playing with friends
The multiplayer is where this game really takes off. Two to four people can go head to head in battle over Xbox LIVE. With Local (1-4) and LIVE play it’s easy to jump into the fun. The online has the standard options including Playing with your friends, Quick Match and Custom Match with the ability to have private slots. The only option is the Game Show round which is exactly like Take-A-Test except that you are going against other players. You can use your custom Home-made game online as well, but so can your opponents. I’d suggest hosting the game to use your own.

Amusements
“Pick an option, they don’t bite” is one of my favorite sayings from the professor. When you are in the options screen he will say many things to get you to pick your game. When the said something about “Encleverment Sleepyment”, I laughed out loud but I’ve never been able to get him to say it again! As I’ve said many times above, I’m in love with the Mascots in this game. They really have made me want to play through again and again to be able to get them all. It’s enough of an assortment that guys and girls alike will have one they fall in love with.

For eyes and ears
Usually games like this are annoying with repetitive sentences spewed over and over but I was pleasantly surprised. There were even a few things the professor said that made me chuckle. The mascots that you can purchase with your “noodles” are cute and make noise as you buzz in to answer a question and when you get it right. I’m unsure if they planned it or not but my favorite is the KISS inspired bear. Others have complained about the graphics but really: why would you be concerned about graphics in a game like this? It looks just right to me.

Gamer Goals
I’m assuming Blitz Arcade thinks our gamer goal will be to become smarter; to train our brains. Most gamers will disagree and go for the 12 achievements that for the most part seem easily attainable. The only achievement that may put off casual gamers is the “Noodlaire” which wants you to earn 1,000,000 Noodles. I don’t know about you, but I probably won’t be playing this game long enough to come up with a million. Who knows though, I need to get all 60 of those cuddly mascots and that might get me close.

Glitches and Mistakes
I didn’t find any problems during the normal gameplay or the multiplayer. Load times were manageable and online matchmaking was quick and painless.

Hearts
Best features: Mascots and Big Button Controllers! Although I enjoyed many parts of this game, the premise has been so overly done that nothing stood out to me as different enough. Of course the Mascots and Big Button controllers are big pluses in my book; they continue to help it’s replay value immensely. It’s definitely a step up from one of Blitz’s earlier go’s at this genre, “Are you smarter than a 5th grader”. Hopefully the developers will stick with more original work and continue to improve on what they have accomplished here.

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