Best of Tests DS
Score: 55% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Conspiracy Entertainment Developer: Neko Entertainment Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 Genre: Edutainment/ Puzzle/ Miscellaneous
Graphics & Sound: Best of Tests's graphics consist of simple pictures, numbers and letters. Intelligence tests usually aren't visually impressive, and they're not required to be, so you wouldn't expect much. In general the game has a clean look, with simple icons and graphics. Everything is easy to see and interpret. There is a cartoon professor character that appears on the top screen who looks appropriately disappointed or impressed, depending on whether you get questions right or wrong. It's a cute character, but there are all of 3 or 4 different frames of animation for him, so I wouldn't say it adds too much to the charm or lack thereof. There's all of one song for the game, with an option to turn it off, thankfully. Other than this, there are some fairly standard chimes and buzzers that accompany the game, ensuring that this isn't just a bit more than a paper test-to-game translation.
Gameplay: Best of Tests is a series of fairly standard intelligence tests. You're asked to figure out the pattern in a sequence of numbers, symbols, or both. You'll also test your memory by repeating a pattern of blocks you were just shown, or uncovering matching cards after you've been shown the layout once. A simple vocabulary game shows up as well, with questions like "Find the word that means the opposite of Near." Best of Tests features only 3 main modes: Intelligence tests, Memory, and Training. Memory is just what it sounds like, featuring variations on remembering a picture or number and then on the next screen inputting what you're asked to recall. Intelligence is basically the "everything else" category. Training lets you go through the tests without a score being recorded, but it's pretty much identical to the rest of the game, so it feels a bit pointless. French and Spanish modes are also available if you would like your instructions in those languages. After a while, although the questions are random, the tests repeat, and you don't necessarily have to spend time figuring out the "rules" to each question. This also means that things will start to feel very repetitious, very soon. Part of the draw of these kinds of games is the stimulation of being asked to think in new ways and stay mentally aware. But in Best of Tests, there are some tests where you can predict what you will be asked, so you will learn to automatically tune out extraneous information. For example, sometimes you're presented with a memory game where you are shown several objects. When you see a pair of matching objects in the group, you can be sure that the follow-up question will ask you to remember where the pair of matching objects were, so you'll learn to tune out all the other objects. Since there are so few varieties of tests included, it starts to be less of a test, and more of a chore after a while.
Difficulty: The difficulty of Best of Tests should supposedly depend on your intelligence, but I wouldn't consider it a tough test. The first level of difficulty on each test is pretty easy. It's that kind of easy that makes you doubt yourself because it's almost too easy. But you can only try the harder tests after you complete the first levels of difficulty. Even on the higher difficulty levels, some ridiculously easy tests are thrown in, making me wonder if there was a big difference between the levels at all. It's been a while since I've taken comparable tests, but overall I'd say these tests are high school level or perhaps lower. Also, because of the repetition of similar questions, you may be able to figure out some questions just by ruling out the wrong answers you've given before.
Game Mechanics: Best of Tests operates through the touch screen only and features large, easy-to-hit icons and buttons. One minor gripe I had was that some tests register your answer as soon as you touch it and some don't. This means that if you were anticipating being able to change your answer before confirming it with the "ok" at the bottom, you might end up accidentally selecting the wrong answer. The scoring system is also a bit arbitrary, and doesn't serve as much of an incentive to do well or finish the game. And it's a game that is pretty short if you finish it on the first go-through. Best of Tests is more than likely an attempt to cash in on the popularity of Nintendo's Brain Age games. There's much less creativity and fewer features here, however, than in those games. With other brain teaser games already on the market for the DS including the creative RPG/puzzle hybrid Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Best of Tests is a pretty hard sell. On one hand, it performs as advertised and provides you with a series of tests. On the other hand, that's all it does, so don't expect any extra features or excitement.
-Fights with Fire, GameVortex Communications AKA Christin Deville
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