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Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree

EMAILPRINTwii

Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
68
7.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 30 votes
Read user comments
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Game Info

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo

Genre(s): Edutainment, Puzzle

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: June 11, 2007

Summary

Welcome to Big Brain Academy, the only school where you can school your friends and family! How big is your brain? Find out as you test yourself with numerous lightning-fast activities like across several categories. When you enroll, headmaster Professor Lobe will introduce you to Test mode, challenging you with a bevy of hilarous and exciting brain-teasers. Then, when it's all over, the professor will calculate your brain weight, award you with a grade, and give you an idea of what career track is best suited for your brain weight. Don't worry, it's all in the spirit of fun! Features: The Wii Remote's easy hands-on control makes playing the game a breeze. People of any age or education level can play together. Show off your smarts in multiplayer versus and co-op play modes like Mind Sprint, Mental Marathon, and Brain Quiz. The better you get at an activity, the harder it becomes. Send your grades to friends with the Wii's WiFi connection feature, WiiConnect24. While Big Brain will keeps your neurons dancing in Practice and Test mode, multiplayer and co-op modes bring challenges like only the Wii can deliver. [Nintendo]

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90

GamePro

The Wii advantage is that even with just one remote, you can invite a pile of people over to party and have a really good time together.

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90

Cheat Code Central

It is great to see games with a specific goal in mind succeed, and the funny thing is that Big Brain delivers in a pair, providing a learning experience and a degree in fun. I for one could not be happier.

Read Full Review >
85

netjak

On that note, this is a great game for children. There is absolutely no objectionable content, and the games are all educational. This is definitely a great family title. I highly recommend Big Brain Academy.

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80

DarkStation

The first outing on the Wii is solid and it has a well rounded approach that gives the user a very enjoyable experience. There is still a lot of room for improvement, but in the end I have to say fans of the previous game or those who want to test their brain should really go check this game out, it is definitely worth a look.

Read Full Review >
80

G4 TV

There's no question that Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree will be divisive among gamers. The hardcore will balk at its lightweight mini-games and family-friendly vibe.

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76

IGN

You're going to have fun here, but in three or four years we'll look back at this game and it will pale by comparison to its inevitable sequels.

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75

Game Informer

Even if it doesn’t make you smarter, you won’t feel completely stupid for buying this puzzler.

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75

Pelit (Finland)

A decent party game with a nice twist. Brain training is not awfully scientific, but it is fun enough to keep you entertained a few minutes a day. [Sept 2007]

73

Da Gameboyz

Overall Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree is a pretty good first entry of the Touch Generations onto Nintendo’s Wii.

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73

GameSpot

Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree is a simple collection of brain teasers that are different enough from the other minigame collections on the Wii to make it worth playing.

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72

Official Nintendo Magazine UK

You can see everything it has to offer within 30 minutes. [Aug 2007, p.96]

72

DailyGame

It's initially a blast and has outstanding mini-games, but it needs more game modes on the whole, and the replayability dwindles fast.

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71

GameTrailers

It’s easy to like the simple-yet-challenging games, but as the days wear on, it starts to show its faults. It was a darling on the DS, but this sort of thinker’s gymnastics doesn’t work as well for burst play on the couch.

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70

Yahoo! Games

Big brains are certainly desirable, but big price tags are a different matter, and Wii Degree's standard $49.99 asking price is a little hard to stomach. While the game is tons of fun, there's just a handful of minigames and not much else, which puts it in a different class to other full-priced options.

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70

Games Radar (in-house)

Casual gamers who dug Wii Sports and Brain Age will love it - everyone else might wonder what all the commotion is about and go back to waiting for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

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70

GameDaily

It needed more minigames and a livelier presentation, but gamers will enjoy the multiplayer options and gameplay innovations.

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70

Kombo

If you’re looking for a simple but strangely addictive multiplayer Wii game, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree is it. It’s easy enough that non-gamers can play it and still entertaining enough that even the snobbiest hardcore gamers will get sucked in.

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70

GameSpy

It's probably the best concoction of edutainment that you'll find this year, if you're playing it alone. However, given the sense of community that we've found goes hand in hand with the Wii's marketing, we're just as disappointed in the multiplayer options as we are happy with the single player.

Read Full Review >
69

Games Master UK

A bit of low-rent cash-in, to be honest. But it's still decent fun, and at a low price too. [Oct 2007, p.82]

65

1UP

Wii Degree is, at the very least, a decent, briefly satisfying experience for gamers starved for new stuff to play on their Wiis. It just won't keep them happy for long.

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65

NintendoWorldReport

A great concept that is very entertaining on the surface falls on its face extremely quickly due to lack of content.

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63

NGamer UK

Nifty use of the pointer like nobody's business, but the WiiConnect24 stuff is deeply uninspired. [Sept 2007, p.44]

60

WHAM! Gaming

A little less fun, less deep and less educational than it ought to be, especially for a full-priced game. A C+ effort only.

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60

Cubed3

This Wii edition may add nice pointing controls and an interesting multiplayer aspect, but they really are not enough to justify the cost of the game in the slightest.

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60

Armchair Empire

As I said, some of the multiplayer magic was lost in the transition to Wii, which puts a kibosh on some of the fun.

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60

Gamestyle

The single-player game lacks longevity, and having more than fifteen mini games would have helped negate this.

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58

The Wiire

Social gamers who expect to spend a lot of time in multiplayer may be comfortable footing the bill, but most people who enjoyed the original brain training titles on the DS as a cheap, fun distraction may, unfortunately, be forced to wait until Wii Degree shows up in the bargain bin - or until the game receives a more fleshed-out sequel.

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50

VideoGamer

It might be strange to criticise a mini-game collection for a lack of depth, but that's Wii Degree's biggest problem. Without 50+ games to play and none of the long-term appeal of Brain Training, what you've got is a game that will please you for a week and then rarely leave its case.

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50

games(TM)

When the average game of Trivial Pursuit comes packed with thousands of unique questions for around the same price, this kind of wafer-thin package is hardly going to impress Mr and Mrs Non-Gamer. [Sept 2007, p.113]

50

Eurogamer

At best, this might have been a cute piece of original downloadable content on a system that sorely needs some. As a full price piece of software, it's genuinely worth less than forty quid's worth of dog-eared primary school maths books.

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42

Gaming Age

Unfortunately the game offers up too little for too much and could have been up so much more.

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40

NTSC-uk

It’s certainly fun in short bursts and does provide some interesting mental exercise, but this more of a GCSE than a degree.

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33

GameShark

A big disappointment. While the game does try to bring over the fun of the DS title and the controls aren’t bad, no one should be forced to pay full price for such a very small number of games with little or no replay value.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 30 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Nathan H. gave it a0:
Come on. How could it possibly get more boring than this! It doesnt last long, and the brain testing idea sucks the fun out of this stupid game. DONT BUY OR EVEN RENT THIS GAME!

Anton B. gave it an8:
Overall, it's really well-made and fun. With Internet sharing, great multiplayer modes and games that actually test your brain and not your luck, this game is all but the reason why everyone so hates minigame collections. Most of the games included may seem pretty easy at first, but the experet difficulty is truly brain-twisting in each of the 15 games.

Doug L. gave it a6:
It is cool but gets old fast. I enjoyed big brain more on the DS, but this is fun overall.

Scott G. gave it a10:
Fun, educational, non-violent, clean, what more do you want in this day and age of the typical opposite.

Yvonne B. gave it a9:
Was a great family friendly game! The entire family got involved in playing mutli player - we had more fun that we'd had in a very very long time. It was great to see the kids together in one room laughing and smiling! Was totally worth it!

Kevin C. gave it a9:
Good games. Getting higher scores keeps me and the kids coming back for more.

Colin P. gave it an8:
My brother got this for Christmas and I was a bit sceptical after reading the mixed reviews, but after playing four player with the rest of my family for a while it wound up being great fun. Don't know what the single player would be like, but considering the price and the easy gameplay I definitely recommend this as a multiplayer game.

Read more user comments >

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