Sitting in the XNA lounge was a demo of Brain Challenge, a casual game based off a mobile phone title from Gameloft. Instead of having a floating head as a mascot, Brain Challenge has a generic blonde girl wearing a lab coat holding a clipboard measure the results of five challenges.
The first exercise has players determine which object is heavier by looking at an image of a scale with items on each end. Brain Challenge often tries to trick players by suggesting a cat is heavier than an elephant and an Xbox controller weighs more than a PC. Later the weighing game turns into a logic puzzle when Brain Challenge shows two scales with three objects. Let’s see the strawberry weighs more than an apple and a bunch of grapes weigh more than the strawberry. Which one is heaviest?
After a minute, Brain Challenge moves on to the next exercise a math puzzle on a 3×3 grid. You start on one of the squares and have to continually subtract X or add Y to make a path until you reach a dead end. Players make a path by using the D-pad to select the next number.
Speaking of path finding, one of the exercises has players memorize a directional sequence and then repeat it. The first few paths only have four directions to remember. Up, Up, Right, Down. Later Brain Challenge adds an extra arrow to recall. The other two challenges have players watch bouncing balls to determine which one leaps higher and quickly compare the quantity of colored blocks.
It takes around five minutes to get through the demo and at the end you’re given a chart with your scores. The girl in the lab coat says an encouraging remark about your lowest score suggesting if you practice you can break a record. Hmm… records on Brain Challenge’s online leaderboards? Unconfirmed, but bragging beyond fragging is an interesting thought. The final version will have 20 mini games and an online multiplayer mode.
