If you're from the UK and aged between 20 and 35 (or thereabouts), you may remember a daunting set of exams from your school years called the '11-plus'. The tests were a little different from your usual head-scratchers, in that there was a 'non-verbal' portion that didn't rely on any prior knowledge of specific topics at all - rather, you were presented with a series of shapes, and have to identify odd ones out, next in sequences and so on.

It was interesting in that you couldn't really revise for it - well, except perhaps by practising these types of questions over and over again. The exam tested how your brain worked, rather than how much data your memory could hold. It tested your overall perception, rather than a specific topic of choice.

TestYourself: Psychology reminded us heavily of those childhood exams, although apparently it's meant to provide inside knowledge about your nervous system and intellect, rather than simply churn out a mark out of 100 and kick you into whichever school you're suited for. Unfortunately, TestYourself's issue isn't the tests themselves, but the completely useless and often laughable results that you receive at the end.

TestYourself's training and testing is split up into three different categories. The main area of inner enlightenment (or so we were hoping) is the Self-Test. There are tests for responsiveness, visual patterns, audio cues, sequences, and other stuff impressive-sounding ideas.

The tests themselves range from interesting all the way down to bland. Figuring out the next symbol is a row of patterns is both enjoyable and tough, while deciding which object is the odd one out in a row of shapes can really make you question why you're picking certain answers, especially since the game gives no instant feedback about whether you're right or not.

However, the majority of the tests are really quite dull. Press X when a circle appears! Press X when you hear a noise! Tap the X button as quickly as possible! Of course, we understand that it's not meant to all be fun and games - this is some serious testing going on here - but still, obviously your brain is going to wander off if you're constantly asked to press X to complete dull tests.

And yet, it isn't really the tests we take offence to. Those we could deal with, were it not for the absolute joke results you'll receive at the end. Rather than giving any insight into yourself, the game will say things like 'You have a poor memory, and it will be affected your work and your relationship with friends'. Really now? You worked out that I am alienating friends, simply by watching which pictures I think go next in a sequence?

If you buy TestYourself, you've already failed the Intelligence test

Indeed, none of the results given back are worthwhile at all, and are all clearly formed using values corresponding to how many questions you managed to get right, and in what space of time. In other words, rather than spouting out numbers at the end, the game is simply spouting out generic sentences instead that try to sound as clever as possible, but instead have no meaning whatsoever. We would have preferred the numbers, in all honesty!

Interestingly, you can only do the Self-Test once, as the game notes that the same test is given each time, and hence any further testing will be biased since you already know the answers. Yet there is no place to find your test results once you've quit out of them, which is very odd indeed.

The Training segment of the game presents each of the Self-Test challenges separately and let's you practice with each, this time providing 'best times' and the like. There are also extra tests available, although most of these don't feel particularly useful, and rather feel like something you'd see in a free browser Flash game. Dodge the shapes! Odd one out! It's all here, and you'll be bored of it within minutes.

Perhaps the most interesting feature, however - and ultimately, the biggest screw-up - is the Social aspects. Presented with a series of 24 questions, you're asked to give details about yourself. Are you lazy? Are you active? Do you care about other people? Answer all of these, and then the game will spit out your results.

Again, these incredible insights are... well, not very incredible at all. The game lets us know once again that 'You have a poor memory!', and we cry back at it 'Yes we know, we just told you that when the question 'do you have a poor memory' came up! None of it makes a great deal of sense, but then, it's the social part of this experiment that is the centrepiece.

And yet, this doesn't make any sense either. Once you've filled in your own details, you're then asked to answer the same 24 questions for each of your PSN friends. Your friends can then check what you thought of them (if they also own the game, of course), and then choose to answer questions about you. You can then both check if your buddy feels the same way you do about yourself.

Except that there is obvious bias here. If I know my friend is going to see the results I give him, then I'm clearly not going to answer truthfully, am I? When it asks 'Is your friend clever or stupid?', does it really think I'm going to say 'he's as dumb as a doorpost' and then fire it off to him? Of course I won't. I'll (at worst) put that he's a little dense, as not to hurt his feelings.

And there lies the problem - the results aren't true, because players will be swayed by what their friend will think of the results. It would perhaps work if there were a way to submit results anonymously, but as there is, this just doesn't work at all. Utterly, utterly flawed.

You may be tempted to try out TestYourself, given that it's only $2.99, but be warned - it's all a trap. Only two tests are provided, and for extra tests you need to pay extra $2.99 for each extra pack. Do yourself a favour, and go buy yourself a non-verbal reasoning book instead - you'll feel a lot smarter for doing so.

Top Game Moment: Some of the Training minigames are fun for a few minutes