Hot Brain (PSP)
- Publisher:
- Midway Games
- Developer:
- Midway Games
- Release Date:
- 18.06.2007
- Number of players:
- n/a
- Type:
- Puzzle
- Perspective:
- Third-Person
- Combat Status:
- Non-Combat
- Age:
- Modern Times
2 movies
We play Hot Brain...
Fred Willard, where has it all gone wrong for you Sir? Starring in such timeless classics as This Is Spinal Tap, Best In Show and Anchorman surely you realised you’d hit a lull with Date Movie, but no, you came back again for more in Epic Movie. Surely for a man worth his weight in pure comedic gold it couldn’t possibly get any worse? Well sadly the answer is yes. Enter Hot Brain.
Fred Willard, in case you didn’t already know, is a bit of a comedy legend in the film industry starring in some hilariously funny films but who’s career path seems to be taking a turn for the worst. Now with Hot Brain soon to be added to his ever increasing list over at IMDB it might be time for the chap to sit down and take a long hard look at what he’s signing himself up for.
My biggest concern with Hot Brain is in its desperate and ultimately vain attempt to get the player laughing. Midway take note, just because you’ve paid an obscene amount of money to someone generally regarded as a bit of a funny man does not make a bad game good, and when coupled with an embarrassing script and some genuinely cringe-worthy moments that bad game is made considerably worse.
Tied together with uninspiring menu designs and boring and unnecessary FMVs Hot Brain is a complete design nightmare. But enough moaning about the crappy presentation, the core gameplay is where it counts right? Well if that last paragraph wasn’t enough to put you off then this next one almost certainly will be.
Inevitably Hot Brain is going to be labelled as a rip off of Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo DS. Whacky doctor? Check. Talk of brain stimulation? Check. Charts and other forms of data collation? Check. Interesting mini-games and puzzles to keep the player coming back? Fission Mailed. Whilst Brain Training had bucket loads of charisma on top of its fascinating mini-games, Hot Brain doesn’t have either and most of its games are simple, easy and dare I say it, mind-numbingly boring. It’s just not stimulating at all.
Take for example the memory game. Up pops a picture of a blue fish which then stays on screen for roughly three seconds. A second later I’m presented with four options asking me what I just saw; an old lady, a house, a letter box or a blue fish? You see what I mean? It’s absolute rubbish. Firstly the task is less to do with memory and more to do with object recognition, and secondly whoever can’t tell the difference between an old lady and a blue fish just one second later doesn’t deserve a PSP. Instead I suggest a Fisher Price Doodle Pro, it’s somewhat cheaper and you won’t need to worry about any of that pesky dribble ruining your glossy screen.
Also whereas Brain Training had the added advantage of being pretty unique through its use of the text and voice recognition, the PSP lacks either and just pressing the appropriate face button in Hot Brain gets extremely monotonous and just isn’t fun at all.
To be fair to Midway there are a couple of challenges that do get away with being labelled as ok but there’s nowhere near enough of them and even so they won’t hold your attention long enough to keep you coming back daily as is the idea behind the game. There’s just absolutely no incentive to want to keep playing Hot Brain and once you’ve played each of the fifteen challenges you’ll be left with a disc that isn’t even useful as a tea coaster.
If you want to try and spread the misery Hot Brain also allows for some multiplayer action, allowing 2-4 players to team up and solve challenges until their collective 3D brain reaches critical mass. Alternatively you can show off your elite cranial skills by being the first player to get a Red Hot brain. If you don’t have any friends left after trying it then don’t blame me.
Let the fact that the majority of Hot Brains budget has gone on to fund Fred Willard’s pension rather than being used to tweak the game into a decent release be a lesson for everyone. Sure some of the kids might find some of the predictable humour funny but they’re not the ones that are going to want to play Hot Brain in the first place. Anyone buying this out of choice is in for some major disappointment, and anyone seriously after something to stimulate their minds would be better off sticking to more traditional methods or alternatively hunt down Dr Kawashima.
Top Game Moment: My PSP running out of battery.
Fred Willard, in case you didn’t already know, is a bit of a comedy legend in the film industry starring in some hilariously funny films but who’s career path seems to be taking a turn for the worst. Now with Hot Brain soon to be added to his ever increasing list over at IMDB it might be time for the chap to sit down and take a long hard look at what he’s signing himself up for.
 |
 |
|
| /yawn |
Hot Brain disapproved of the bad language being spouted at it |
My biggest concern with Hot Brain is in its desperate and ultimately vain attempt to get the player laughing. Midway take note, just because you’ve paid an obscene amount of money to someone generally regarded as a bit of a funny man does not make a bad game good, and when coupled with an embarrassing script and some genuinely cringe-worthy moments that bad game is made considerably worse.
Tied together with uninspiring menu designs and boring and unnecessary FMVs Hot Brain is a complete design nightmare. But enough moaning about the crappy presentation, the core gameplay is where it counts right? Well if that last paragraph wasn’t enough to put you off then this next one almost certainly will be.
 |
 |
|
| Why do we have to get in an elevator to travel between menu screens? |
Even the puzzles lack polish. It could easily be triangle or square! |
Inevitably Hot Brain is going to be labelled as a rip off of Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo DS. Whacky doctor? Check. Talk of brain stimulation? Check. Charts and other forms of data collation? Check. Interesting mini-games and puzzles to keep the player coming back? Fission Mailed. Whilst Brain Training had bucket loads of charisma on top of its fascinating mini-games, Hot Brain doesn’t have either and most of its games are simple, easy and dare I say it, mind-numbingly boring. It’s just not stimulating at all.
Take for example the memory game. Up pops a picture of a blue fish which then stays on screen for roughly three seconds. A second later I’m presented with four options asking me what I just saw; an old lady, a house, a letter box or a blue fish? You see what I mean? It’s absolute rubbish. Firstly the task is less to do with memory and more to do with object recognition, and secondly whoever can’t tell the difference between an old lady and a blue fish just one second later doesn’t deserve a PSP. Instead I suggest a Fisher Price Doodle Pro, it’s somewhat cheaper and you won’t need to worry about any of that pesky dribble ruining your glossy screen.
Also whereas Brain Training had the added advantage of being pretty unique through its use of the text and voice recognition, the PSP lacks either and just pressing the appropriate face button in Hot Brain gets extremely monotonous and just isn’t fun at all.
 |
 |
|
| More importantly why does ‘next step’ start with capital letters? |
My brain is bored more like |
To be fair to Midway there are a couple of challenges that do get away with being labelled as ok but there’s nowhere near enough of them and even so they won’t hold your attention long enough to keep you coming back daily as is the idea behind the game. There’s just absolutely no incentive to want to keep playing Hot Brain and once you’ve played each of the fifteen challenges you’ll be left with a disc that isn’t even useful as a tea coaster.
If you want to try and spread the misery Hot Brain also allows for some multiplayer action, allowing 2-4 players to team up and solve challenges until their collective 3D brain reaches critical mass. Alternatively you can show off your elite cranial skills by being the first player to get a Red Hot brain. If you don’t have any friends left after trying it then don’t blame me.
Let the fact that the majority of Hot Brains budget has gone on to fund Fred Willard’s pension rather than being used to tweak the game into a decent release be a lesson for everyone. Sure some of the kids might find some of the predictable humour funny but they’re not the ones that are going to want to play Hot Brain in the first place. Anyone buying this out of choice is in for some major disappointment, and anyone seriously after something to stimulate their minds would be better off sticking to more traditional methods or alternatively hunt down Dr Kawashima.
Top Game Moment: My PSP running out of battery.
-
'Gamers Day 2007' Trailer
Posted 18.05.07
Length 02:24 Views 695 -
Trailer 1
Posted 13.04.07
Length 01:39 Views 360
