Margot’s Word Brain – WII – Review

Sometimes a
developer can play it safe and be successful, simply by copying a tried-and-true
video game recipe and tossing it into production. Other times, the recipe is
unaltered just enough that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of its players.
Margot’s Word Brain falls into this latter category.

Margot’s Word
Brain is essentially a compiled reiteration of multiple word games that have
been released in the past on different platforms. The overall vibe resembles
Nintendo’s own Brain Age games, with sole emphasis on word puzzles, instead of
the variety offered by the first party game. While Destination Software Inc.
attempted to recreate the same satisfying educational experience that Brain Age
made so popular, Margot’s Word Brain falls short in its compilation affair.

Margot is the
instructor that explains to the player exactly how to go about solving each of
the multitudes of puzzles. In all, there are six different word activities that
the player can experience, with each one presenting a unique twist on word-play.
While these different word puzzles are unique when compared to each other, they
definitely resemble activities that have been utilized in educational games
previously released.

For example,
Word Link very closely resembles an old Flash game favorite that has been on the
internet for years. The mini-game plays similarly to Bejeweled, but uses letters
to form words, instead of like-colored gems. This similarity to such a popular
online game might not be a bad thing, but if you despise repetition, the
likeness could turn you away quickly.

Another example
of familiar gameplay would be the mini-game dubbed Hyper TXT. Instead of
reminding you of another educational game you might’ve played, Hyper TXT is
actually quite similar to the everyday texting affair that most of the world
participates in every single day. The mini-game literally asks you to press
specific numbers a certain number of times in order to select the correct
letter. You must then use these letters to form a specified word as fast as
possible. My question is who really wants to sit at work texting all day, and
then run home to text on a video game?

Word Search is
very reminiscent to Crosswords DS, but with minor adjustments that make the game
more its own. The player is shown a group of words on the screen. After a few
seconds, the words will disappear, and the player must then locate and select
the first and last letter of each word within a jumbled grammatical mess. While
mildly entertaining, the game play can get very tedious.

And on with the
rest: Word Mine presents the player with 6 letters and asks them to create as
many smaller words as they can within a given time period. Word Run is a
pureblood spinoff of the board game “Scrabble”, and tasks you against Margot in
a competition to build words off of one another on the screen. Finally, Word
Safe offers up rings of letters that are circled around each other. The ultimate
goal is to spin the rings and form as many words from the adjacent letters as
possible.

As you can see,
there appears to be a decently varied group of games that all still successfully
stick with the word theme of Margot’s Word Brain. Unfortunately, most of these
games seem to resemble other original ideas, instead of being original
themselves. What’s worse is that there is a DS version of this exact game that
allows for the use of a stylus. The stylus and touch screen deliver a much
quicker, much more accurate way to play the same exact games, on the go.
Although you’d think that the Wii-mote would be just as easy to use, that is not
the case.

Beyond these
minor repetition and control issues, the blatant fact is that the Nintendo DS
and Wii versions of Margot’s Word Brain are identical in every way. Not a single
visual aesthetic was altered, nor was any one feature enhanced at all in the Wii
version.

As stated
previously, educational games can be great fun, if executed with the correct
amount of precision. But sometimes, a recipe for fun can be altered enough to
ruin the recipe completely. Margot’s Word Brain is fun to play, but only if
you’ve never delved into the word game genre ever in the history of your life.
Chances are, each game included will feel strangely familiar to the player, and
for obvious reasons. If the developers would’ve done more than just porting the
game directly from Nintendo DS to Nintendo Wii, then Margot’s Word Brain
might’ve made a much more effective impact on my overworked brain.


Review Scoring Details for Margot’s Word Brain


Gameplay: 6.0
Although Margot’s
Word Brain visibly copies a number of previously self established word games,
the puzzles and challenges are still fun to an extent. Repetition issues paired
with less than satisfying controls also hinder the gameplay.

 


Graphics: 4.0
Impressive visuals
are never included when educational games are made. Why, I have no idea.
Margot’s Word Brain follows suit though, with a funky-looking instructor, bland
colors, and basic designs. 

Sound: 5.0
Apparently sound is
also placed on the backburner when creating a smart game. Nothing from and audio
standpoint really stood out to me, except the obvious inclusion of music and
sound effects.


Difficulty: Medium
Margot’s Word Brain
is capable of challenging the players, simply by allowing the player to
challenge themselves. You can compete against your own high scores, which is
part of what makes word games so addictive to some.

Concept: 4.0
The only remotely
conceptual idea within Margot’s Word Brain is the Word Safe mini-game. Every
other mini-game available is rehashed from some other previously realized idea.

Overall: 4.0
The fact that
Margot’s Word Brain is essentially a direct port from the DS version without any
tweaks whatsoever really turns me away from the game. The activities themselves
are enjoyable in moderation, but I am constantly bitter towards the developers’
lacking desire to change anything during the porting process.