Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree review

The presentation and minigames may hit the right notes for the most part, but there are a few negative aspects that tend to drag it all down. One, there aren't very many activities total. After one weekend with Wii Degree, you could easily have every test memorized, able to stomp any newcomer with zero difficulty (plus you'll be playing the same damn games over and over). They do come in various difficulties and have random elements to a certain extent, but if you've matched one ugly kid's face to the next kid's ugly face a hundred times, you've done it enough. No need to keep trying.

The chunky on-screen buttons make navigation super easy, but in the fast-paced world of minigames, quick movement is necessary. We had our fair share of wrong answers and incorrect selections based on the remote not keeping up with our reactionary moves. No, we don't think apples lay eggs, but that bird sure does... too bad our target icon decided differently.

The DS game, released about this same time last year, allowed eight players to hop in and give the brainy minigames a go. With Wii Degree, you're forced to cram into two teams of four, passing the remote around when the game calls for it. On one hand that's a nice team-building effort, but on the other we can easily imagine playing this online with eight people all going at once. To somewhat combat this, it's possible to Wii-message your student record to other pals who own the game and compete against their ghost data. At least that's some kind of internet play, right?