March 19, 2003 - Telegames continues its Game Boy Advance publishing with Ultimate Brain Games for the system, a cartridge with a little something for everyone. And because the game features eight well produced timeless games with heavy focus on single cartridge multiplayer support, Ultimate Brain Games is one of those titles that should be in everyone's portable collection; one of those games made to be whipped out for quick gaming session or two.

Features

  • Eight different games
  • Profile creator
  • Link cable support (single-cartridge)
  • Hot seat, single system two player modes
  • Cartridge save
  • Only for Game Boy Advance
Ultimate Brain Games for the Game Boy Advance is a collection of eight of the most familiar parlor-style games around. Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, Dominos, and Reversi make up the standard mix, with licensed games making unlicensed appearances as well in the form of "Sink Ships" (Battleship), "Four-in-a-row" (Connect Four), and "Mahjongg" (Shanghai). Each of these games are well produced and easy to pick up and play on the Game Boy Advance, as the developers made sure that players can get in and out of the games quickly and efficiently; it even takes only a couple of seconds to dive right in after turning on the system...no waiting around for the copyright screens to boot up.

Sure, you can find most of these games in free, online versions, but sometimes you're not around the computer to play a pick-up game of Battleship or Checkers. This compilation is really complete, and it's obvious that the developer put a lot of thought into some of the features in this game. Every game can be saved to cartridge during play, which is a great function because, in the Game Boy world, sometimes you have to quickly stop what you're doing and put the system away. With this feature, your progress is recorded and can be pulled right back easily. The cartridge also saves wins and loss statistics so you can see how well you're performing against the computer. Unfortunately, even though the game records two different player profiles to cartridge, this is only for the game's Face Creator; the game statistics records overall games played, not individual records.

Easily the best feature of Ultimate Brain Games is its focus on multiplayer. More specifically, its focus on single-cartridge multiplayer. Anyone with a Game Boy Advance can challenge the owner of the game cartridge in any of the eight games in the compilation, and this is a feature that makes this GBA compilation a worthwhile purchase.

The default computer AI programmed into Ultimate Brain Games is good enough for the casual gamer, but if it starts getting predictable you can always go into the settings menu and bump up the difficulty. Doing this in Sink Ships and Backgammon is A-OK, But altering the AI to its highest level in Chess, Checkers, Dominoes, Four-in-a-Row, and Reversi isn't recommended, since the computer opponent will take its precious time calculating every single move before taking its turn...sometimes spending 30 seconds or more in a "wait state." Even if the computer only has one move to make in Checkers, for example; expect to sit around for the opponent to make his move. Luckily there's the option to force the computer to make his move during his thought process, but that sort of defeats the purpose of beefing up its intelligence.

But that's really the worst thing that can be said about Ultimate Brain Games. All of the games feature an easy-to-use interface to adjust the settings, as well as "online" instructions for folks who don't know how to play any of the games. The save game feature has an issue where it doesn't remember the specific computer profile you're playing, so when you return to the game after a brief break you'll notice that Mike will have suspiciously left the game and Sandy's jumped into his place. It's not a huge deal since the computer AI is identical for each of the 12 different profiles, but it's still a bug that could have been ironed out before release.

Closing Comments
Probably the biggest reason to pick up Ultimate Brain Games is its excellent rendition of Shanghai...you know, the puzzle game using the Mahjongg tileset. It's only one of eight different games in the pack, but the developers put a lot of features into this clone, not only offering a pretty cool two player mode, but also offering a huge assortment of different tile sets and arrangements for a great amount of variety. And since Shanghai Pocket hasn't made the move to the GBA in the US, more power to Telegames for offering the game design in its collection.

The rest of the pack is also a great assortment of little games. Yes, these games can be played elsewhere, even without the GBA, but their virtual renditions in Ultimate Brain Games have been pulled off very well. And the developers made sure that their design was GBA-friendly, with its ability to save progress at any time, as well as putting all instructions up in the game's interface. Ultimate Brain Games is definitely recommended for gamers on the go.

IGN Ratings for Ultimate Brain Games (GBA)
Rating Description See Our Glorious Home Theater Setup!
out of 10 click here for ratings guideGet Ratings Information
8.0 Presentation
Very solid presentation with a PC-like user interface to alter game setting and other things. Multiplayer support is also excellent.
6.0 Graphics
Very basic imagery in this game, but they do the job and are easy to see on the GBA screen...even the tiny graphics on the Mahjongg tiles.
8.0 Sound
A really nice assortment of new-age style music accompanies the gameplay.
9.0 Gameplay
Excellent renditions of eight different games are easy to pick up and play, with no horrible issues during the
9.0 Lasting Appeal
This cartridge isn't meant for extended gameplay sessions; its more a game to be picked up for few minutes at a time. But keep it with you, since other GBA owners can join in.
8.5
Great		 OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)		 See All Award Recipients