Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is a party puzzler developed and published by Nintendo. The game uses brain teasers as the basis for minigames, offering players the chance to prove that they have the quickest wits among their friends, in a different take on the party game genre that is a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch.
Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain consists of twenty minigames that are split across five categories: Analyze, Compute, Identify, Memorize, and Visualize. These minigames can be played solo or with up to four players. The goal in each minigame is to complete a task as quickly as possible, or at least faster than an opponent in multiplayer matches. Completing games will unlock new outfits and catchphrases that can be used for the player avatars, as well as raise the player's ranking in the online leaderboard.
The minigames in Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain are meant to test how quickly the player can solve a problem and input the correct answer. The games include the likes of Fast Focus, where an image slowly fills in, and the player has to work out what is being shown on screen; Flash Memory, where a series of numbers flash on the screen, and the player has to input it on a calculator; and Train Turn, where the player is given a map with a train on it, and they need to select pieces of track that will allow it to exit in a straight line. There are some amazing minigames on offer in Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain and they will test even the sharpest players, but where the game really excels is in its local multiplayer.
Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain works best as a couch co-op game. The fact that the games are based around deduction, memory, and quickly working out math problems is a great take on the party game genre. This is the sort of game that inspires competition in players, as it's all about skill, unlike some of its contemporaries, where knowledge of the game's mechanics is often the deciding factor. Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain also has an accessibility feature that lets individual players select the difficulty level during each task. This is especially important when playing with kids, or for those who aren't as skilled at video games. The difficulty scaling creates a sense of balance that doesn't occur in a lot of party games, which makes Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain a great choice for playing with family, and not having one player dominate the game.
The biggest issue with Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is the lack of a true online multiplayer component. The game has a Ghost Clash mode, which is like playing against someone's time trial in a racing game, as it's playing against someone else's recording of a minigame. The Ghost Clash mode doesn't have the same nail-biting tension of an actual online competitive mode, but it does serve a function as the arbiter of the online leaderboard. Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain has a world leaderboard that resets every month, so those interested in climbing the ranks have a reason to keep coming back to the game.
The party game genre is dominated by the likes of the Jackbox series, where the games are more lighthearted and usually deteriorate into in-jokes and references, or the likes of the Mario Party series, where victory is dependent on gameplay skills and chance. Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain has its own fun take on the genre, where the quickest wits are what wins the day. The accessibility options also ensure that there is an even playing field among players of different ages, in order to keep things competitive in environments where one player outstrips the rest. Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is a fantastic couch co-op game, even for a system like the Nintendo Switch, which has no shortage of them, and is a great addition to the library of those who love playing games with their friends.
Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain will be released for Nintendo Switch on December 3, 2021. Screen Rant was provided with a digital code for the purposes of this review.