Brain Drain (Game Boy, 1998)

Overall: B-

Presentation: B
Flow: B
Thrill: C
Replayability: C

Background
Last fall, I bought a lot of 16 Game Boy\Game Boy Color games off eBay, mostly to get a copy of Dr. Mario (included in the set) and maybe get a good deal on the others in the process if they turned out to be any good. Brain Drain seemed promising, with a cool time travely-looking background on the cartridge and a name that suggested some sort of mad science adventure, a la The Ooze for Genesis. All of these assumptions about the game were wrong.

Brain Drain is a puzzle game involving rotating squares of icons in order to create a specific pattern.

Presentation: B
Most of the screens in the game are decorated fairly nicely. The puzzle screens, which make up the bulk of the game, fill unused space with backgrounds of space, the beach, underground, or whatever matches the current “theme,” which changes fairly often. The game’s mascot, a bizarre alien-creature with an antenna, appears in all of these backgrounds, as well as in menus and other screens, which helps to make the stock settings look more interesting. In addition, the icons used in the puzzles also change to fit the theme somewhat, which is nice. However, occasionally 2 different icons will look extremely similar, such as a round rock and a slightly un-round rock, which makes some puzzles feel unfair, though this is uncommon.

The music is repetitive and simplistic, but not distracting. 5 different tracks are available in the options menu, represented by different music note icons. Each of the tunes is nice enough, but not particularly memorable, although 5 different tracks is already more than I expected from this game.
The sound effects aren’t really anything to write home about either, mostly simplistic boops and clicks. In short, about what you’d expect from a budget Game Boy title.

Flow: B
It’s pretty easy to pick up and start a game. There are only 3 options on the title screen: “Brain Game,” “Brain Race,” and “Options.”

“Brain Game,” or the main game, is the standard puzzle mode. You solve puzzles endlessly, rotating 4×4 segments of the grid until it matches the pattern in the top left. The controls are exactly what would would expect, similar to Tetris or Dr. Mario—D-pad to move around, A\B to rotate counter\clockwise, Start to pause.
Every few puzzles you play a bonus stage, in which you unscramble tiles forming a little picture of the mascot character to win a powerup or a continue.
Initially, I couldn’t figure out how to use the powerups at all. I expected it to be mapped to the Select button, as every other button has a use, but trying that did nothing. The “Bonus Tips” section of the Options menu says to press A\B (depending on powerup) “during one second” to activate them. What the heck’s that mean? Do I hold it for a whole second, or wait until the timer reaches 1 second remaining? (The former seems to be the answer, after subsequent attempts.) But once you know how to use them, the powerups are fairly useful. ‘Flashes’ let you skip a level, and clocks give you extra time, though you can only stock up about 3 of each at a time.
Every 10 puzzles, a password is given, made up of 4 fruit symbols. This is fairly helpful if you’ve made it far into a particular difficulty.

The second “Brain Race” mode is pretty similar. You still solve the same puzzles over and over, but which puzzles you do seems to be randomly chosen from different levels, and the time you’re given is sometimes shortened. In addition, extra effects are sometimes added on, like ‘Blackout,’ where each 4×4 segment you rotate is censored\hidden for a few seconds, and ‘Random Blackout,’ which is the same thing but randomized, and ‘Row Blackout’ where each row is temporarily censored. It’s not exceptionally different from the normal mode, but the randomized levels and blackout effects add an extra layer of challenge.

In general, the game starts off very easy, with puzzle after puzzle that takes perhaps merely 5-10 seconds. Eventually, they get somewhat more difficult, though I am usually stopped by a puzzle that is unusually hard due to…maybe a bad start? The tiles are mixed up by starting at the final pattern, then random rotations applied to random areas. Sometimes it works, other times it results in a pattern one rotation away from completion…or one that seems impossible. There is also a setting in the options menu to change the difficulty, from “normal alien” to “college grad alien” to “nerdy alien,” which apparently represent “Rookie,” “Student,” and “Genius” difficulty, each of which represents a set of 50 puzzles. This game seems to be fond of using symbols where words or numbers would work fine.

The options menu has only 2 real features, both of which I’ve already mentioned: the difficulty and the music. Neither has a dedicated menu, you just select which song\level of difficulty you desire using left and right. There is also a “Bonus Tips” option, which is really “3 things you might not figure out immediately by playing the game,” as you just get taken to a page explaining the powerups.

Thrill: C
In the moment, it’s pretty engaging. Most puzzles shouldn’t take more than 20 seconds to solve, and the transition between them is very quick, so there isn’t much time to grow bored. The passwords add a sense of progress, too, and the continues are given in good enough number that ragequits should be rare. However, it’s definitely a game that is best enjoyed in short bursts.

Replayability: C
As mentioned before, it’s pretty easy to pick up and play, and the gameplay is quick and rewarding. It’s never frustrating for very long, and never really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I may play a lot of other games more often, but it’s nice for short walks or car trips.

Overall: B-
Like most puzzle games on the Game Boy, Brain Drain is kind of a one-trick pony, but it does that one trick pretty well. The puzzles require some thinking, but not more than a casual amount. Passwords and 3 difficulty levels offer a good sense of progression, and the quick pace of the game is perfect. The cartoony aesthetic is pleasing, too. It really is just a puzzle game, but it’s a good one, one you probably wouldn’t mind getting as a gift.