Smart As

pro

Smart As is - more than anything else - a lot of fun. Not only is it fun, but it sports a slick, fast and good looking interface that easily gets you around to all that the game has to offer. The bells and whistles are made up of charts and stats, daily training, free play mode and a wealth of online options. All of this is amusingly narrated by none other than John Cleese himself. It is done with such humor and delight that you'll have no problems taking the slight insults the game might throw at you when you miserably fail an exercise. The total package comes together as a very appealing game that's easy to get into.

pro

The exercises are divided into four main categories: Observation, language, logic and arithmetic. Each category contains five games and each game can have up to four difficulties ranging from easy to genius. Modes are unlocked through daily training and difficulties are unlocked through getting good times and scores in each of them. Most of the games are fun and addictive, and together they utilize most of what the Vita has to offer. Other than the self-explanatory touch games, you will also get to hurt your brain with a combination of camera, gyroscope and the AR cards you got with your Vita. Some games in observation trains you to remember objects combined with their colors and positions, while language gives you the chance to practice your spelling among other things. Logic is probably my favorite (and the thing I suck at most) and gives you ample opportunity to see just how fast your brain works. Arithmetic is all about the math and you'll be pinching, writing and popping numbers in the air while feeling somewhat silly. Most of the games are time based where doing mistakes gives you penalty seconds added to your total, while others score you on how many correct choices or answers you gave.

pro

Network features offers tons of statistics. Game leaderboards shows you how you stack up in the world and against your friends in the various categories and games. You can challenge friends and people through Street Smart and Near challenges and there's also a lot of statistics on who the smartest people are and where. In between exercises the game asks you simple questions like if you attended college or not or if you're afraid of heights or spiders. While these statistics aren't particularly interesting, you might find it fun to see that you're smarter than the average person that prefers jeans over something else.

con

For what this game tries to be there's not much criticism to be had. Having to do daily training to unlock modes feels sort of like an artificial way to add longevity to it, and it would be fun to be able to compete directly with someone online or locally instead of just challenging back and forth. And while it sure looks great, the elevator music can get a tiny bit boring after a while.

con

Some of the games are more variations on a theme rather than a unique one, so a bit more diversity wouldn't hurt.