Mind Machine

The Good
Although it was not the fist game of its kind, it has to be said that it came a full year before the brain training craze launched by the famous and ubiquitous Nintendo DS series.

The presentation is top notch. The game has a way of delivering its challenges that is really exciting.

There are several creative modes of play. Which one you chose, will determine how the mini-games are thrown at you and with what kind of difficulty setting. Additionally, the multiplayer element is well thought of. It turns Mind Machine into a board game with each field being one of the mini-games.

The Bad
All this sounds like a very good game, except for the fact that the actual mini-games (ten in total) are unfortunately not all that fun. Most of them feel more like chores and get repetitive within minutes. Also, while four difficulties are available, the tasks never get more complex or challenging. You just have to make more of them in a smaller amount of time.

Graphically, while the presentation is impressive, the screen resolution is fairly low for a game released in 2005. Combine this with the fact that playing full screen is mandatory, and you get some pretty big pixels.

The Bottom Line
Overall, Mind Machine is a collection of mini-games to train your brain, that benefits from a great presentation and several creative play modes, but unfortunately fails to deliver interesting gameplay at its core.