I love trivia. I often sit up late, scrolling the internet reading about the most bizarre ins and outs of this world. So, when a trivia game is presented at any gathering, I love testing my skill with the useless pieces of information that scarily inhabit the deepest recesses of my brain.

‘Brain Show’, developed by Simplicity Games, is a generic game show title very reminiscent of the likes of Playstation’s ‘Buzz’ series, but without the novelty of particularly dope controllers designed for it.

The game show houses up to 8 participants on the floor, however, for some strange reason there are no AI companions included, so every experience must be teed up with friends prior to commencing a trivia session, and you can never test your skills alone.

These can be played locally on the same keyboard or with a controller, or invited online via your Steam friends list to remotely play. I found the local play with friends on the keyboard very clumsy and awkward, with sharing buttons a complete pain in the arse.

It definitely needs more than one keyboard plugged in to enjoy the experience with more than one friend in the room. Online play is definitely more preferable to local, but this means you all need to purchase the title.

There are only two modes; General Play and Quick Game. Playing the standard mode sends you into 6 rounds of different types of questioning that last about 20 minutes, so a decent but not too long playtime. Sometimes you get to pick the categories, steal points by vacuuming them up, or even choose who to nerf dart points off from, so there are a few different competitions. There isn’t much variation in the types of questioning rounds though, so it does become quickly repetitive.

The point system though is pretty fair and just, because you are able to pick players to eliminate or steal from. Quick Game confirms this thought as it is just the grand finale round used in the standard mode but as a singular experience.

Unfortunately, there is no real customisation of the trivia itself. There are no additional modes or types of games and there are definitely no difficulty adjusters. The 4000-plus questions sporadically jump from hard to easy. This game is designed for a quick time of short-lived fun, but definitely not a long-time recurring experience like more successful trivia titles.

The graphics are cute and bold, with cartoon, chibi-like characters that cringingly do the ‘Floss’ on screen. They are very generic looking which also aligns with the very obnoxious bland music that plays between each round. The set design of the stage, while colourful, is very empty when there are only two characters on the screen. The host is also not very memorable either, often spurting the same lines over and over again, and often back to back.

Overall, Brain Show is fun for a very short amount of time due to its lack of modes and trivia round variation. The controls on the keyboard are a bit clumsy with more than two people and the general experience just feels awkward due to the flat atmosphere. I think I’ll go back to reading random facts online to satisfy my need for knowledge.

Written by: Stacey