PN Review: IQ Test
IQ Test is an interesting new release for the Wii U eShop. In some ways it reminds me of the edutainment titles that I played when the industry was first transitioning from cartridges to cd’s. It has a bit of nostalgic pull in that sense. How does it measure up by modern standards though?
Consisting of a series of challenging puzzles and questions, I find IQ Test difficult to classify by a single genre. I guess the truest way would be a puzzle and party game combo, since how much enjoyment and longevity you’ll get from it depends on how many friends you can bring into the mix. To be clear, this isn’t a multiplayer game in the traditional sense – It’s solo gameplay only. But watching and laughing as your friends struggle with these puzzling questions is the key selling point. It’s a bold approach at least, and I give it credit for that. Yet it also means that replay value as we know it is pretty much nonexistent – once the solutions are figured out, there’s no reason to return. I’ll elaborate on this in a bit, and explain why I think it’s the game’s biggest shortcoming.
Many of the tasks are frustrating fun, and those who put a premium on challenge might appreciate the difficulty. Even though they’re tough to solve however, they do vary in both cleverness and enjoyment. A couple are memorable in the way solutions are reached! However one puzzle I solved made no sense, even after reaching out to the developer for clarification. Worse, the game violates its own internal logic at times – there’s a shortage of rhyme or reason behind many of these solutions, which makes it boil more down to chance than skill!
My disappointment with these is the structure. Every time you fail (and you’ll fail often) the game boots you back to the very first puzzle. While many of these are cute, this leads to an extremely high degree of repetitiveness. How many times will you enjoy playing puzzles you’ve already solved multiple times before it starts to annoy or become boring? While play time will vary by individual, the reality is everyone will spend the bulk of their time doing the same tasks over and over! It’s an unfortunate design, though probably necessary as IQ Test has more serious concerns …
Content wise is where IQ Test falls especially short. There are only 20 puzzles in the entire game! Is advertising “tons of challenging puzzles” disingenuous? Once the solutions are known, a game can be beaten in less than two minutes. Encouragement to “try to get the fastest time” is all well and good, but there is no in-game timer. Nor is there a scoring system, a way to enter your initials, etc. There is no reason to play this game again once beaten!
Visually I have some concerns with IQ Test as well. To be fair, a game of this style doesn’t need great graphics. But IQ Test’s visuals are simple to a fault – I really would’ve appreciated seeing some ambition. Stationary characters against a never-changing backdrop make this a bare bones game that’s dull to watch. For a title promising “beautiful HD visuals”, it doesn’t even display past the GamePad.
IQ Test has some clever ideas for sure, but it’s more of a novelty than game. That alone might make it a tough sell. Further, depending on when you read this, the game will be either $4 or $5. While that’s not a lot of money, you can buy it on Nook for just 99 cents. Making matters worse, the prior version had multiple tests, while the Wii U has just one! Charging five times the amount for much less content is not a good way to make a first impression to the Nintendo audience, especially when lower priced eShop games have more ambition, are of higher quality, and excel in replayability.
There is a decent foundation here, but IQ Test needs more effort if it hopes to thrive against the better budget eShop offerings. Some free DLC would be a start. I do have a measure of fondness for this title and what it’s trying to do, and am holding out hope that it improves. Currently it falls short in most areas however. The challenge is good, but with such a small amount of content, no replay value to speak of, and an increased price, it’s tough to recommend this download at present. Sorry.
