X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Bliss Island and Brain Challenge

by Richard Mitchell { Mar 14th 2008 at 7:00PM }

XBLA in Brief returns this week with a two-for-one look at both Bliss Island and Brain Challenge. Bliss Island is a strange collection of boring mini-games that clocks in at 400 MS points. Brain Challenge is a pretty good knockoff of Brain Age for the Nintendo DS. One of them is actually entertaining. That game is not Bliss Island. We'll give you one guess as to which game was halfway decent. Watch the video above and rejoice in the fact that you will never have to play Bliss Island.

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Tags: bliss-island, brain-challenge, x3f-tv, x3ftv, xbla, xbla-in-brief, xbox-live-arcade

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

andyface @ Mar 14th 2008 7:56PM

I didn't bother to play Bliss Island, and from the scathing review I probably never will, but I did have a go of the brain training and found it somewhat enjoyable... until it told me I used 0% of my brain!

Surely I wouldn't have been able to pick up the controller and react to the various tasks asked of me, maybe this is one of those clever ploys to get you to buy the whole thing, obviously my brain needs training so that I can utilise 100% of it's capacity and then take over the world from my bedroom. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA... errr yeah!

qbix @ Mar 14th 2008 8:19PM

Great reviews. Keep 'em coming.

PerfectStrategy @ Mar 14th 2008 9:16PM

Actually everybody gets tricked by Brain Challenge because they don't explain how the calculation works. Apparently it actually increases over time. So you might think from playing the trial and scoring 0 or 1, that getting to 100 would be impossible. But actually it will happen you just have to play a lot of games, it is really just an experience measurement.

Daniel @ Mar 14th 2008 10:05PM

Glad to know I wasn't the only one that thought Bliss Island was horrible. And I only tried the first game!

Brain Challenge is fun and I may purchase it eventually. My only gripe is that some of the tasks are a bit difficult because of the timer but meh. It was still fun.

mike @ Mar 14th 2008 11:53PM

brain challenge to me was dumb. I scored perfect in all games except really low in the math game. I know ive always been slow at math all through life but im good at it and like to make sure im accurate so i take my time.

After playing for a while, I just wanted it to end. It felt like I was doing some sort of online IQ test that just goes on and on and wont end. Its not fun at all. Feels like a test from school or something.

I figured your brain % usage was jsut a scam when It told me I was only using 1%. I figured it was more of a progress % which is dumb.

Bliss island was extremely boring. Seems like a cell phone game. I wouldnt recommend either of these games. Do yourselves all a favour and go back and keep playing some N+

Deck @ Mar 15th 2008 12:52AM

3...2...1... GO!

Thanks for the great reviews! Appreciate the heads up regarding these things! Can't wait to hear more! I mean.. see more!

Tony @ Mar 15th 2008 3:40PM

Bliss Island could have been more entertaining if the games didn't feel so unbearably long. There were a few mini-games in there I felt were not bad ideas, but there's just problems with the execution.

I guess if you're a casual games nut with $5 to spare you could do worse, but personally I'm sure not interested lol.

CB @ Mar 15th 2008 5:25PM

Great episode, Richard.

Jonman @ Mar 15th 2008 5:45PM

Hmm. I quite enjoyed the Bliss Island demo. Mind you, it was 3 in the morning, and I had just polished off a bottle of wine.

As for Brain Challenge, that's soooo 20006. I'm done with math games.

Eoco @ Mar 16th 2008 6:21AM

Really like this feature, great vid.

Perses @ Mar 16th 2008 9:27PM

Keep the XBLA Reviews coming. I love getting the previews and opinions before bothering to download the releases each week.

Kane @ Mar 17th 2008 9:48AM

My g/f LOVED Bliss Island and was all giggly over it.

Adam @ Mar 25th 2008 10:37AM

watching this reminds me of back in grade school when I used to write my book reports by reading the back cover. I understand it's a review of the trial but that's exactly the point, it's just to give you a taste. It's ashame people are that lazy they can't spend 5-10 minutes to try a game out for themselves.

remauxiliary @ Mar 21st 2008 1:37PM

I normally do not read reviews for XBLA games (as they are free to try, and who knows what I like better than I do? hint:no one), but I saw a link to this review at the bottom of the X3F Week in review, and I noticed that it mentioned Bliss Island by saying "Bliss is not the right word. Not even close". This caught my attention as I have tried the game for myself, and I was curious to see what else this reviewer had to say.

I do not agree with this review or how Richard Mitchell went about reviewing it. Though he is correct about the games taking a bit long, I feel that saying you can "rejoice in the fact that you will never have to play Bliss Island" is going a bit too far. Had I had an extra 400 points, I would have picked it up for S&G's. The mini-games may not stand on their own, but I found the simple interface and goals to be a nice break from straining my brain to reach that coveted 20% brain usage :) Its an XBLA game for petes sake, and you can try it for FREE! Why are so many people parading around their ignorance like it is a GOOD thing?

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Daniel said...

Glad to know I wasn't the only one that thought Bliss Island was horrible. And I only tried the first game!
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So I guess that makes you an expert on it right? You played the first game, that must mean you know all there is to know about it! I mean, why try something for yourself when you can have someone else tell you what is good or bad?

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Perses said...

Keep the XBLA Reviews coming. I love getting the previews and opinions before bothering to download the releases each week.
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Yeah, because it takes soooo long to download an XBLA game, right? Because it would take soooo much out of you to get a first hand experience at something, right? But somehow you are able to *bother* to watch someone else's experience, and that is just as good, right?

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Mike said...

Do yourselves all a favour and go back and keep playing some N+
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Thats right, nobody try anything new or different. Just keep playing what *everyone else* feels is an acceptable game. This guy didn't like it, so why would you? Oh wait! What about the fact that you are two completely different individuals? Did that not enter your thought process? (Though N+ does seem awesome)

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Tony said...

Bliss Island could have been more entertaining if the games didn't feel so unbearably long. There were a few mini-games in there I felt were not bad ideas, but there's just problems with the execution.

I guess if you're a casual games nut with $5 to spare you could do worse, but personally I'm sure not interested lol.
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Tony, this is a good review. You put the whole game into perspective without resorting to snickering about how awful the game was. You gave the points you thought were positive, the points that could have made this better, then you told people that *personally* it is not for you. You didn't try to stifle the already dying art of first hand experience by posting that you can "rejoice in the fact that you will never have to play Bliss Island."

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Adam said...

watching this reminds me of back in grade school when I used to write my book reports by reading the back cover. I understand it's a review of the trial but that's exactly the point, it's just to give you a taste. It's ashame people are that lazy they can't spend 5-10 minutes to try a game out for themselves.
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Well said my friend. Its good to see that I'm not the only one who views this kind of jackassery as a "shame". I cant believe that people are happy to just accept what others tell them. I can understand checking out reviews for games that will put you out 60 bucks, but to be expected to 'rejoice' in knowing that we should just do what we're told is BS. Especially when I could very simply try this out for myself. Its free. How much easier could it be to figure out whether or not I like it for myself? Obviously the answer is "Being told what I like."

Lil_greenparrott @ Mar 22nd 2008 2:05AM

I played Bliss, and its an OK game. The tasks are fairly simple. I was amused by the flatulent Rabbit running from a giant roller of spiked doom. Gave me a India Jones feel. I tried it, and its really not my style.

And for the guy who said he passed all of Brain challenge and was bored, why not go use your big brain in the real world for something other then bitching on blogs like us common folk. ;p