My Word Coach from Ubisoft instead of attempting to train your whole brain, seeks to expand only your vocabulary. And as we know, these games are different in style to normal games and are meant to be played in daily, 15-minute sessions over a number ...
My Word Coach is as far from a traditional style game as its possible to get and, unlike most games which are designed to play out their narrative over a few intensive play sessions, is meant to be played in daily, 15-minute sessions over a number of weeks or months. This leads to a real problem when it comes to writing a review. Can a reviewer give an accurate opinion of the game by playing it intensively over a few days to quickly see everything the game has to offer and then writing up their opinion in a single article?
I dont think thats possible, so instead of a single write-up, this review will be updated at regular intervals with impressions based on a play experience as close as possible to how a person who buys the game would experience it. Think of it as a chronicle of my ongoing experience with My Word Coach. In this way I hope to provide a more thorough review for anyone considering buying the game.
On starting My Word Coach, anyone familiar with Nintendos Brain Training or Big Brain Academy will feel right at home with a quirky little professor introducing himself and guiding the player through the initial set-up and early challenges. While the content may be different to Nintendos titles, the concept never strays too far, which instantly made me feel like I had played the game before. To me this was a little bit of a turn-off, as after four Brain titles across the DS and Wii from Nintendo, I was hoping for something a little different.
The initial challenge, Missing Letter, asks the player to fill in a blank space in a word by spray-painting the letter on the screen with the Wii-remote. It feels a little bit clumsy at first, but soon becomes an adequate input method. It never feels completely accurate and is definitely not fast enough, but it works well enough to be functional. There are a few issues with letter recognition, but unlike the frustrations most people have with Brain Trainings voice recognition causing wrong answers, the game has a tendency to recognise an incorrect letter as the correct one. Other challenges ask you to match up words with their correct definitions, spell a word from a jumble of letters and guess a word from a short clue. The challenges generally work really well, but the Wii-remote is sometimes not the best way to control them.
Instead of a brain age or brain weight, My Word Coach assesses your expression potential, a score that measures your ability to use the English language. It is a reasonable way of keeping track of your progress, but is not really up to the standards set by Nintendo in Brain Training or Big Brain Academy. Although it gives you some feedback, it never really feels like it is accurately rating your understanding and ability.
The game’s presentation is clean and simple and the menus are easy to navigate. There is plently of voice acting and some simple tunes to keep you entertained.
Overall my initial impressions are mixed, with some control frustrations and a feeling of been there, done that getting in the way of my enjoyment. Some of the challenges are a little lacklustre as well, with some standing out far more than others. I hope as I continue to explore the game, that I will be drawn in and really want to keep improving my expression potential. As it stands, My Word Coach leaves a bit to be desired. It is a reasonably good take on Nintendo’s Brain games, but just lacks that extra element of compelling gameplay that I feel kept me coming back to those titles.
Stay tuned to our continuing impressions when this review is updated soon. A Final score will also be given at the conclusion.
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