With global domination in mind, The Brain (a genetically-enhanced mouse that has intellectual capabilities surpassing those of most human beings) has agreed to be part of an experiment along with his sidekick Pinky. This experiment involves participation in a series of mazes that will help enhance world domination skills.
To start, players must select whether they want to "be" Pinky or The Brain, and choose from a palette of vibrant colors for the maze tiles. World Conquest is all about claiming territory and holding on to it. It involves lots of strategy, hand-eye coordination, and good reflexes. The game is a 3D arcade-style strategy game in which players are placed in mazes where they must claim as much territory as they can.
This game uses the original voices from the Pinky and the Brain cartoon series and can be played using the computer keyboard or a gamepad. Different controls include jumping, pushing walls, spin camera, use power-ups, and even taunt (press the spacebar to let Pinky or the Brain say something). Clips from the television show occur now and again. Choose Brain if you want to be playfully "put down" when you fail at a maze -- you might hear "Perhaps if I was pulling your strings, it might have turned out differently" -- or you can choose Pinky who doesn't have such high expectations for himself.
There are 30 pre-designed mazes in all, and 4 different types:
- Time Games involve claiming as much territory before time runs out, and whoever has the most at the end wins.
- To win a Land Game, the player must be the first to claim a certain percentage of territory.
- Combo Games combine time and land games -- the winner is decided by who claims a certain percentage within a time limit.
- To win a Tag Game, a player must control a piece of cheese for the longest time.
Players can pick up Power-Ups and Gadgets and use them to further their goal before they wear off. Examples are Super Speed, Super Strength, Curse Camera (good for confusing your opponent), Curse Color (opponents are on your side temporarily), and Freeze. Use your Gadgets wisely -- they allow you to break or build walls, zap to different parts of the maze, hinder your opponent's way with slippery oil, and more. There are lots of different variables to consider -- the walls of the mazes can be basic (can be pushed and broken), permanent (immovable), fake (walk right through these), and portal (one-way magic doors).
In single player mode, you can opt to play the "Taking Over the World" mode in which you are given a Global Domination Agenda. Each maze on the agenda must be completed consecutively before advancing to the next, but you can play any of the completed games any time you want. The mazes get progressively more challenging as you advance. We did discover after repeatedly attempting one particularly difficult maze without success that we were given the option to skip it -- when we chose to do so, we were playfully called a quitter. "Tournament" mode allows you to set up a tournament and is sort of a free play mode -- choose any maze you want. Playing a single-player tourney involves selecting your computer opponents' skill levels. The goal is to claim territory and try to hold on to it as well.
Multi-player mode involves competing against human opponents over a LAN or the Internet, hosted by MSN Gaming Zone. Players can either join or host a tournament. There is a way for two players to play on the same computer with two different gamepads, but it looks to be rather tricky.
The radar map is always available at the top right hand side of the screen which helps to see which squares players have claimed as their own. As well, the time and/or percentage is shown on the screen. Three different camera views make things interesting and customizable. Players can rotate the maze with their camera control, and in fact this rotation is necessary as part of the strategy for certain games.
For some creative fun, there is a Maze Builder activity! It can be accessed from the Programs menu, and mazes you build can be saved and played in tournaments. This option boosts the educational value of the game a tad. Engineering types will enjoy this feature. Choose the maze size, number of players, game type and the number of seconds or percent required as appropriate, the place (city, desert, even the moon), time of day, and the skill levels of your computer opponents.
This game is tremendous fun for puzzle/arcade fans. There's no doubt about it, though, World Conquest is challenging and younger fans of the show may not be up to the task. The game will appeal to people who like puzzles/strategy and arcade style games. My husband, myself, and my 8 year old son are having a blast with this game. We love the whole atmosphere and feel of the game, as well as the graphics. An 11 year old tester thinks it's one of the best computer games he's seen for awhile.
"Taking over the World" mode contains puzzles that get progressively more challenging as you go along. The first ones on the agenda are meant as a means of orientation to the many different scenarios (power-ups, etc.) that can require a lot of practice before mastering. New scenarios are introduced one at a time. I personally found one of the early puzzles especially difficult, but after many attempts I was able to skip it, then come back to it later and finally complete it!
