PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient 2
- June 12, 2007 15:33 PM PST
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As another contender aiming to dethrone Brain Age as the champion of glorified hand-held IQ test games, Practical Intelligence Quotient 2 has a decidedly unique flavor, making it stand out in a sea of uninspired Brain Age clones.
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Instead of the frenzied mini-game format standardized by Brain Age, PIQ2 has you manipulate 3d environments in order to reach a goal in environments reminiscent of the VR missions from the Metal Gear Solid games. You must learn to expertly manipulate the pressure switches, lasers, blocks, warps and others among nearly a dozen different objects in order to teach the goal of a given stage. How quickly you reach the goal governs your overall PQ, or Practical Intelligence Quotient.
Dungeon Crawling
The game comes stocked with 100 puzzles and there are already "Weekly Test" puzzle pack downloads available through the game's robust infrastructure mode. The infrastructure mode also allows you to compare your test results against everyone else's. There is a wealth of information available with leader boards categorized by things like gender or even blood type. Comparing your PQ to that of the rest of the world motivates you to keep coming back to climb the ranks.
However, despite the incentives provided by PIQ2's online leader boards to keep you playing, its downfall, ironically, is how robust the testing process is. In order to feel like you've done anything substantial with PIQ2 you're going to have to sit down with the game for at least 20-30 minutes. This is also about as long as it will take for most people to get tired with the redundancy of the testing format. Finding your way across a fairly nondescript grid environment to a goal gets boring quickly, and spending too much with PIQ2 evokes the same sensation as sitting down to take a standardized test.
PIQ2 provides a robust online environment for competitive puzzle solving, but unfortunately it does little to captivate or entertain with its core gameplay. Only those willing to dedicate a decent chunk of their day to what amounts to a standardized test in polygonal form need apply.
Pros: Lots of puzzles, robust online leaderboards.
Cons: Feels more like a test than a game.
