iAppLover

Cuteness makes a normally simple game into one that’s memorable and sometimes, addictive. Even simple number games can become a lot more entertaining with some cutesy stuff and in the case of the iPhone game, Brain Thaw, it does. Groovy Squared brings to the many hand held players out there a cute little penguin named Newton, whose meaningful name pretty much implies that he’s the smartest penguin you’ve ever met. Not that the glasses wouldn’t have showed off that aspect of him at first glance.

Brain Thaw is a game of numbers – or rather, a game where you feed Newton numbers. Unfortunately Newton, like many pets and animals, can sometimes be picky. Some dogs like wet food, some animals want their food to be dead for a few days. Newton on the other hand enjoys numbers that fit his current mood.

That mood is portrayed, per level, in the form of a mathematical equation. That equation tells you which of the numbers on screen Newton wants to eat that level. Double tap or double click those with the right mathematical flavor and Newton will chomp them up. Fortunately, that’s not the end of the Brain Thaw deal – if it was, it wouldn’t be as fun, even if it does exercise your brain with some light analysis.

Our good penguin Newton is haunted by Yetis, who, mythical as they are, apparently enjoy a good penguin shaped snack. No one knows if Newton did something to provoke these Yetis into targeting it or his numerous snacks simply fall into their feeding grounds, but no matter what the reason, they’re his adversaries. Like people, the Yetis in Brain Thaw are moody in a number of ways, from aggressive yeti who will chase your penguin avatar down with a vengeance to lurkers who’re simply waiting for the right time.

Winning is simple – since Newton is a glutton, you just need to consume every single number that fits the set numeric equation on the board without getting chomped on by a yeti. Like any other game, there are bonuses that can pump up your score, which can give you a nice place on the leaderboards.

Brain Thaw delivers a nice little experience with nice music and cute characters and of course, a nice premise for the game’s mechanics. Unfortunately, it never really draws a person in. It’s never difficult enough to really drag someone into it. If a kid’s playing it, you can be sure that they’ll milk it for all it’s worth. For an adult however, they’ll find that even at the hardest settings that the game has an extremely limited lifespan.