Math maniac

 After having had more fun than I should of whilst playing the very simplistic "Mathgame" I decided to see what other mathematical based games were on the Android market. One of the highest ranked was the wonderfully named "Math Maniac" which has a red android on the title screen (as you can see to the side) and has a very basic but effective look to it.

One of the great features about "Mathgame" was that as much as you felt frustrated you feel like you were always testing your brain and it made "learning" fun. The big challenge for any other learning game was to try and match the level of addictiveness and fun, and it's something that I didn't expect "Math Maniac" to even get close, I'll admit I've been surprised by the game.

The idea of the. The game is a simple one (and as you can see below the game actually features it's own instructions), you need to tap numbers on the screen to to make the larger number in the bottom corner. For example

 if the number in the corner was 45, you'd have to click something like 4,5,6,7,8,9,6. You have 20 seconds (10 on hard) to reach the number or you fail and your game ends. Like the quick mode on "Mathgame" you find yourself panicking and worrying and making silly mistakes as you feel the count down though you keep starting over trying to set yourself a higher score and reach higher levels.

When you clear all the numbers on the screen you move onto the next level and the target numbers become larger and more complex. In the first level for example you can generally get the target by needing to select just 2 or 3 numbers but by the 4 level you are looking at needing 5 or 6 numbers at a time. It leads to you improving your reactions and your maths and yet no matter how many times you fail you will find yourself coming back to try and beat your scores and get further.

Math Maniac and Mathgame have more in common than just being games about maths. Both games have a very simple but effective graphical display
with Math Maniac though you have a slightly more simple but a slightly better visual. The numbers are each given a different colour, but using more of the same colour to reach the target you get an improved score (whilst in Mathgame you'd have only 1 or 2 coloured tiles to use, each providing bonuses). As well as the improved graphics of Math Maniac we also have music (yay!) although on the Samsung Galaxy the music is incredibly quiet and hard to hear it does seem quiet a nice soft backing.

Addictiveness-9/10. Learning is once again stupidly addictive!
Controls-10/10. Exactly what you'd expect and they work sublimely
Graphics-6/10. It's a slight improvement on Mathgame and is colourful and bright. Not amazing but looks good for what it is.
Sounds-5/10 A nice, simple sounding tune plays in the background. Although it is awfully quiet it does it's job.
Originality-7/10 Not completely original but it's no less original than Mathgame so it has the score here.

Total score:
37/50

Overall the game is addictive, it looks good, there sound, it's original, it's brilliant. Although it's genuinely difficult so split this and Mathgame (I think Mathgame is slightly more addictive whilst this has a better look and sound to it) both are brilliant. It's a must whether you want to sharpen your maths or just waste a few minutes.

Game Mark B+