by Eric Bailey

Created on: January 08, 2009   Last Updated: January 12, 2009

The only game with a mind-control plot to take over the world, BrainPipe: A Plunge To Unhumanity is a unique diversion from the typical small-market, cookie-cutter software out there. In a somewhat genre-defying setting within your own brain, you race through neural pathways, avoiding electrical nervous relays and gaining "cells" of some arcane form of molecular strands. Gain enough, and you garner such in-name-only abilities as "Awareness," presumably toward some goal of nirvana-like enlightenment.

Gameplay: Slick and inituitive, you simply move your mouse to steer, while left-clicking to "brake" and right-clicking to travel slightly faster. Your view is focused on a grid that serves as the head of whatever manner of conveyance you are traveling in. Automatically, you understand to avoid the stuff that sparks and fires, while gaining the shiny, glowy objects. Yes, this game is ADD-friendly, but suffers from one crippling flaw: It eventually, despite its pretty looks and goofy sounds, becomes extraordinarily difficult and unbearably repetitive. It is a gem in its appearance, a virtuoso of sensory delight, but suffers from a severe lack of replay value.

Graphics: Sharp! With gorgeous colors rendered beautifully and gradients appearing somewhat randomly, the environment, though limited in scope, is rich in its appearance. Even the menu screens have icons and other features that, if they were a song, could only be described as catchy.

Sound: Spot-on engineered, the sound effects are simply but fun, while the background music is remarkable for a cheap software game. What feels like a mellow techno ballad one moment will, seconds later, transform into a bubbly video game theme song. The beats change as your fortune does, so as you experience increased deterioration to your mental journey, expect to begin hearing chaotic choruses of voices intermixed with the tracks as well. Superb.

Creativity/Originality: Check out the game's website for its quirky marketing, where BrainPipe is made out to be some nefarious form of brainwave-altering device pent on world domination. This is one of those titles that, from its first screen onward, speaks volumes about the genuine love its creators must have had for the project. Thwarting any attempt to effectively label or typecast it, this proves to be, if nothing else, a very creative and original game.

Investment: Play the demo to get a smile out of it, but don't bother purchasing: You'll be tired of it in 20 minutes anyway.

Score: 3/5

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