Google+

The Top 7... Games that make us feel like geniuses

Who says too much gaming will dumb you down? These brain-bending experiences prove otherwise

Words: on January 31, 2011
Back to Article

67 comments

  • AlpineGuy - February 1, 2011 6:20 a.m.

    Nice list, Charlie! I can actually vouch that I kept up with, as well as challenged, all the theories of my college's Objectivist Club by only using my knowledge of BioShock. I'm actually kinda disappointed that playing one game made me qualified to find faults in an entire club's line of reasoning. The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games always made me feel purty smart, although it definitely falls under the "adventure game rules' kind of smart.

  • Cyber6x - February 1, 2011 7:12 a.m.

    Phoenix Wright? That game made me feel so smart whenever I cracked a case that was tough.

  • jmcgrotty - February 1, 2011 8:30 a.m.

    While I think this has already been said, point-and-click games don't take a lot of work. They take a lot of patience to try each combination until you find what they are looking for. I love them, and they are easily more entertaining than 97.3% of the other games every made, but they are mostly repetition. The rubber chicken in the tree in Kings Quest 7 still gets on my nerves. And GammaGames, yes, you are a genious.

  • AshLynx - February 1, 2011 8:46 a.m.

    Man, I just love pokemon! Coming up with good strategies for teams that complement each other definitely makes me feel smart, especially if they work to any degree, getting the EV and IV stuff....ugh, well that's mostly annoying, IV (at least through gen 4) requires stupid amounts of luck.

  • grayguwapo - February 1, 2011 9:07 a.m.

    That formula for Pokemon kinda gave me a headache... but don't forget the Final Fantasy series (or most other JRPG's) where similarly you have to know and calculate how each an every item affects your stats... Good article!

  • Rhymenocerous - February 1, 2011 10:52 a.m.

    Broken Sword.

  • cart00n - February 1, 2011 11:19 a.m.

    Assassin's Creed made me feel smart, especially figuring out the hidden tombs. The environmental puzzles in Enslaved were pretty clever, too - just wish there were more of them (woulda liked driving that shiny bike, too - dlc?). BG&E made me feel smart because of the story, it was the first truly mature game I'd ever played - I mean TRULY mature, not "look at all the blood!" & "BOOBIES!" mature (tho' I loves me some o' that, too!). And, trust me, as someone who's spent a lot of time in therapy and reading psychology books, Psychonauts is actually pretty accurate in its terminology - even if it's presented in a totally fantastical way. Just adding those...

  • philipshaw - February 1, 2011 12:29 p.m.

    Great article and there couldn't have been a more deserving No.1

  • Ilyere - February 1, 2011 2:53 p.m.

    My goodness, that Pokemon formula is complicated! I'll just stick with the normal "Gotta catch 'em all!" thing.

  • mikeydo00 - February 1, 2011 3:04 p.m.

    Im going to show that math equation to my teacher and see if his almighty ass can figure it out

  • 123deckbox - February 1, 2011 5:15 p.m.

    At least Tomb Raider was put on there! That game had me frustrated to no end trying to figure puzzles out and really made me feel like a genius when they were solved.

  • oryandymackie - February 1, 2011 5:32 p.m.

    Try playing Modern Warfare 2 online. You'll definitely feel like a genius.

  • Rattlehead - February 1, 2011 7:01 p.m.

    What, no Deus Ex?

  • Japanaman - February 1, 2011 7:40 p.m.

    The NES Sesame Street games make me feel like a genius.

  • Nap1400 - February 1, 2011 8:54 p.m.

    Does anyone even use that formula for Pokemon? I'll just keep covering the mic and mashing A, thank you very much.

  • seanhayden - February 1, 2011 11:13 p.m.

    no phoenix wright?

  • NightCrawler_358 - February 1, 2011 11:15 p.m.

    These games make me feel like a total idiot most of the time. Especially if I'm ever broken down to reading a guide to geet through it. But when i beat Portal all by myself, I was so full of myself, struttin around.

  • Darkhawk - February 1, 2011 11:35 p.m.

    Way to pick two of the most pretentious games ever in your list of "genius" games. As wonderful as Braid's puzzles were, and as fun as BioShock's gunplay could be, both those games are extraordinarily guilty of the "we must be so smart because we sound like it" phenomenon. Braid's obtuse story was self-indulgent and meaningless. And the fact that a game in which you can shoot bees out of your hand also includes references to Ayn Rand does not make it intelligent. Just because God of War has Greek gods in it, you wouldn't call it a history lesson, would you?

  • Tochy - February 1, 2011 11:59 p.m.

    @ Darkhawk correct

  • Logan2911 - February 2, 2011 6:26 a.m.

    What about Zelda & Darksiders those are the two games that made me fell like a genies

Showing 41-60 of 67 comments

Join the Discussion
Add a comment
(HTML tags are not allowed.)
Characters remaining: 5000

Connect with GamesRadar


Featured Guides

Connect with Facebook

Log in using Facebook to share comments, games, status update and other activity easily with your Facebook feed.