Art of the iPhone

If you want feel like an idiot on a regular basis, The Moron Test ($0.99, iTunes link) is probably right up your alley. This iPhone game is basically a series of trickster questions designed to keep you on your toes and reacting quickly. What’s also quick is how easily you will tire of the game.

There are two sections to The Moron Test, each with different rounds. To make it to the next level, you have to correctly input the right answer to tasks like the one above. In many cases, the answers are really easy as long as you take a moment to think them through. Other questions, however, are pretty tricky. For example, the game will ask you to tap the blue button five times but on the fourth tap it will switch positions with the red button next to it. Unless you’re tapping pretty slowly, chances are you’ll tap the red button and get the infamous FAIL screen.

When you see this screen, that means you have to go all the way back to the beginning and repeat all the questions you’ve already answered. This is incredibly tedious and not that much fun since you already know the correct answers. The game could be improved dramatically if it substituted similar but different questions when you go back to the beginning.

When you complete the first round, you’ll move on to the next. Fortunately, if you get answers wrong in the second round, you only have to go back to the start of round 2, not the beginning of the entire session — unless you get sent back too many times, which will send you back to the beginning. A small timer monitors your progress in the lower left-hand corner, so once you get the hang of the game you can compete against yourself or try to beat your friends’ times.

The game is built on a clever premise, and the makers definitely did a good job coming up with questions that make you shake your head and say “I can’t believe they got me on that!” The graphics are great and the accompanying sound effects are cute.

Conclusion

In the end, however, The Moron Test is one of those games that you play once and then it sits unused and neglected in your iPhone menu until you eventually delete it. Sure, you can go back through and try to beat your time, but of course you’re going to be faster because you already know all the answers. Bo-ring. Sure, the game is incredibly popular because it’s fun to play initially to see if you can beat your friends. What I would like to know is how many of those people actually play the game again after the first day. We rate it a 6.0 out of 10.

The Moron Test is a $0.99 download from the iTunes App Store.