 Review By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | Nintendo |
| Publisher: | Nintendo | |
| Genre: | Puzzle | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | N/A | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Like a number of games I’ve picked up for the Nintendo DS recently, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day isn’t really a game at all. However, while a game like Electroplankton might offer a few fleeting moments of enjoyment, Brain Age is one of the first games that may actually have a lasting effect on you. Designed to train your brain (as the title says), this game is little more than a daily workout for your mind, turning your DS into a sort of personal intelligence organizer, which is a really novel and helpful idea. However, although it probably won’t make you any smarter, buying this game is certainly a step in the right direction.
Doctor Ryuta Kawashima, whose work Brain Age is based off of, did a study of 120 people, ranging from age 20 to 70, and their brain functions. The average results for each age bracket are used to help determine at what level your own brain is functioning (a combination of how fast and accurately), with the optimum age being that of a 20-year old. When you first start, you are given a brief test to help determine your brain’s age, and then you work everyday towards improving (and, at the very least, maintaining) that score using the same tests and more.
The tests themselves were also studied before being selected, and the most effective ones were placed in Brain Age. They come in a variety of forms, from math problems to memory tests, making use of both the microphone and the touch screen, but we’ll look into each of them individually in just a moment. At first glance, some of the tests may seem very easy, but when you actually attempt them, you may be surprised (and perhaps somewhat disappointed) at your results. The opposite is also true, with some seeming far harder when they are actually quite easy, but that is due in part to the occasional instance of poor explanation. Also, while it may be quite clear how some tests can prove beneficial to your mind, others aren’t so apparent – and, if fact, I’m still not sure they are helpful.
As I’ve mentioned before, Brain Age won’t actually make you smarter, and anything to the opposition is actually a rather crude misconception. There is very little, if any, actual knowledge to be had from playing this game. Instead, the game can help you do something infinitely more valuable: it can help you learn things. Using skills garnered from frequently training with the activities, you can teach your brain how to extract and retain knowledge while discarding the trash. When you get right down to it, this is without question more helpful than a game that would feed you facts. This way, the game actually has applications in real life. Say, for instance, you need to stay up late and cram for a test. I have no doubt that someone who follows a Brain Age-like regiment for keeping their brain on its toes, so to speak, would have a much easier time picking out the important information from each chapter and remembering it.
When you first start Brain Age, there are only a few activities available in the training section, but more are unlocked as you play what’s available everyday and collect stamps as proof. Even though the training section is actually listed below "Brain Age Check" in the menu, you should do some training before you take the test, as the warm-up is best for getting ready and improving your score. The first three training exercises you will have available are Calculations x 20, Calculations x 100 and Reading Aloud, so I’ll explain those first and then just go right on down the list.
The Calculation exercises, x 20 and x 100, are both the same, just simple math problems in different amounts: 20 problems vs. 100, respectively. There’s nothing really difficult in there, unless of course you don’t know your multiplication tables, which I doubt if you have any interest at all in this game.
Reading Aloud is pretty self-explanatory, as you just read excerpts from different books aloud into the microphone as fast as you can. You are graded to some extent – it calculates how fast you read based on how long the excerpt is and how fast you turn the pages – but it is really just a way to stimulate your brain. In the examples given to you by the game, the brain is most functional when you are reading fast and out loud.
In Low to High, the game will briefly flash a set of numbers to you, in varying amounts and patterns depending what level you are on, and on a corresponding pattern on the touch screen you must tap placeholders for the numbers from lowest to highest. This one is quick and fun, designed to help improve your memory, but your first mistake is also your last and you’ll drop back down to the previous level.
A passage will appear on the LCD screen in Syllable Count, where you’ll count the syllables and write the answer on the touch screen. Once again, you’ll be timed, and you get a penalty for a certain amount of seconds for each wrong answer. You’ll solve a pyramid equation in Triangle Math, working your way down the rows until only a single number remains. Time Lapse is another one of those puzzles that couldn’t be any more self-explanatory if it tried. You’ll look at two clocks and determine the amount of time that has passed and write it in on the touch screen.
Similar to Calculation x 20 and Calculation x 100, Voice Calculation throws a stream of math problems at you, which you must solve and then answer using the built-in Nintendo DS microphone.
And finally, a certain amount of people will appear onscreen in Head Count. They’ll be hidden inside a house, and then people will enter and exit the house in varying numbers (rather quickly I might add) and you must write down how many people are left.
Posted: 2006-04-21 06:13:27 PST