Brain Age: Train your brain in minutes a day!

5 Responses to “Brain Age: Train your brain in minutes a day!”

1. Lestor neeker Wong says:

   October 30, 2010 at 6:12 am

   Review by Lestor neeker Wong for Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
   Rating:
   I’m not entirely sure whether I can call a game like Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day a video game. Its graphics are hardly groundbreaking, its audios are almost monotonous, and its core gameplay involves reading aloud, counting syllables and solving mathematical problems. Surely, that’s not what video gaming is all about, is it? Well, not if you hail from the Nintendo school of gaming, no. As mundane as Brain Age sounds, it’s actually strangely addictive, and once you begin your journey of improving your brain age, you’ll find yourself deeply immersed in the various activities aimed at giving your brain a daily workout.

   The primary objective of Brain Age is to “exercise your brain”. This is done through doing activities that are designed to stimulate your prefrontal cortex, which is the part of your brain that influences how you apply what you’ve learnt (whatever). It’s believed that doing these activities on a regular basis will have a positive effect on your brain. Whether or not this holds any truth, I’m not sure. But with 15 activities to choose from, at least the game can keep you occupied for quite a while, even though some of these activities are less desirable to do than others.

   Some of these activities include a calculation game, which puts you through a series of simple mathematical problems. 2+6, anyone? Or 8×7, for that matter? Well, you get the picture. The idea is basically to get the brain to start thinking quickly with a succession of simple questions, instead of forcing the player to spend too much time dwelling on one. There’re different variations of this calculation module, but the underlying gameplay doesn’t divert from the idea of rapidly solving a problem.

   Reading aloud is another activity in Brain Age. Obviously, this makes use of the DS’ mic, and it basically requires you to read through an article as quickly as possible. While you may have problems pronouncing words like “epoch”, you can actually breeze through this activity by simply bulldozing through without pronouncing the words properly. Just remember to wipe the saliva off your DS screens. Syllables counting is another mini-game on Brain Age. This one requires you to count the number of syllables in a short sentence, and then write the answer down on the touch screen. If you’re not exactly sure about what is a “syllable”, just remember that the word “syllable” itself has three syllables, and you should be fine.

   Of course, there’re more to just calculation, reading aloud, or counting syllables in Brain Age, but as you can see, the activities in the game are not exactly the “saving the world from an evil force” kind. Yet, the game’s appeal comes in the form of its simplicity. At times, when playing this game, I feel like I’m doing one of those online IQ tests, and the eagerness to score well is impetus enough for me to keep going despite the dryness of the questions. This basically sums up the charm of Brain Age.

   To spice things up a little, Brain Age also included a substantial amount of Sudoku puzzles. Now, if you can believe my wife, Sudoku is the best thing on Earth since sliced bread. The popularity of this grid-based puzzle game is immense, and it’s not surprising to see it being included in the game. As with the usual Sudoku books, the Sudoku puzzles in Brain Age are sorted according to difficulty. The easy ones are, well, pretty easy to solve, while the advanced ones require more logical thinking. Anyhow, Brain Age contains more than 100 Sudoku puzzles, which should keep fans of Sudoku occupied for quite some time. Having Sudoku as one of the 15 activities in Brain Age basically provides additional value for an already value-for-money budget game.

   And, to top it up, Brain Age also has a multiplayer mode, which allows you to host up to an amazing 15 players with one cartridge. Unfortunately, the only playable activity in this mode is the calculation module, which lets you take on others in 30 mathematics questions. This gets old really quickly. It’d be fun if you can challenge your friends to a game of Sudoku (duh!), really.

   Brain Age also requires a unique way of playing. You play it with the DS being held vertically, much like reading a book, with the touch screen on the right. The concept is to recreate the scenario of solving puzzles in a puzzle book, and to a certain extent, this blends in very nicely with the objective of the game. And, true to the game’s out-of-the-box nature, Brain Age is played entirely with the DS’ features. That is, via the touch screen and the mic. These make the game more “book-like” than the usual DS games. The game also caters to left-handers. If you’re a leftie like me, simply tell the game so, and you can turn the DS “the other way round” so that the touch screen switches to the left. This is a nice touch, or the game may just lose a lot of potential buyers!

   The problem with how the game plays, however, lies in the sensitivity of the touch screen and the mic. Somehow, it seems to have problem registering my pronunciation of “black”, and doesn’t really recognize my “8″ on the touch screen properly. As a result, I’ve an initial brain age of 76 (!) because of unnecessary errors. It appears that players will need to adapt to how the game receives input to do well in their own results. This is not exactly a big issue, but it could be frustrating when you’re trying to beat a certain timing, only to be let down by your poor handwriting or diction.

   In conclusion, Brain Age is a very different sort of game, even by the DS’ selection of quirky titles. It may not boast the usual features that sell a video game, but in their place, we’ve something that is simple, unassuming, and ultimately very addictive. Moreover, the game is supposed to improve the functionality of your brain, so what’s there to lose? Brain Age is highly recommended.
2. Sky says:

   October 30, 2010 at 6:41 am

   Review by Sky for Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
   Rating:
   Thinking. Analyzing. Solving Problems. Reading. Logic. These are just some of the skills that Brain Age will help you develop (or re-develop).

   No, it’s not Resident Evil or Splinter Cell. But it is as fun and addictive; it’s certainly as challenging if not more challenging, and it’s a nice pallet cleanser from the plethora of pure entertainment value games that my kids and I play.

   Brain Age is a bit advanced at times for my grade schoolers, but the parts that they do get really help them develop the skills that they are concurrently working on in school. Big Brain Academy is a much easier (not better) alternative for younger children.

   There’s a daily training area that gives your skills a workout. And there’s a test area that challenges you to quickly and accurately work through various tasks, then provides you with a calculation of your Brain Age based on how well you did on the test. Sudoku has it’s own area to train the brain on number logic.

   Kids reading this will NO vote me to death for saying this, but this is a great game for parents to get for their kids. It’s one of the only ones (Big Brain Academy is the other) that I never take away from my own kids when they’ve misbehaved or simply just had too much video gaming. They never complain.

   One word of advice: Brain Age has a hard time recognizing an “8″ if you write it the way you’d skate a figure 8; it likes it better when you draw an 8 as two circles on top of each other.

   Addictive fun. Buy it.
   
3. skooly says:

   October 30, 2010 at 7:04 am

   Review by skooly for Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
   Rating:
   From the moment you begin playing Brain Age you’ll realise that it’s unlike any other experience. It’s probably the only game ever made that begins with a doctor addressing you – a prominent Japanese neuroscientist to be exact. He asks a few quick questions to get the ball rolling as he scopes out your “brain age”. It’s kind of unnerving actually. After displaying a couple of brain scans in various states of activity (or inactivity), the doctor explains that your brain is like any muscle and will shrivel without exercise. Old brains are bad, young brains are good.

   Once you pass the opening formalities the doctor runs you through a more rigourous series of tests (math problems, memorization drills, concentration sets…). The good doctor then assigns you your first daily brain age rank. If it’s good (low) he’ll congratulate you and encourage you to keep working hard. If it’s bad (high) he’ll chide you and issue a warning about the dangers of aging brains. As the game progresses he’ll ask you random questions which contribute to your overall profile. This is where the genius of this game truly shines. Anyone could assemble a collection of mini math games and assorted brain teasers. Nintendo however has wrapped this all up in a diagnostic package. It feels like the game is studying you. Each day you log in the goal is clear and the feedback perfect. The interface is quick and simple, the touch screen works remarkably well and the voice recognition is a nice touch too.

   I must lower my brain age!
4. Michael Kerner says:

   October 30, 2010 at 7:47 am

   Review by Michael Kerner for Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
   Rating:
   There isn’t so much when it really comes to mental games for consoles or handhelds, unless it is something you’d see in the newspapers like the typical crossword puzzle, or the recently popular numbers game sudoku. They all have been so well-rendered to keep your mind in tip top shape. As for Nintendo, they have also made their mark with the way we play video games on the home market, and the handhelds with the Game Boy rendiditons, and the Nintendo DS nearly over a year ago. Well, Nintendo has put that mental challenge to the extremes for the DS in more ways than one.

   Brain Age for the Nintendo DS, is a compilation of all different kinds of games and puzzles that test your ability to read, and apply yourself mentally. The game consists of certain evaluations that reflect on how you remember words, simple math problems, and how fast you can also read. The game also includes sudoku on it, and it tells you how you are with the game, and what you need to do better. The stylus is really used quite well, and much better than most of the other games that rely on it. There also are challenges that test you verbally as well, like the stroop exam where you have to read the color of the text of a word, instead of the word itself. There is one big disadvantage, you have to say the words clearly through the stroop exam, because there are times where you may get the answer right, it might not be registered properly and your score may be affected.

   Despite a few flaws on the microphone, Brain Age really is a great mental challenge for Nintendo DS. It is a must buy for the mind as well as the pockets. I love how stimulating the challenges are, and there is so much to go around. I just hope there are more of these mental games for other systems like this one soon, it is definitely something missing for the video game market.

   Graphics: B+

   Sound: A-

   Price: A-

   Microphone use: C+

   Control: B 1/2+

   Fun & Enjoyment: B

   Overall: B 1/2+
5. Kat says:

   October 30, 2010 at 8:20 am

   Review by Kat for Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
   Rating:
   I know what all of you hardcore videogamers are thinking… MATH! In a video game?!?! I myself LOVE to play video games, and Brain Age is pretty different from the games I play. It interested me though, and I took the plunge and got it. After the first 10 minutes I was addicted. Whether you’re reading out loud, memorizing numbers or counting syllables, Brain Age is a great game. Training your brain isn’t TOO stressful, and you get to see how old your brain is compared to your real age! Sorry to say, but I was the oldest you can be, 80, on the first day! Now I am 22, the best age is 20, and getting better all the time! As a bonus you can play suduko, a fun game involving numbers and grids.

   Hope this helps you make your decision! TTFN!

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

CAPTCHA Code *