Brain Training - Nintendo DS
Posted: June 29th, 2007, 21:53
Dr Kawashima's Brain Training - Nintendo DS
I bought this after seeing the adverts for More Brain Training. It's been kind of a flagship game for the DS and I've been curious about it for ages, so I bit the bullet.
It's an interesting concept. Not a game as such, but a series of exercises that are supposed to increase your mental agility or, as Dr Kawashima puts it, lower your brain age.
There are a few different things to do here. First there are the brain age tests. You can do the test once a day, and the consist of three exercises from a selection of many. Some involve you reading stuff out, some involve memory. After the three tests you get told your adjusted brain age, and it's plotted on a chart.
Then there are the training exercises. These start off with simple mental arithmetic done as quickly as possible, and with reading out loud (or in your head, as it doesn't listen) as quickly as possible. Every day you do the training a new exercise is unlocked, all quite different and all quite challenging. Again, the results are plotted on a graph and can be compared with other people who use your DS.
Thirdly, there are the sudoku puzzles. These work very well with the stylus, allowing little notes to be put in the squares to track possible outcomes. The basic puzzles are quite easy, the intermediate are hard. I play sudoku puzzles so I know the techniques, but there's not much of a tutorial so if you're not familiar with them you might be a bit stuck.
Lastly, there are little bits of things that Dr Kawashima (whose disembodied head hovers about offering tips on the menu screens like Holly from Red Dwarf) drops on you inbetween doing things. So far I've had to draw several things from memory, then once myself and Mrs Pants have done it he compares the two, where we both get to laugh at each others' crappy drawings.
I think Brain Training is a great little social game. Okay, so it's not a game but I can't think what else to call it. Mrs Pants and I compete against each other for an hour or so every evening and it's always entertaining. The progress graphs give you a sense of achievement and the exercises are pleasantly challenging. It's probably not for everyone, but for people who like puzzles like sudoku and crosswords it might well prove very entertaining.
I bought this after seeing the adverts for More Brain Training. It's been kind of a flagship game for the DS and I've been curious about it for ages, so I bit the bullet.
It's an interesting concept. Not a game as such, but a series of exercises that are supposed to increase your mental agility or, as Dr Kawashima puts it, lower your brain age.
There are a few different things to do here. First there are the brain age tests. You can do the test once a day, and the consist of three exercises from a selection of many. Some involve you reading stuff out, some involve memory. After the three tests you get told your adjusted brain age, and it's plotted on a chart.
Then there are the training exercises. These start off with simple mental arithmetic done as quickly as possible, and with reading out loud (or in your head, as it doesn't listen) as quickly as possible. Every day you do the training a new exercise is unlocked, all quite different and all quite challenging. Again, the results are plotted on a graph and can be compared with other people who use your DS.
Thirdly, there are the sudoku puzzles. These work very well with the stylus, allowing little notes to be put in the squares to track possible outcomes. The basic puzzles are quite easy, the intermediate are hard. I play sudoku puzzles so I know the techniques, but there's not much of a tutorial so if you're not familiar with them you might be a bit stuck.
Lastly, there are little bits of things that Dr Kawashima (whose disembodied head hovers about offering tips on the menu screens like Holly from Red Dwarf) drops on you inbetween doing things. So far I've had to draw several things from memory, then once myself and Mrs Pants have done it he compares the two, where we both get to laugh at each others' crappy drawings.
I think Brain Training is a great little social game. Okay, so it's not a game but I can't think what else to call it. Mrs Pants and I compete against each other for an hour or so every evening and it's always entertaining. The progress graphs give you a sense of achievement and the exercises are pleasantly challenging. It's probably not for everyone, but for people who like puzzles like sudoku and crosswords it might well prove very entertaining.
