Gaming Big Brain Academy and Brain Age Training

[Charles]

Lately, I've been hooked on these two titles. For those of you who don't know what they are, they're essentially collections of mini games that are obviously meant to stimulate your brain. But, most importantly, they're actually a lot of fun!

Brain Age Training is the more basic of the two in terms of presentation, but it's executed really well. Also, the game isn't instantly as gratifying as Big Brain Academy either because several of the games are time-released. But the whole experience is really cool. Anyways, the game judges your intelligence based on your "brain age." The ideal brain age is 20 and you can take a test once a day to determine your brain age. Well, you can actually take it more than once, or play any of the games as many times as you wish, but they only record your score once a day.

You hold the DS sideways, like a book, and the display adjusts itself depending on whether you're left or right-handed. Some games require you to write directly on the screen, like when you're asked to solve math problems. The hand writing recognition in these portions of the game is simply awesome because it manages to recognize what I scrawl on the screen most of the time. Other games have you memorizing a list of words and seeing how many you can remember in a set period of time, or counting syllables in a passage. It all sounds kind of mundane, but it's really a lot of fun. A lot of my enjoyment stems lies in the relatively robust collection of sudoko puzzles included.

Big Brain Academy is the more difficult version of the two based on how you're judged. You'll probably be humbled the first time you give it a try. Don't get me wrong, it's not frustrating or difficult to figure out. You just have to be really good to get an impressive score. In some ways it's reminiscent of Wario Ware. The mini games in this title are more visual than Brain Age's. They're very easy to pick up and play, and they're super addictive. I would say that, aside from lacking sudoko puzzles, this one is probably the more entertaining of the two.

Both games are bargain titles, retailing at $19.99. They're both incredibly fun and I encourage some of you DS owners to give them a go. Does anyone else have at least one of these? Perhaps we could compare scores here.

[AnimeHeroX]

I like that game it's like WarioWare but really educational. this may sound cliche but who ever thaught learning could be that much fun. although their are some part's i don't like the really hard math that's got to be the Hardest subject in history. but it's a fun game if i had to give it a rating it would be a 7 out of 10 :D

[Shinmaru]

Brain Age is awesome. It's so bizarre how fun most of the games are... the whole time you're just remembering words, or doing math, or some other activity that would be boring as hell if it weren't in a video game, but trying to beat your high score (or somebody else's) makes them so much fun. I also appreciate that Brain Age is ideally suited for quick bursts of play. It's nice to not have to play a game for an hour or two in order to make any decent progress... nice change of pace from what I usually play lol.

I also have to praise the game's handwriting recognition. I don't exactly have the most wonderful handwriting in the world, but Brain Age rarely has any trouble reading the correct number from the gibberish I put down onscreen, haha. The only issue I ran into was that the game sometimes had problems recognizing the color I was saying into the microphone during the color game; however, that was actually remedied fairly easily by holding the DS a little less than an arm's length away from me. After that, the game had no trouble recognizing what I said as long as I said it clearly. So, yeah, I have no qualms with the game now and it rocks. :)

[r2vq]

[quote name='AnimeHeroX']I like that game it's like WarioWare but really educational. this may sound cliche but who ever thaught learning could be that much fun.[/quote][color=#007520]Does the game really teach you anything? Or does it just train you. I would assume that doing simple equations as quickly as they want you to isn't something that will really give you answers for a test.

Anyway, I haven't touched this game yet. I was looking forward to it, but now I am worried how quickly the game would get boring for me. It doesn't really feel like a [I]video game[/I] if you get what I mean. Though, I guess that's what Nintendo was going for.

-r2[/color]

[Billy Shears]

No game should be this fun, frustrating, challenging, addictive, educational and relaxing than Brain Age. I figured all this out after playing for about twenty minutes. You feel smarter and more quick-witted while playing for such a short time.

This game is obviously working hand in hand with Beelzebub himself.

[Sonic Boom]

I picked up Brain Age last week and have been hooked ever since. I've never had a game that has made me feel so smart at times only to turn right around and make me feel completely retarded. Still, I like having a game like this that is actually forcing me to think and use my head. The tasks my seem mundane at first, but they're actually a lot of fun. The only thing I don't like is the word memorization exercise, and that's mainly because I suck at it.

I've also become hopelessly addicted to Sudoku. In one marathon session I finished five puzzles back to back. I think I might also have to pick up Sudoku Gridmaster before too long.

[Billy Shears]

[quote name='Shinmaru'] The only issue I ran into was that the game sometimes had problems recognizing the color I was saying into the microphone during the color game; however, that was actually remedied fairly easily by holding the DS a little less than an arm's length away from me. After that, the game had no trouble recognizing what I said as long as I said it clearly. So, yeah, I have no qualms with the game now and it rocks. :)[/quote]

I think the mic on the DS Lite isn't as good as the one on the first DS. I've played the game on both, and it was always a little less-forgiving on the DS Lite. But, I'll take your idea and try it. Thank ye, kindred soul ;)

[Box Hoy]

I love Brain Age alot. We bought it with a DS lite last month and even my mom has taken part in it regularly, which is really odd. It's really fun to compete for the best brain age. My only problem is that at times the game takes forever to recgonize what you're writing with the stylus and other times, like during the the color test, the mic gets frustrating. Especially on the word blue.

We got Big Brain Academy but I didn't really get into it as much. It was sort of put off by a blob telling me his brain weighed more than mine. >.>