The first Brain Age on the Nintendo DS spawned a whole generation of brain training games. Now they're back with Brain Age 2 - and I really feel they did a great job of enhancing the game's functionality!
First, the infamous "voice test". In Brain Age 1, it was the classic see-a-colored-word-say-the-color game that so many magazines and websites print. The big problem there was that blue and black always got confused. With this one, they changed it to rock-paper-scizzors. It's just as challenging, and we've never had any problems with it understanding us. Hurrah!
Next, the mini-games. I appreciated the challenge of the Brain Age 1 games, but they were pretty boring. They just weren't much fun to play, especially compared to some of the other games on the market.
They did a great job of revamping the games in Brain Age 2. Some of them are still on the boring side, like the 'running people' game where you try to figure out what place the dark player comes in. Most of them, though, are truly fun to play. The spinning letters game where you try to figure out what word they spell can be quite challenging. I love the piano game where you try to play along with the song.
There are the usual graphing options, so you can see your progress over time, and then the "brain age" with an ideal age of 20. Just like with the first game, I have to protest that it's a silly idea that your brain is best at 20. Your brain can easily be very slow at 20 and much better at 30! They should rate it as a 0% to 100%, rather than pushing this idea that youth is best. What's next, a diet program that gets you to weigh the weight of an "ideal 20 year old"?
Still, it is certainly valid that the more you use your brain, the better it gets. Everyone needs to keep their brains exercised and fresh. Playing this game is far better than sitting back and passively watching TV all night. Best of all, you can bring this along with you and increase your brain power while you ride the bus, wait in line, and do other boring tasks!
Highly recommended! Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!
I have to say I like Brain Age 2 more than I liked the original. I found the first version of the game frustrating (yet still engaging) because the handwriting recognition and voice recognition to be problematic.
This new version seems to have improved immensely. I see a few reviews here inidcating that some users are having problems with voice recognition, but that's not what I am experiencing with the game. The Rock, Paper, Scissors game is working flawlessly for me, unless I stutter, stammer, or someone says something in the background. I especially like that the game requires you to answer with EITHER a correct or incorrect answer! Furthermore, I have absolutely awful handwriting, yet the game is doing an excellent job recognizing my chicken scratch!
Best of all, the game is addictive and has me playing constantly. I'm a fan of games like Brain Age and Big Brain Academy where you ultimately compete against yourself to improve your score (or compete against others if you are so inclined). There are enough challenging mini-games (including sudoku) to keep the game interesting for quite awhile. It is certainly worth the price!
However, it would be a mistake to believe these games are any REAL indication of innate cognitive skill and performance. The game claims to help make your brain more agile and that may be possible. Research is, in fact, showing the benefits for people to continue to solve puzzles, read, and perform other complex cognitive tasks to stave off the effects of mental aging and even help recovery from brain injury. I think Brain Age will improve mental agility, but players should not be discouraged if their initial scores are not high. This is a GAME first and foremost, not an IQ test. Play it and enjoy it!! If your brain becomes more efficient at processing information consider it a bonus of playing a very enjoyable game.
Brain Age 2, like the original Brain Age, is still the best Sudoku game available on the Nintendo DS. It makes excellent use of both screens (no wasted space or tiny, hard to see numbers that plague other "dedicated" Sudoku games on the DS). As I said in my review of the original Brain Age, I wish Nintendo would come out with a dedicated Sudoku game on the DS using this layout. They could rake in a lot of extra cash.
As far as the "main event", I pretty much agree with what the other reviewers have posted here.
I haven't unlocked all of the games yet, but so far, "Word Scramble" is my favorite.
Some of the new games are improved variations of the original games. "Memory Sprint", where you try to keep track of what place a race runner is in, is more fun than the original game of counting how many people go into and out of a house.
I also like the "Change Maker" and "Sign Finder" games, because they provide some real world practice, although some people may find them boring, or too much like homework.
The "Piano Player" game was a disappointment, because everybody here seemed to be talking it up, including keyboard players, and that's a bit scary because this type of "follow the bouncing ball" music game is available on just about any cheap electronic keyboard out there.
The "Word Blend" game is lost on me - you do need to concentrate to separate the simultaneously spoken words, but it seems to ultimately be a test of one's hearing (and patience).
My major gripes with the Brain Age series are:
1. Like other reviewers have said, the "scoring" implies that a younger brain must be better than an older brain. This is misleading and insulting. If Dr. Kawashima had a hand in this aspect of the game design, well, he needs to grow up a bit.
2. There's too much Dr. Kawashima! Even in "Quick Play" mode, there's "too much fuss" to paraphrase the good Doctor. I don't want to have to tap past the same screens of the Doctor telling me what's good for my brain umpteen times. I just want to play the dang game!
Still, there are worse ways to blow a few idle minutes every day than playing games like Brain Age. - Brain Age 2 - Puzzle Games - Brain Age - Nintendo Ds Games'
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