Brain Training, a new sort of "game" for Nintendo DS. So you may have heard all about it, seen adverts and so on but....
The gameplay involves the user having a number of calculations to find the answer to and then while being timed the results are entered usuing the stylus on the lower touch screen. For example: On the top screen or left screen (Brain Train is played with the DS on its side like an open book) sum is displayed and you have to write down the answer on the oposite side of the DS. So if the left screen shows 2+2, you would then enter 4 on the touch pad, and the game will then move on to the next. After a round you then find out how well you have done and the game records your efforts. Then it gives you a rating and tells you your overall "brain age". It will take some time for you to get your "brain age" down to your real age but the game is designed to be played daily so you can see a change as the days go on. So you have maths problems to figure, but there are other alternative modes to get into. There is other "brain activities" such as remembering something you see on the left screen and try to write down the order in which you seen the numbers appear. This game can be fun and it can get challanging as you try to remember everything and get the answers down on the touch screen. There is also reading sections of the game where you will be given a passage from a book to read and again you will be timed to see how much time it takes you. My main problem here was that the player could just use the DS shoulder buttons to file through the pages of text and end the test. This basically alows the player to cheat as they do not have to read everything before continuing and there is no way the DS tell if someone is just pressing the button to get to the end of the test without doing it properly.
Other problems occur throughout the game but it does not ruin the overall experience...that may be down to the player and the attention they feel like give a game like this. Some of the main problems with the game are as follows:
The player sometimes has to identify a color and speak into the DS microphone. In most cases the game could not pick up what I was trying to say, again this effects the score in any given test.
Most of your time is spent writing on the touch screen, this often includes numbers. The problem here is that the DS doesn't recognise what you have written and 9's can often be represented as 7's. It may be down to the user but this will have an effect on your score when your training is complete. Value
So you get the tests that you can work on daily but the value this game gives really depends on the player. You may know if this is your sort of game and many will be curious to see just how it plays and if it works for them. You can also play Sudoku if you don't feel like playing the normal maths and reading portions of the game, the only difference seperating Sudoku on the DS from its other forms is the DS touchscreen functionality. If you like Sudoku then that is another reason for picking this game up. Overall
So to sum up, the game is different to anything else on any system and because of the subject many people may want to give it a go. It has some problems with understanding all that is entered by the play, be that voice recognition or text but these flaws do not ruin the game completley. I would sugget that anyone interested in this game give it a go but don't expect it to be more than it is, and it really just is a bit of fun.