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More Brain Age
Product: Brain Age 2
Company: Nintendo
Date: 07/19/2007
Avaliable On:

The original Brain Age was a more of a success than anyone could have predicted. Not only did it help spark the current “non-game” movement and draw in people who had never touched a game, but it also opened the doors for an entirely new genre… or two. As numerous companies rush to get their own “brain exercise” games out, Nintendo is readying their own sequel with Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day.

At first glance, Brain Age 2 looks exactly like Brain Age. The visuals are the same simplistic black & white images, numbers and letters and the games are still based around giving your brain a workout and grade your on a “brain age” score. You also have Sudoku puzzles to work out. Under the surface, however, Brain Age 2 offers ten new games and a brand new wireless multiplayer mode for up to 15 people using one cartridge.

A few of the new puzzles use sound in games similar to Big Brain Academy. One of the newer puzzles is a twist on an old favorite; Rock, Paper, Scissors. The game uses the DS’s microphone and challenges you to not only call out the winning answer, but also the losing answer (for example, the DS says “scissors,” you say “paper”). Another game will challenge your hearing recognition by quickly reading out a number of words; you’ll have to identify the words (you’ll know how many words were said) and spell them correctly. The last sound-based game will play short tunes on a piano that you must mimic back using the touch screen.

Brain Age 2 also offers new math games, further reducing my chances of getting anywhere near a decent score. In one game, you are presented with an equation and have to write the correct symbol. The other math game resembles the math puzzles from the first game, though after solving the problem you are given the problem again, only with one of the numbers missing. In other words, you’ll have to know how to solve the problem and memorize the problem.

A non-training game, Virus Buster, is included and will give you something else to do besides Sudoku puzzles. Virus Buster is essentially Dr. Mario, sans Mario.

On the multiplayer side, you compete with friends in various brain challenging games. In one game, you are presented with a series of spinning letters; the first player to unscramble the letters and write down the answer wins. Memories requires you to memorize 25 numbers and their positions. After two minutes of prep time, you have to write the numbers in their correct positions. In Correct Change, you are presented with different amounts of money and need to determine how much change you should receive.

As great as the original Brain Age was, it became kind of lonely and limiting after a few plays. With the addition of more non-training games and multiplayer, Brain Age 2 should be even more fun than the original and a little longer lasting.

Stimulate your mind later this Summer.

Starscream aka Ricky Tucker

GameVortex PSIllustrated