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the devil is in the details

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The most important question about this game is whether the exercises have anything to do with maintaining useful brain functioning. It's true that computation is important and that cognitive flexibility is vital, but is that all there is?
Even if you grant that things like humor and imagination are beyond the reach of a video game, it's hard to avoid the suspicion that the test exercises are there simply because they're easy to administer on the little console.

Beyond that, the game's unreliability both in terms of voice and writing recognition makes it frustrating. If you spend most of your time trying to overcome the game's reliability, you're probably not having much fun.

There was something else I wanted to say, but I forgot. . . . .

I like it!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: June 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I enjoy it. Studies have shown that you have to use your brain, I think this may be the only way some people do. I think it is a great addition to whatever you are currently doing and fun enough that you will keep doing it. Okay, maybe the graphics could be cooler, but that isn't the point.

Brain Age and the word "Blue"

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: June 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've experimented with Brain Age a bit, and it seems to understand the word "blue" if you extend the "oo" part. In other words, say "bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuue".

Try it if you have trouble.

Not What You Think It Is

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: April 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

When I first saw this game come out I was like... that game is going to be so boring. But, one day I don't know what came over me and I bought it. I started playing it and I loved the games that you could play... they are kind of fun and I couldn't believe it but they help your brain!! The best feature that this game has is that it can tell you your brain age.. which is totally awesome. I liked everything about this game and you may see some other reviews that say that it has poor recognition, well... that's not true... it's amazing how it detects your writing no matter how horrible and your voice. Don't take this game for granted like I did... you will truly love it.

Fun and addictive

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: May 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game for two reasons. The first reason is that I love puzzle games. The second reason is because I wanted a way to compete with my husband! This game delivers on both counts. You can store up to 4 files on the game which track the daily progress and Brain Age of each player. (It also has a Quick Play option for people who don't want to track their progress.) It can also compare graphs of the results for each player so you can really tell how well you're doing compared to to other people using the game.
The game gives you three tests to determine your "brain age." My only complaint about the game is that one test involves saying colors but the game is extremely picky when recognizing the word "blue" which can be frustrating.
After you've tested your brain age, then you can choose from a series of activities which "train" your brain. The more you use the game, the more activities become available. I've only had the game a week and so far I can choose from doing a series of either 20 or 100 simple math problems, reading aloud, a game called Low to High which requires memorizing numbers in a series, syllable count, and a game called Head Count where you must keep track of people moving rapidly in and out of a house. The game tracks your daily progress of this and tells you how you're doing. At the end of each activity you are told whether you did it at walking, bicycle, car, train, jet, or rocket speed. So far the games are fun and take only minutes to get through.
This game also comes with Sudoku puzzles which are tracked separately from the daily "brain training." It gives tips on how to do the puzzles and has various levels of difficulty. I did not know how to do Sudoku puzzles before I bought the game but have learned from playing it. Admittedly, I'm still on the basic puzzles and have not logged in very impressive times on them!
My [...] son likes playing this game but overall I wouldn't recommend it for children under the age of 10. The game says that 20 is the ideal brain age so it isn't accurate for people under 20. My son usually comes out with a brain age of 50 or 60. The math puzzles require knowing the multiplication tables and reading aloud requires a pretty good vocabulary. (So far the reading material has been excerpts from 18th and 19th century literature.) This would make the game nearly impossible or incredibly frustrating for kids under a certain age.
Needless to say, the sound and graphics aren't state of the art on this game but it's not really what the game is about. If you like puzzles or are just looking for a game that doesn't take too long to play and is easy to learn then you might enjoy this.

Very Limited

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: July 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

As you do the exercises, you will begin to see a common thread...the software is very limited. You basically do the same exercises over and over; I was hoping for more variety...you know ...like with the Wheel of Fortune game that offers over 10,000 puzzles to solve? Or something like that. Also, this "researcher" needs to show the research to back up his claims...a twenty year old brain vs. someone who is in their eighties? Give me a break! When my uncle was 80 yrs. old, he was dancing circles around me when it came to solving puzzles. I believe the person who designed this game had good intentions, but he has designed a program that doesn't have enough challenges even for my I.Q.*grin* If this were a novel, it wouldn't be a page turner. One real flaw that stands out, during one exercise, you are asked to verbally say the name of the color you see on the screen; however, the program doesn't recognize the player saying the word "blue"; even when spoken clearly and distinctly and then it proceeds to penalize you for your efforts. If you want to challenge your brain, there are many other games out there willing to do that. I would suggest Mastermind, if you can still find it, or Scrabble for your PC. Wait for version 2 of Brain Age and see what others think before you spend the money.

Truly a Nintendo style game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is exactly the type of game you expect from Nintendo: simple and weird but well thought out.
I got my copy of Brain Age last month at a trade show, and I've played it everyday since (Brain Age: 25). I'm not sure if it's upped my IQ any, but I can do simple math quickly (a handy skill) and I'm reading books faster.
They have lots of these types of games in Japan, I'm hoping this one does well so they'll bring more over.

Great concept

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: July 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I knew I had to get Brain Age as soon as I started reading articles about it. Who couldn't use a little brain training??
All of the excersizes are great and after a few days you can really notice how much faster you're doing them. During less hectic days I find myself playing Brain Age 2-3 times in a day!
The drawing recognition is pretty accurate most of the time (it does misread occasionally, but thats usually when I'm being careless in writing). The problem with the word "blue" is REALLY frustrating, though. :( I usually don't even use that excersize now because I don't want it to screw up my results, and it's a shame because that excersize in particular is one of the best. But there's only so many times you can scream "BLUE!!@!(*&!@" at it before you get too annoyed to keep going.
I really hope there will be a future version of Brain Age with voice recogintion improvement and maybe a few more excersizes... but for now, I'm just glad such a great tool exists!

Innovative...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: September 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is latest DS game I have purchased, and somehow it happens to be educational AND fun. It gives you fifteen different training tasks and sudoku to boost your Brain Age (20 years being best and 80 worst). They're all preaty neat in that they all use the touch screen or MIC. The only problem is that sometimes the writing and voice recognition of numbers and words isn't so great. Besides that, the games like the math facts and sudoku are VERY addictive. So I recommend this for the cheap price ($15) and addictiveness, which is well worth it.

surprisingly fun and infectious...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: April 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

i picked this up because it was such a sensation in japan (the joint power of this game and nintendogs killed off the psp in japan for good. proof of the ds dominance: the nintendo ds usually has 8 titles in the monthly top selling games list in japan, with the exceptions normally one gba game and one ps2 game, or two gba games.), and because of the attractive price. but i was still unsure about how fun and what longevity one could find in a brain training game. well i've found out. the games are challenging and fun and you really look forward to the next day's training, pictures, and new unlocked stuff. a must-buy ds game.

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