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»Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!
"How old is YOUR brain?"
The professor is back, and his new game is better than ever. Brain Age:
Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! was no short of a mega-hit, selling
nearly 10 million copies, only selling less than New Super Mario Bros.
and Nintendogs (all versions combined). Not only was it a commercial
success, it received fairly good reviews, mostly because of how clever
and surprisingly addictive the concept was - oh, and of course, the
Sudoku, probably the most addictive part of the game. And now that
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! has come out, I can
finally re-experience the brain training I did in the first game - and
with better handwriting recognition to boot!
There are three primary modes of play - Brain Age Check, Daily
Training, and Sudoku. Brain Age 2 eliminates almost all, if not all
puzzles from Brain Age (save for Sudoku), providing its own set of
puzzles, which far exceed the quality of Brain Age's. We had the Stroop
test, which involved identifying what color a word is, which is
difficult because the words are colors, causing the player brain to
kind of screech to a halt trying to make sure that he or she does not
accidentally say what word is seen on the screen. However, Brain Age 2
gives us the less-frustrating Rock, Paper Scissors game, which involves
either winning or losing by saying either "Rock"¯, "Paper"¯, or "Scissors"¯. There are two variables involved - both the request and
which hand the computer picked. If the hand is rock and the computer
asks the player to lose, the player has to say "Scissors"¯. On
top of it being more unique and fun, the three words aren't as
similar-sounding or numerous as the color words were in Brain Age,
making the Brain Age Check a lot less frustrating. Not all of the Brain
Age Check's puzzles are as memorable, but they're all at least somewhat
good.
The second mode, and the one which I play the most, is the Daily
Training. It contains a variety of puzzles, and it's basically
considered a free mode - there's a memory sprint game, where the player
has to follow a bold racer while he falls behind and catches up in a
race, and at the end write what place he finished in, but the player
doesn't even have to play that mode if he or she doesn't want to,
instead choosing to maybe play Change Maker, which involves seeing
receiving an amount of money, seeing the total cost, and giving the
appropriate change back - probably my second favorite of all the
conventional Daily Training games, right behind the excellent Piano
Player mode. Oh, and I'm not including the super-fun hidden puzzle game
in this comparison, either.
And finally is the Sudoku mode, which was added exclusively to the
North American and PAL audiences to increase the game's appeal. Sudoku
is well-known by many, although since I doubt those many don't visit
this forum much, here's a little description. Sudoku is played on a 9x9
grid, and the objective is to fill each row, column, and 3x3 square
(which each consists of nine squares) with nine numbers in a proper,
pre-set order. Of the 1-9 numbers, there may only be one of each number
in each row, column, and 3x3 square, and while this can be sometimes
frustrating, it's wholly necessary to clue the player to the right
solution - basically, telling the player where the numbers can NOT be.
It's complicated at first, but it doesn't take long to get the hang of
it. Now, the advanced puzzles... they're what we call a doozy. All the
more I can say is that Sudoku used to be immensely addictive in Brain
Age, but after clearing them all, I didn't play it much. And then I was
introduced to Picross DS, an amazing little puzzle game. While Sudoku
was a by-the-numbers puzzle game (get it?), Picross DS involves
visualization, and it actually has the ability to create-a-puzzle, and
let me tell you, I've found many an excellent puzzle through its online
mode. After playing this, Sudoku just doesn't hold up as well as it
used to.
Many people debate the scientific effectiveness of the Brain Age
series. While I don't feel some sort of epic impact that some may
expect to get out of it, I still feel like my brain is staying charged
from playing this daily. However, I must admit that I don't play Brain
Age Check much at all as I don't find it as entertaining as Daily
Training (and I don't have enough time to do it), but I still feel that
the Daily Training and Sudoku do enough for my mind. I usually don't do
most of the Daily Training puzzles, choosing rather to stick with my
three faves - Piano Player, Change Maker, and Calendar Count.
Anyone who's played Brain Age should have an idea of the game's
presentation - it's good enough. Even still, it could have been better.
Everything is super-simplified - never any colors. Always black and
white, and in most cases, it's nothing more than numbers or letters.
The only exceptions to this are the menus and Professor Kawashima, who
can be seen on the left screen in inglorious three dimensions. The
sound almost follows suit, but doesn't suffer quite as much. The
soundtrack is good, and I LOVE the Piano Player game. There is dozens
of songs to play, and they're all a blast (if not a bit hard).
I have to admit that at one point, I stopped playing. I just had so
many games, that I couldn't handle playing a game like this every day.
It's not this game's fault, though - I just bought a ton of games en
masse, and I had been working hard at work, and had no time for any
games, including some of the ones that I absolutely adore, including
Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. But let's push this fact to the side - if I
had the time, I wouldn't have skipped all of September, because the
puzzles are excellent. I now play Daily Training and Sudoku every day,
and am happier because of it.
But the replay is so high thanks to one single factor - the human
factor. The multi-player mode is very fun, thanks in part to Change
Maker and probably my absolute favorite part of the entire game, the
drawing competition, where three to four players draw three different
images randomly chosen for all players, and each player can pick their
favorite. I love trying to be unique as possible, such as when I drew
King Kong for "King". It's extremely fun to talk about each others'
drawings, and I can't help but laughing at and with my friends and
family while playing it. There are two flaws, though. One, the player
can easily figure out whose drawing is whose, and two, you need three
DSes at minimum to play. The latter point is unavoidable, but it's
still disappointing.
Overall, Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! is not an
adequate sequel, nor is it a good sequel - it's a defining sequel.
Brain Age 2 defines what a sequel should be - it doesn't simply rehash
the engines it had originally, it doesn't recycle content, and it
actually feels like a new experience. For anyone who enjoyed Brain Age,
this is all I can say - go out and buy this, now. Retire your old Brain
Age and step up to the big leagues (of brain games). Some people may
hate it, but hey, since when did we listen to GTA4 fans/idiots?
Article by: Alttp
Posted on: Oct. 23rd, 2007 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| Tons of fresh and new puzzles for us to play, including the Piano Player mode (<3) |
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Graphics |
| It works, but it's almost too simple. |
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Sound |
| Acceptable soundtrack, but the Piano Player song list really earns this game the eight. |
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Replay Value |
| Tons of games to play, excellent multiplayer, and a better feel of "I want to play these games because they're fun"¯ than Brain Age had. |
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