Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day - E
Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this educational game asks players to do math problems, read out loud, count syllables in passages, and memorize numbers and their location on the screen. Since math calculations are tested, kids need to know their multiplication and division facts before playing. Some of the mental games rely on voice and handwriting recognition technology, which don't always work correctly. This software appeals to both kids and adults, making it a fun way for families to play together.
Families can talk about whether playing mental games makes your brain smarter. Are you learning to use your mind better or simply mastering the games presented? Also, families may want to discuss Professor Kawashima's theory that doing short mental exercises every day keeps brains sharp. Is this game something you need to do every day?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Jinny Gudmundsen
Exercise for your brain? Professor Ryuta Kawashima, a Japanese neurologist, believes that doing short mental exercises every day helps keep brains sharp or "young." His theories are the basis of a new software title for the Nintendo DS called BRAIN AGE: TRAIN YOUR BRAIN IN MINUTES A DAY.
Brain Age challenges players with a variety of mini-games that provide a mental workout. Some of the activities include doing math problems, reading out loud, counting syllables in passages, and memorizing numbers and their location on the screen.
The game keeps score of each mini-game and uses that data to show players whether their "brain age" is improving. To get a baseline age, players take a Stroop Test (player see color words -- red, blue, etc -- printed in one of four different colors of ink. While players want to say the color word out loud, the test requires the player to say the color of the ink instead). After finishing the timed test and entering your personal data, including the year of your birth, the software assigns your brain with an age. In this game, the best and most agile brain is 20 years old.
The software keeps track of whether players play every day, slowly reveals its content over days of playing, and rewards each day's playing with a sticker on a calendar. Players can also retest their "brain age" once a day by completing three randomly selected games.
The software can track the progress of up to four players. But it also has a "Quick Brain Check" section where friends and family can test their prowess at the mental games without having the software save their scores.
Family members, or up to 16 friends, can wirelessly compete in a game of 30 math calculations to see who can solve them the fastest. This competition requires additional Nintendo DS units but only one software cartridge. Players write their answers on the DS's touch screen. Our testers found that the handwriting recognition software was good but not great.
Brain Age makes mental workouts easy because it takes just a few minutes a day. And having Sudoku puzzles to play during down times is extra motivation to stick your Nintendo DS into your backpack, purse, or briefcase every day. Overall, this software appeals to both kids and adults, making it a fun way for families to play together.
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