Brain Age Express: Math Review

What’s the Story?

Once again, Dr Ryuta Kawashima is back to encourage you to continue exercising your brain in BRAIN AGE EXPRESS: MATH REVIEW. Being released exclusively for the Nintendo DSi as a downloadable game only, Brain Age Express has the advantage of always being stored on your DSi, making quick training sessions less of a hassle as you have no cartridge to replace.

Classic puzzles like identifying the largest number and calculating results are here as always, but some new DSi specific features have also made it into the mix. This time, rather than just having you draw a panda and show you what it could look like, the DSi stores the pictures you created and allows you to share them with friends if you export them to a SD card, and then email them. Other games make good use of the onboard camera, having you make silly faces or act like you just failed a final exam – again these snapshots are saved on the system and can be viewed at anytime or compared with your friends and families results.

Is It Any Good?

The Brain Age series isn't really evolving much from its well planted roots in making learning fun, and Brain Age: Express only adds a few facets to encourage players to buy the game yet again. The puzzles, math teasers, and fun games are quite enjoyable, even if you'd played the series in the past and the ability to compare faces and drawings with friends and family really adds a new level of interactivity, which Dr. Kawashima likes to point out that communicating also exercises your prefrontal cortex.

The game costs 800 Nintendo DSi points, which translates to roughly $8. But don't let the bite sized price make you think that the game is only a small portion of the series. There are a lot of options and puzzles to be unlocked and this title is sure to keep you and your family entertained.