Brainage

Well, to be honest with you, I had heard quite a bit about this game even prior to getting it, despite a relatively modest marketing campaign. But as one of those kinds of people who like taking those free IQ tests on the computer and then realizing exactly how stupid I really am, I was excited at the prospect of getting my brain in prime condition.

The premise is really quite simple; just like your body, your mind needs regular workouts in order to keep it healthy and you thinking at the top of your game. With Brainage, your goal is to regularly work out your brain until you can lower it to a top age of 20 (the best possible age for a brain apparently). Doing quick math, puzzles, reading aloud and other simple games focuses your mind and makes it use those rudimentary parts of the mind that most of us turned off after graduating. For example, when I started a new regiment, my initial brain age was that of a 57 year old man, which surprised me because I honestly didn't see myself that way. Well, after completing a couple of the game's workouts (over the course of three days), my brain age was lowered to 42. Well true as the back of the box said, I felt a bit sharper and my brain age has dropped even lower.

Am I smarter? I doubt it, but I do feel a bit sharper and if the results are to be honestly believed, I am working out my grey matter and truth be known, the puzzles are quite a bit of fun. My favorite at this point is color recognition. Basically a color is spelt out on the screen, like BLUE only as you can see it is written in red lettering. You must speak into the DS microphone and say red. You see you are saying the color of the word, not what the word says. Yes, this can be a bit tricky, but that's why I like it so much. Other games include the addictive number game 'Soduku', speed math, and even a multiplayer challenge.

The graphics are certainly very basic as fancy ones would add nothing to the experience, but what I should note is that the game requires you to hold your DS like a book. And depending on if you are right or left handed, the game asks you and the DS can be flip-flopped to accommodate. This is established by creating a profile that asks you several different questions, plus it allows several people to have profiles on the system.

Brainage is really a clever title and it's this unique type of gaming that the DS encourages and embraces. Be careful should you choose to pick this up, it has a nasty habit of making addicts out of your family members that normally don't care for games.