Put Your Thinking Cap On! (Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (DS))

Member Name: GuruOnAMountain

Product:	Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
Date:	09/07/07 (312 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun and easy to use.

Disadvantages: Can get boring after a while and problems with voice and writing recognition at times.

Dr. Kawashima is a Japanese professor who specializes in the brain and who has developed this nifty little game to help all of us DS owners keep our grey matter ticking over. Gaming, especially handheld gaming is often seen as the domain of kids, teenagers and the occassional young adult, but this game opens the gaming world up to a much wider audience. The subject matter will appeal to both gamers and non-gamers alike and its price tag reflects this. It can usually easily be bought for less than £15, a price that wouldn't scare off even the most computer shy consumers.

This game, like all DS games utilises the stylus, but also utilises the mic features of the console and allows you to hold the console as you would hold a book and you can configure it to be used and written on left or right handed.

On turning the game on you have the option of using Quick Play mode which lets you batter straight ahead without registering yourself as a player, but you only get limited access to the training if you choose this option.

To set yourself up as a player you need only follow the simple instructions on the screen and soon you'll be ready to go. Initially, however, you don't get access to all the training programmes and your list of training programmes is gradually added to over your first few uses until you have them all.

First of all, however, you'll need to check your brain age. Here you are given three tests to do that will determine the age of your bit of grey matter. If you hit the select button when you click on Brain Age Test you'll be able to choose yourself what three tests to do. The tests are:

Word Memory: Here you're given 2 minutes to try to memorise 30 words and then write the ones you can remember onto the touch screen.

Stroop Test: Here you speak your answers into the mic. The name of a colour will appear on the screen and you have to say not what word is written, but the colour in which it is written.

Speed Counting: Simply count from 1 to 120 as fast as you can.

Connect Maze: Connect A to 1; B to 2 etc. until you have matched all the numbers and letters to each other.

Number Cruncher: Will display numbers on the screen and ask you to write the answers to questions about them, such as "How many red numbers are there?"

Calculations x 20: Try to do some simple addition, multiplication and subtraction calculations as quickly as possible.

After completing your three tests, a brain age will be given, the lowest possible being 20. You'll probably find that on your first attempt your brain age will be much higher than your actual age!!

That's where the training comes in. Using the training programmes provided is meant to keep your brain healthy, active, thinking and young. Over time if you keep up with the training you should find that your brain age will lower.

The training programmes are:

Calculations X 20: Descibed above

Calculations X100: Same as above, but 100 instead of 20 of them.

Reading Aloud: Where you read a passage from literature as quickly as possible.

Low to High: Where you memorise some numbers and then tap boxes to show where they were located from the lowest to the highest.

Syllable Count: Write how many syllables there are in each sentence.

Head Count: Keep track of how many stick figures are in a house while stick figures enter and leave.

Triangle Maths: More calculations.

Time Lapse: Work out how much time as elapsed after looking at two clocks.

Voice Calculations: Simple calculations where you speak the answers intead of write them.

After completing a training game you'll be given your time for completing it, shown the highest three scores of all the users of Brain Training on your DS for that game and will be shown a graph of your own progress on that game since your first use ot it.

Aside from the training, you will also occasionally be asked to do some fun extras such as draw pictures or remember what you wore on a particular day or had for breakfast. You'll also be given some hints by an animated Dr. Kawashima about how to train your brain on a daily basis when doing everyday things.

The game also includes Sudoku which you can do at your own leisure or ignore completely since it isn't part of the training. Or if you can connect to another DS, you can have a calculations battle with your fellow DS user.

It is fun to see your progression on graph form and to see your brain age lower over time, but whether in reality it really is helping your brain or not is anyone's guess. I suppose it certainly can't do any harm to keep it up and do the training anyway since it only takes about 10 minutes every day and is relatively fun.

There are downfalls with the game, however. Most notably the tests and training where you have to use your voice are almost completely useless (well, for me at least, but I am Scottish so maybe it just can't pick up on my accent). Also, occasionally it has problems recognizing what you are trying to write and when speed is of the essence in the training, that can become quite frustrating. Furthermore, it does all get a bit dry and boring after a few weeks of doing the same training programmes over and over again.

It says its suitable for 3+ but clearly it would be far too advanced for three year olds. The reading passages would be difficult for most kids and they probably wouldn't be able to cope with that until they were at least about 11 or 12 and the calculations would probably be difficult for the under 8s or so, but there is some programmes that even young kids could try if they had the patience, such as head count, although it is fast and difficult to keep up with.

However, all and all it is worth the small sum they are asking for a copy, especially if you're a fan of Sudoku. Its especially fun if you get the whole family incolved and can compare your scores with each other! Well worth the money, but not quite worth the 5 full stars due to its few downfalls.

Summary: Enjoyable game for all the family.