Recapturing My Youth? (Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (DS))

Member Name: Essexgirl2006

Product:	Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
Date:	17/03/09 (166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, ideal for DS,

Disadvantages: Voice recognition quite poor

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training had a huge buzz around it when it was first released with the Nintendo DS console. Whilst there is no scientific evidence to say that these exercises can improve brain functionality, they are quite fun and certainly don't do any harm. The game usually sells for about £18-20 but is often included in 'bundles' when you purchase your DS, as mine was.

To play, you insert the game and turn on as usual. For this game you hold the console as a book, as opposed to mini-laptop way round as you do with many other games. You can do quick play puzzles or set up your profile (with your name, date of birth, left or right handed etc) to do regular training. Initially you can only do a few puzzles, but regular 'training' unlocks other games and new levels. Having unlocked them all, there are some varied training puzzles. When you get your results you are also told if you did the exercises at walking, cycling, driving, flying or rocket speed. The Training exercises are:

Calculations x 20: Twenty simple sums which you write on the right hand screen with your styles (or left hand screen for lefties). Nothing hard, all single digit numbers featuring addition, subtraction and multiplication.

Reading Aloud: You can probably read this in your head, but the idea is to read the passage as fast as you can but without skimming or mispronouncing words. You are measured on the number of syllables per minute

Calculations x 100: the same as the 20 sums, but this time 100. There is also a hard level to unlock which includes division, but nothing to complicated. The only frustrations are when the DS misreads my numbers as I have written them quite quickly or if I have hesitated half way through and it thinks I have finished. Most annoyingly sometimes in my haste I read multiplications symbols as addition ones, as it can lull you into a false sense of security, with a run of adding sums. So, you do need to keep your wits about you.

Low To High: numbers will pop up on one screen for a few seconds in between four and eight boxes. You then need to tap the corresponding (empty) boxes on the other screen in ascending numerical order, starting with the lowest. I have seen an improvement in this for me, but I seem to have reached a plateau a bit and cannot get them all right, especially when there are 8 numbers to remember.

Syllable Count - You have a phrase and need to count the syllables correctly, on ten random phrases, as quick as you can.

Head Count: You will see a number of people on the screen then a house will drop on top of them. Then some figures will leave and arrive to the house and you have to keep count how many are still in the house. There are five goes, and the figures move faster each time. At hard level they are flying in and out of the chimney, and that really defeats me. If I get them right, it is usually by luck rather than ability.

Triangle Maths - This took some getting my head round initially. You have three numbers at the top of the screen, then two maths symbols below them, and have to workout the sums:

6 7 5
+ +
+
= ?
Therefore you need to add 6+7 (13) and 7+5 (12), then 13+12 to get the answer of 25. Sometimes subtractions are used also, and you are sometimes adding negative numbers but it keeps me on my toes! At hard level there are four numbers at the top and an extra row of sums to do. I find I usually forget what the first sums were and then have to go back on myself and get in a muddle. Definitely need to concentrate on this.

Time Lapse - You have two clock faces and have to write down the time difference in hours and minutes between the two times. It sounds easy, but when you are working against the clock it is easy to be too quick and make silly mistakes.

Voice Calculation - Like the other calculation exercises, this time you have to say the answers out loud. The sums aren't hard, but I get frustrated if it mishears me, and it often struggles to 'hear' me say "four". This means I get long times for my results, which is inaccurate as I could have done the darn thing much quicker if I didn't have to repeat "four" at least three times every time it came up. Grrrrrr!!!!!

How Old Is Your Brain? The Brain age check

I usually do the exercises first, to warm up, and then check my brain age. Three random puzzles are chosen for you, although you can select them yourself once you reach a certain level, I tend to go with the flow. I do skip the Stroop Test sometimes though, as I don't get on with it.

Stroop test: You may have seen Ronan Keating do this on the ads. You have four colours and four words, you need to say the colour the word is, not what the word says. For example, if the word is 'yellow' but it is written in red text, then you need to say "red" to be correct. Sometimes the DS does not hear you correctly, either because you stumbled over a word or in my case because it sometimes doesn't understand me say "Blue". This is one of the most frustrating things about it, and why I skip it as I don't feel I get an accurate result, as sometimes I have to say it four times before it registers it. There are a limited number of ways you can pronounce it!

Word Memory: You have 30 four letter words and 2 minutes to remember them, and then you have three minutes to write them down. I try and use word association to remember the words, but if there are not many associations to make I try and remember them in alphabetic order. I usually recall most of what I am likely to remember in the first minute, and then only remember odd ones after that. You can press the select button if you don't want to wait the full time. Mostly the DS can read my writing, although it doesn't like my k's, sometimes I find doing them as a capital works better.

Number count - counts as fast as you can (out loud ideally) to 120.

Connect Maze - you have lots of numbers and letters in circles on the screen and have to connect them in order of A - 1 - B - 2 etc to M - 13. Simple, but sometimes you can't find the number or letter you need for looking.

Number cruncher: One screen shows some numbers in different colour, some sliding, pulsing or rotating. You answer random questions such as "How many red numbers?" or "How many sliding numbers?" or "How many 4's?" . I like this one as the questions are varied, yet I can usually answer them quite quickly.

Apparently you can also do Calculations x 20, but as I do this most days anyway as part of my training, I don't usually get it as a test.

Another part of the game is the Suduko puzzles. I don't usually like Suduko, I don't have the patience, and the few times I tried to do a puzzle on paper, I got frustrated when I got almost to the end before realising I had made a mistake, and couldn't face working out where and when I had gone wrong. On the DS there is the option of 'Cheat mode' which will beep loudly at you if you put something in wrong. There are also exercises for beginners so they can learn different ways to play and how to play on the console. With this I have now completed a few puzzles and rarely make mistakes as I have changed the way I do them.

There is also a Download section where you can compete against friends with their own consoles and send demo versions via the wi-fi connection, though I've not used it personally.

The game doesn't have a great deal of longevity, although up to 4/5 people can use the same game card/console and have their own profiles, so you can compare scores. Sometimes you have to draw pictures before you can play or answer questions about what you had for breakfast or something similar. The pics can be compared with other players using the same card and the breakfast question will be asked of you a few days later ("what did you have for breakfast on the 23rd?")The first time you do your Brain Age Test you will be in your Seventies probably, but as you get familiar with the quirks of the game and more practiced you will improve dramatically. The exercises are fun, but once you have unlocked them all there isn't much to do. I am still enjoying mine (after 6 weeks), but only if I have the time to kill. When I first got it, there were only a few exercises unlocked so it didn't take long. Now I have them all unlocked and usually play on hard mode, it takes longer to play. You don't have to do all the exercises each time, but I tend to because I am a bit of a completist. I probably play it three times a week, and usually get 20 (the youngest you can get) unless I do the Stroop Test. I can see a time in the future when I just won't bother very much at all. Saying that - it is a fun game and one of the cheapest, so I would recommend it overall as good value and good fun and I certainly feel I have got my money's worth.

Summary: Fun, mental exercises for the DS