Brain Training for Adults Import Review
By Greg Sewart - Posted Sep 27, 2005
First, a caveat: if you can't speak, read, and write Japanese, importing Brain Training for Adults would be a major mistake. Anyhow, this is precisely the kind of game Nintendo needs to release as a budget title in North America. Brain Training isn't the type of game we've all become so used to, but rather a collection of minigames that works various parts of your brain. Math, reading, counting syllables, and various other mind-twisting exercises are the order of the day. Sounds terribly exciting, right?
Mathlete
Stop rolling your eyes. These brain teasers are quite engaging thanks to the way the game uses the DS touch screen and microphone. Answering any questions in the game requires the use of one or the other. Of course, the down side is that the game frequently gets confused with certain numbers and phrases. Too many times have we been marked "wrong" on an answer because the stupid thing read our "4" as a "5." Quite frustrating.
Still, for as long as they last, the nine different minigames found on this cartridge will hold your interest, especially because your progress is recorded and tracked on a graph, giving you incentive to improve. Well, that and the creepy professor head that reacts to how well or poorly you do each time.
Shades of Grey
Brain Training won't win any awards for its visuals. Outside of the floating head, the game is filled with simplistic, black-and-white numbers, letters, and icons. But hey, when your focus is on figuring out what 8 x 15 is as quickly as possible, do you really care that you don't have pretty graphics to distract your mind, which has become weak and impressionable thanks to all those video games you've wasted your life on?
Rest & Relaxation
Nintendo needs to release games like this in North America as budget titles. Although Brain Training asks you to figure out increasingly intricate problems in a short amount of time, there's something quite relaxing about the whole thing. Not worth full price, since there are only nine different games to play here, but definitely a fun time-waster.
