More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? Review

By Dave McCarthy Published 19 June, 2007

Impeccable gaming logic.

Version tested: DS

It's a little known fact about me that I came fifth in my year at the University of Oxford. That's something that only my close family and a few friends know. It's not something that I boast about down the pub, after a few beers. It's also not something I slip into any conversation with any stranger at the earliest available opportunity. And it's certainly not something I'd ever dream of boasting about to a few million people on the internet under the guise of commencing a videogame review. But yes, if you must know, I got the fifth highest first class degree in the school of modern history in 1997. And everyone knows you can't get better than fifth. And that was back when exams were difficult. So obviously I'm massively clever. Or massively good at history.

Personally, I reckon it probably means I'm massively clever. After all, how else would I have managed to achieve a magnificent time of 13.11 seconds on Dr Kawashima's Calculations x20. Or 1 minute 12.36 seconds on his Calculations x100. Or an incredible 34 seconds on Time Lapse. In fact I could just list all my best times here, but since we've already established that I'm not the type to boast about my admittedly prodigious intellectual prowess, I'm not going to. But I think it's pretty clear that Eurogamer made the right decision when they sent me along to Nintendo's Wii Flat to review More Brain Training. Or More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? to give the game its full title.

If you've played the first game, you'll already know the drill. Well, drills. Brain training drills. Except you don't, because this time around they're all new. The basics are the same, though: you hold the DS vertically, instead of horizontally, and the disembodied face of the umeboshi-fearing Doctor Kawashima introduces a series of tests and mini-games that are designed to test and train your brain. They're designed to be played for just a few minutes every day, and as the days pass you'll open up new games till you've unlocked all 11 training drills, and a further 6 brain-testing tests.

'More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain?' Screenshot 1

The game introduces several new mini-games that introduce a novel twist on old favourites.

One of the main criticisms of conventional IQ tests is that they're culturally specific. This is certainly a complaint that could be levelled at the first test you encounter in the new Brain Training, and the only conceivable way I could possibly have a brain age of 39 (especially since, of course, my regular brain age according to the original game is 20). Like all the tests in the game, it's pretty simple: it flashes up a picture of scissors-paper-stone, and tells you whether to win or lose, and you have to shout out the appropriate answer. It certainly had me thinking harder than anything in the last game, but obviously the point of Dr. Kawashima's drills is that they improve your performance, so after a few sessions I was as jan-ken-pon-literate as our Japanese cousins.

And that, really, sets the tone of the entire game: an entirely new set of challenges that invigorate the formula of the first game and get those electrons opening up new neural pathways (here's hoping electrons actually do open up new neural pathways, or I'll look pretty stupid here). Taking the place of Calculations x20, for example, is Missing Symbols. Instead of writing down the answers to a series of simple arithmetic tests, you'll be given the answer and you'll write down the correct mathematical function to reach it. I managed a less than impressive 27 seconds. Driving Speed. The shame. Partly that reflects an instinctive desire to write down the answer, ingrained by playing Calculations x20 every day. But it also reflects the game's ability to shake your brain out of its conventional conceptual ruts.

'More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain?' Screenshot 2

Some of them even equip you with real-life skills, such as knowing what piano keys are what.

The remaining games and tests include the brilliant Masterpiece Recital, in which you hit piano keys according to instructions and in rhythm with the music (but the black keys are, as in real life, smaller, so they're trickier to hit). Obviously musical prodigies will initially be at an advantage, but, like real life, practice makes perfect. Word Scramble sees you picking out the right word from a rotating selection of letters; Correct Change is similar to the Big Brain Academy coin-sorting game; Word Blend requires you to correctly identify several words that are read out at once (although one minor flaw is that Dr Kawashima spells tomatoe; I spell tomato); Days and Dates asks you several questions about days and dates, and Finishing Position is an update of Headcount. The real star performer, though, is Memory Addition (and to a lesser extent its counterpart, Continuous Countdown), which scribbles out numbers while you try to remember them and use them in successive sums.

The only drawback, and this is the only drawback in the entire game, is that many of the games feel more susceptible to misinterpreting your handwriting - you need to learn the right way to draw the symbol for divide in Missing Symbols, for example. But really, it's a minor flaw, and there are so many other things to commend about the game. There's a new set of helpful tips and advice, for example: keep a cool head and don't get angry; take up knitting; try cooking. All useful stuff. And instead of drawing objects from memory, and remembering what you ate for dinner, you'll be composing acrostics and joining the dots. And there are another 100 Sudoku puzzles to further stretch your grey matter (although obviously any brain expert will already know that they're not proven to improve your brain age like the rest of Kawashima's lab-tested games).

'More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain?' Screenshot 3

Perhaps the only criticism is that some also place greater demand on the handwriting recognition system.

Perhaps it's just my massive intellect, but Dr Kawashima's original opus is the most played game in my DS collection. It rarely leaves my side. But to judge from the 10 million people who bought the original, I'm not alone. So I won't be the only person waiting to flex my thought muscle on more of his training drills. And in spite of the anticipation, this sequel performs pretty much perfectly. It's almost every bit as good as the original - which, incidentally, has yet to be bettered by all the lesser brain training games that appeared on various formats in the wake of Dr Kawashima's DS original. If you ask a bona fide boffin, they might argue that the science behind these games isn't entirely watertight. The gaming logic, however, is impeccable.

8 / 10

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About Dave McCarthy

Read more articles from Dave by visiting the Dave McCarthy archive page.

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Comments (38) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Psychotext #1 5 years ago

    Big Brain game is still more fun.

  • GamesConnoisseur #2 5 years ago

    Where else would you play all day and get paid for doing next to no work? Aint that a clever move?!

  • GrandpaUlrira #3 5 years ago

    Amusing mispeling of intellect.

  • Dermoth #4 5 years ago

    I think it's a mistake to gloss over the handwriting recognition problems. They've had what... two years to sort that out? And I'm afraid it does make a massive difference to the gameplay.

    For instance, your high scores listed are (slightly) better than mine, but I'm not too fussed as BRAIN TRAINING IS ENTIRELY RANDOM. Any given high score run can fall apart thanks to the recognition. That would be acceptable (given the length of the tests) were you able to record high scores more than once a day. As it stands, it's a joke.

    And most people I know have loved the idea of Brain Training, but hated the naff text recognition. It hasn't put all of them off, by many means (I know three people who bought a DS for Kawashima), but... TWO YEARS, MAN. Sort it out, Nintendo.

    Anyway. The only true competitive boffin action is through Big Brain Academy (2145g, I'll have you know). That suffers from random elements too, but at least you can play it competitively more than seven times a week.

  • MGG #5 5 years ago

    So its true what they say about History degrees? You either become a teacher or unemployed.....


    .......or a games reviewer ;)

  • morriss #6 5 years ago

    Yeah, but Dave gave Resi 4 a 7...

    /re-ignites fire

  • NewYork #7 5 years ago

    BETTER THAN RE4.

    OMG.

  • Razz #8 5 years ago

    Better than RE4 eh?

    /calls importer

  • jonsaan #9 5 years ago

    I never had an issue with the handwriting on the original, but I did object to having to say BLUE like Alf Stewart off Home and Away to make it understand me. Blue! BlU! BLEEW! BLUUUUEEEE!

  • JYM60 #10 5 years ago

    Better than resi, as good as halol.

    Must be fucking great.

  • #11 5 years ago

    I found the original quite boring after a few plays to be honest.

  • rudedudejude #12 5 years ago

    Zombies vs. Aliens vs. Math

  • IAmBatman #13 5 years ago

    Yeah, the original kept calling me thick because its handwriting and speech recognition systems weren't up to snuff. If this is no different then I'll give it a miss.

  • sickpuppysoftware #14 5 years ago

    "I got the fifth highest first class degree in the school of modern history in 1997"

    Pffftt, at least you get to look down on the people who did media studies.

  • GrandpaUlrira #15 5 years ago

    Hahaha, I see the misspelling of intellect wasn't deliberate, as it's now been fixed. You should have pretended that writing 'interlect' was a subtle gag.

  • NonnyMouse #16 5 years ago

    Failures of handwriting recognition ruined the first game for me.
    I still play it - but only to play sudoku.
    Sudoku is great! All hail sudoku!

  • pancho #17 5 years ago

    Boo! Editing out excellent self-depreciating spelling gags FTL.

  • krudster #18 5 years ago

    No point putting a spelling gag in if people don't get it :)

  • GrandpaUlrira #19 5 years ago

    But I had the fifth comment!

    The appreciative hordes were on their way, I'm sure...

  • Der_tolle_Emil #20 5 years ago

    Completely forgot about this one. Loved the first one so I will probably buy this too. And even sounding like I bot the game really helped my math skills - no more getting ripped off in coffee shops!

  • el_pollo_diablo #21 5 years ago

    Two errors in this review:

    1. Even on the original you held the DS vertically.

    2. The original was worse than Big Brain Academy by a very, very wide margin.

  • chupachups #22 5 years ago

    Anyone here still say maths, or has everyone converted to the American math?

  • jonsaan #23 5 years ago

    'Anyone here still say maths, or has everyone converted to the American math?'

    Oh please. No. No I haven't.

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #24 5 years ago

    1. Even on the original you held the DS vertically.

    Read slower:

    "The basics are the same, though: you hold the DS vertically, instead of horizontally, and the disembodied face of the umeboshi-fearing Doctor Kawashima introduces a series of tests and mini-games that are designed to test and train your brain. "

  • Der_tolle_Emil #25 5 years ago

    Anyone here still say maths, or has everyone converted to the American math?

    I never said maths :/

  • krudster #26 5 years ago

    Bleh, Big Brain Academy was good but in no way as ridiculously addictive as Brain Training. The daily progress thing made it way more interesting.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #27 5 years ago

    Indeed. It made me feel that I spent just enough time with it to justify my purchase. Sometimes I'm short on time and I wonder if I should have really bought a game when I don't have more than 30 minutes a day to actually play it. No problem with Brain Training or puzzle games though, one or two a day is just fine.

  • JYM60 #28 5 years ago

    @Mapster

    I'm with you, didn't really find the original interesting once I got over the novelty of drawing on a screen.

  • chupachups #29 5 years ago

    "I never said maths "

    Autumn or Fall?
    Chips or French Fries?
    Crisps or Chips?
    Colour or Color?
    Pissed Off or Pissed?

  • JYM60 #30 5 years ago

    Autumn
    Chips
    Crisps
    Colour
    Pissed

  • Dermoth #31 5 years ago

    "Math" is just plain wrong. The word is "mathematics", not "mathematic".

  • cobracotton #32 5 years ago

    maths, please for the love of all that is human say maths!



  • Christafo #33 5 years ago

    Good to hear they're chucking in a load of new training games, but would've liked it if they'd have kept some of the basic calculation challenges. Does the game still have unlockables that are gained through high scores/play time?

    Oh and 13 seconds for calc x20 and you got into oxford? Perhaps ill change the tact of my uni applications and just post them my ds - 10 seconds on x20, 58 seconds on x100.
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/07 @ 10:54

  • Vindicator #34 5 years ago

    Jesus Christ. How subjective can an article be? Do you think I give a shit about your Oxford degree? I want to hear about this game. One "me" would have been too much, let alone the countless references to yourself in this article. I'm sorry to say this, but no one cares about you. The closest to being a celebrity you will get is at your Oxford reunion when all the cool kids assault you and leave your battered mug on page eight of the Metro "Missing Persons" column.

  • Christafo #35 5 years ago

    Yeah gotta admit the review was a bit scant on any substantial detail. Then again, its Brain Training, so not much needs to be said.

  • ph101 #36 5 years ago

    "get those electrons opening up new neural pathways "

    Well not really - new neural pathways are created when neurotransmitters are released in synapses, which then trigger adjacent neurones to fire. Positive feed back can then lead to new pathways being formed - but you can't really attribute this process to "electrons".

  • dcangel #37 5 years ago

    What's all this about naff text recognition? During the months and months I've played the first game, I've can count one one hand the occasions where the game hasn't recognised my input. And my handwriting is dreadful.

  • Mudo #38 4 years ago

    I got this game free with my DS I bought at the weekend, having never played it or the original or any of these games before.
    I wanted the original but it wasn't in stock, and I figured they would be basically the same sort of thing.

    This review is good, but somewhat disappointing it that it continually makes references to tests/games in the original Brain Training game, and I have no idea what you're talking about. You referenced around 5 and only explained what Calculations x20 is.

    As for the comments in the thread - I haven't had any problems with the handwriting. I write fast and fairly sloppily but it has not once misindentified a letter or number.
    The same applies to voice recognition. Granted, I've only given the Rock-Paper-Scissors game a go once so far, but in that one turn it correctly identified my words.

  • darkace #39 4 years ago

    13 seconds for calculations times 20 isn't incredible as i can get 10 secs and 1 min 12 for calculations times 100 isn't great either as i can get 55 secs