When the first Brain Age
came out it showed developers that there really is a market out there for people
that are looking for games that are simple and don’t take much time/effort to
play; aka “Casual Gaming”. The name of the sequel is called Brain Age 2: More
Training in Minutes a Day, which basically tells you that this is exactly the
same game you have played in the past, just new tweaks and mini games to play.
The bottom line is that if you liked the first one you will enjoy this one as
well.
The purpose of this game
is to make you think by doing three simple challenges over a period of time. You
are then graded on your performance on the time it took as well as the number of
correct and incorrect answers you had. Your results are then compared to the
database of people that the developers used when making the game to come up with
your appropriate brain age. The exercises that you play in this will provide
some good challenges for your gaming-on-the-go habit.
Not too difficult
The games in Brain Age 2
are more advanced and require more thought then in the previous game. One game
you must touch the corresponding keys on a piano and follow the sheet music on
the other page to play a song. Another is a rock-paper-scissors game where you
must either try to win or lose depending on what is on the screen. One of the
more challenging ones is that there are letters rotating around in a circle and
you must decipher what the word is. Yet another is the change maker, where you
are given a bill total then you will have to make the correct change for it.
There are many more games then what is described here, and the best thing about
it is that each game is different from the other, so you never get a
feeling of redundancy while playing it.
The graphics have remained
the exact same from the previous version of the game. That means you will get
the same presentation as well. This is not a bad thing since this game is
targeted for a more casual market, but it would be nice to improve it slightly.
The audio for the game is clean and easy to understand. Since this game uses a
microphone I put it to the test and it held up pretty nicely. There were only a
few times when it didn’t understand what I was saying, but it was due to a lot
of background noise.
Learning how to play the piano
One of the best things
about Brain Age 2 is that it allows you to play with up to sixteen players at
the same time using only one copy of the game. Competing with that many people
will make playing really chaotic but fun at the same time. If you can dig deep
enough, there is a touch-screen version of the popular game Dr. Mario hidden on
it. This classic game lets you drag the capsules to their respective virus to
knock them out. Also there is a version of Sudoku which is made even better
since the handwriting recognition is top notch. Having a combination of both Dr.
Mario and Sudoku make this game even more tempting for fans to pick up.
Brain Age 2: More Training
in Minutes a Day is rated for everyone.
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Review Scoring Details for Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day |
Gameplay: 8.6
Brain Age 2 is simply just a blast to play. The daily training and
quick play is simply addictive and keeps you coming back for more. The simple
and easy to use interface makes this game even better.
Graphics: 5.8
The graphics are extremely simple. While this game doesn’t really rely on
graphics as a main selling point, it would be nice to improve them slightly from
the previous version.
Sound: 7.9
The audio is simple but everything is really clear, especially when
issuing commands for players to do. The microphone also picks up your voice
clearly; I didn’t run into many issues when playing verbal games.
Difficulty: Medium
It is hard to gauge the difficulty of this game because it is only as
hard as your mind can handle. Everyone will find that certain tasks are easier
for them then others.
Concept: 7.5
There really isn’t that much new to this game concept since the first
game came out, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.
Overall: 8.1
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day is a really fun game to
play that will keep you entertained for hours. It is really addictive and fun to
just pick up and play on any occasion. The Sudoku mini-game is worth the entire
game itself and will provide many hours of fun.
