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Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes
a Day
Publisher:
Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Educational Puzzle
Release: July 29, 2007
Platform: Nintendo DS
Reviewer: Eric
The first Brain Age game made people realize that the Nintendo DS is not just
for mindless action games. Hundreds of clones later Nintendo has brought back
Brain Age for a second round. Is the sequel worth another twenty dollars or
should you just wait for another knock off to come out next month?
 Educational games can be fun? It’s true, Brain Age 2 is a lot like the first
game, but with new puzzles. The basic format is still the same, play the puzzles
to see how old your brain is. After so many days you will unlock new puzzles.
Once you finally unlock everything the game is complete, but the training is far
from over.
Brain Age 2 feels a lot like an expansion. It would have made more sense for
Nintendo to let people download new puzzles like Professor Layon, but it seems
like the Brain Age is going to be a yearly game. This brings up a good point,
should you buy this brain training game or wait for another?
The game is a novelty, much like the Nintendo Wii. You start the game with a few
puzzles and the more you train the more games you will unlock. In the first few
days you will start to unlock a new game a day. Since Nintendo didn’t want Brain
Age 2 to end too fast you’ll have to play longer and longer just to earn another
puzzle game.
I found this part of the game to be a little annoying. After awhile I got sick
of playing the same few games over and over again. All I wanted to do was earn
more games, but no I had to wait another day just to see if I would get a new
one. Turns out I didn’t get a new one and some how my brain got older.
Certain games have you shouting words into the microphone area of the Nintendo
DS. This was frustrating as hell, especially during the Rock, Paper, Scissors
game. I seemed to have a 75% chance of getting my voice to be recognized. My
brains age would go down just because the stupid game couldn’t tell when I was
saying any of those three words.
 My favorite challenges in Brain Age 2 are the math puzzles. To me these are the
only ones that seem to make any sense, but of course the floating head makes it
seem like all these games are necessary to have a twenty year old brain. I just
can’t understand why hitting certain notes on a piano will help my brain.
If the puzzles are getting old then you can play any of the one hundred Sudoku
puzzles. There is something about Sudoku that is so fun and for a hundred
puzzles at twenty dollars you can’t go wrong. This alone is worth the purchase
of Brain Age 2 and the best part is nobody will judge your brains age if you
mess up a few times.
Even though the game is lacking updates like Professor Layton there is a new
multiplayer mode. Up to four players can compete in a few different puzzles.
You’ll only need one copy of the game and no wires. So if you want to be a jerk
get three friends and have them throw a few bucks into the purchase.
Final Verdict
Brain Age 2 is back to claim the throne in the now already huge educational
puzzle genre. In most cases the game isn’t completely different than the first
game, but when you add in a four player multiplayer mode you really can’t
complain about the price. As much as this game annoyed me at times I keep
finding myself playing it again. Twenty dollars is a small price to pay for a
game like this, make sure you pick it up if you own a Nintendo DS.
Rating
8 out of 10
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day Trailer
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