Welcome to Modojo, 
Brain Age 2: A Family Review
Written by Chris Goldberg on Monday, October 22, 2007
Chris Goldberg gets personal, and gives his whole family an opportunity to weigh in on Nintendo's latest non-game....
...Continued From Page 2 My family's Point of View -
When I first asked my sister to play this game for an article, she giggled and asked why. Explaining that to her was probably more awkward than me sitting in a dark room yelling "scissors" to myself for hours on end. But thankfully she agreed, and she set to her task. Over time she got somewhat better at the games and showed some improvements, and her opinions on the product were quick to flow. "I think it's good for the adults as far as it definitely can help you with your memory and skills that you might be lacking as you grow older. But I think it's a little too boring for younger people." I felt like responding that she was an adult, but I thought maybe I'd get a DS tossed at my head. She continued. "For me, I think I would use it if I felt I needed to improve on my skills... but I think they could improve on what kind of games they put on there. I think the Memory Sprint game in particular is very boring, but I loved the Word Scramble."
So did she think the game could succeed in its mission of helping train your brain? "If you dedicate enough time to the game, I can definitely see the game helping your brain improve." It certainly sounded like the software had her convinced. However in the end, did the title appeal to her and make her more interested in the idea of playing videogames? Of this she was less enthusiastic. "I know this is weird but I am more into the storyline aspect of the videogames I have played, and this game is more like a test." With that said, she promptly gave the game a grade of 3 out of 5 stars.
Vanessa had a different opinion. When asked about the games appeal and if it succeeds in its mission statement, she yielded a more positive answer. "If I had a DS, I would consider buying it... I like things that are fast, keeps you on your feet and quick thinking. That's why I like the puzzles, because it makes you think and you gotta open up. As a program that's supposed to train your brain, I suppose it would work on helping your brain over a period of time. It certainly woke my brain up!" Vanessa added that there were plenty of things she enjoyed about the game. "For the first time playing it it was pretty challenging, I wasn't expecting the timing. I liked the features, the fact that it gives you little tidbits about the brain. Actually, I didn't dislike much of anything at all, except the handwriting recognition in the Sign writer training game. It seemed to have trouble noticing the way I wrote the division sign." She gave the game a 4 stars out of 5.
My mother had a more sagely position about what Brain Age 2 accomplishes, responding "I think the appeal depends on if you get easily frustrated or not. At first I was put off by the game because I felt like I was being judged harshly, but later on I really got into it. However, I could see how some people might give up easily." While she said she didn't believe in the end that the game would really make any significant strides in helping brain functionality, she could see being drawn to the title and playing it if she had her own DS. She noted her only problem being with the voice recognition of the rock, paper, scissors game, and gave the game a 4 out of 5.
Sometimes the pure youthful exuberance and unbiased viewpoint of a child is best to judge the quality of a product. And my little cousin Cisco was happy to oblige. His excitement soon turned to careful concentration, as he yelled at the screen for minutes on end the various answers to the rock-paper-scissors test. His brain challenged, he sat there for a minute and said "I didn't like it." When asked why, he swiftly replied, "they said my brain age is 80." Ah well, the game is aimed at people over twenty anyway!
[Average of 3.6 out 5, rounded up to 4/5]
