Nintendo's "Big Brain Academy" Beats "Brain Age"

A few weeks ago I reviewed Nintendo's "Brain Age" for the DS handheld and found it somewhat dull. Always on the lookout for fun and worthwhile brain exercise tools, this week I grabbed a copy of Nintendo's "Big Brain Academy" with the hope that a different approach might bring some fun into my mental workout.

So now that LifeTwo owns the two leading brain training tools for the DS (and, judging by Amazon's videogame bestseller list, the leading such titles on any platform), which would I rather use to work myself into a mental sweat?

The two games aren't head-to-head competitors. "Brain Age" is like a food you don't particularly like, but eat because it's good for you (spinach, anyone?). Its serious-looking packaging wants you to "train your brain in minutes a day!" Everything about it says this is for adults only. Curiously, in a game that makes a semi-scientific claim to work out your brain and that features a neuroscientist who periodically pops onto the screen, there is no scientific backup for its efficacy -- not even a link to research.

"Big Brain Academy"

"Big Brain Academy" is more focused on gameplay. Even the package is more fun -- wouldn't you want to know "who has the biggest brain?" It's clear that this is an all-ages game.

Gameplay

"Big Brain Academy" consists of a number of puzzles organized into five major groups: compute, identify, think, memorize, and analyze. Within each group there are three different games. Each consists of puzzles that should take a few seconds each to solve; you try to get as many right in a set timeframe (it's probably about a minute). This race-against-the-clock approach is sure to get your mind revving. To keep you from getting bored, each of the puzzles has three levels of difficulty.

After the fast-paced game is over, you get a score based on your number right and wrong. You get a "brain weight" and, above a certain level, a medal. These are tracked permanently for each player.

Some of the more challenging puzzles were:

• memorize a sequence of icons and duplicate it
• find matching images, numbers, or alpha characters in a grid.
• draw lines through icons to match a sequence.

A few of the challenges were just odd, like the puzzle that asks you to pick the heavier of two animals. There was also a puzzle for adding up coins; the problem is the coins looks so alike it's hard to tell nickels from quarters. The addition puzzle, where you tap out answers on a virtual keyboard, is weaker than "Brain Age's" handwriting-recognition one.

Better Than "Brain Age?"

But overall, the colorful and graphic-driven games are a substantial improvement over "Brain Age's" less visually interesting ones. They also work for a wide age range; my seven year old son can play all of them with varying degrees of success, but even the basic levels are a challenge for an adult (we're just supposed to be able to solve the problems faster ... right?).

A key improvement is that "Big Brain Academy" simply has more variety. And with each puzzle taking only about a minute, there's always time for a quick "let's see if I can beat my best score" hit.

Although I didn't try it, the wireless multiplayer game looks to be an improvement over "Brain Age" as well. The wireless game in "Brain Age" is simply a race to solve 30 math problems the fastest. "Big Brain Academy's" mirrors the single-player game; players get points for solving problems the fastest, coming in second, and so on, and play until one reaches a preset points threshold.

Both games require that only one of the wirelessly connected DS units have the game cartridge -- a benefit in households with more than one DS handheld.

So .. Which One?

To my mind "Big Brain Academy" is the superior game, whether for brain training or a quick reminder to the kids about who's smarter (after losing 20 times in a row in FIFA 07, they need to remember that I'm better than them at something). The variety of puzzles is better, it doesn't push unconvincing science at you, and it's simply more fun.

Does "Big Brain Academy" Work?

As I noted in our "Brain Age" review, there's debate over whether practicing puzzles every day does anything more than make you better at puzzle solving. When benefits have been shown, they're usually tied to a steady variety of new challenges -- not the sort of experience either "Brain Age" or "Big Brain Academy" provide over the long term. But they certainly do no harm -- and "Big Brain Academy" provides fun in the process.

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* Brain Age continues to outsell Big Brain Academy (#16 vs #38 on Amazon's videogame bestseller list, respectively, as of this writing. On the DS platform they are the #2 and #5 games.