With the advent of the now famous Brain Age from Nintendo, it can essentially be said that a new genre now exists within the industry - that of "Brain Training". We've seen and heard of several imitations and even some decent clones within the genr...
With the advent of the now famous Brain Age from Nintendo, it can essentially be said that a new genre now exists within the industry – that of “Brain Training”. We’ve seen and heard of several imitations and even some decent clones within the genre itself, including SEGA’s previously horrific Mind Quiz, however it seems SEGA have learnt from their wrongs and developed a competent addition to the genre…..well…almost.
There isn’t really a narrative to Brain Assist, although it does feature more of one compared to other games. We’ll just assume that Brain Assist takes place in a fictional hospital occupied by four nurses who have almost cat like appearances. There’s also a somewhat masochistic nurse, EVA, who prefers to help players through the much harder puzzles that Brain Assist has to offer. These nurses guide the player through several puzzles in order to test the brain. Something interesting to note is that, unlike other titles in the genre, Brain Assist does not comment on the player’s intelligence but rather just gives a grade.
It would be wrong to judge Brain Assist in any magnitude to the graphics that it displays when first played on your DS. It’s simply irrelevant to the purpose of the title. However, unlike the infamous Japanese doctor from Brain Age, Brain Assist relies solely on two dimensional graphics drawn in a cutesy anime like style, with several of the characters, as previously mentioned, have cat type faces. It’s all a little unnerving that all the nurses share similar faces but different hairstyles, but it work’s well enough to facilitate the gameplay and the general “hospital” theme the game has going for it. The simplistic graphics displayed on the DS are smooth and without any blemishes most of the time. All the colours in the game are much more vibrant than previous titles in the genre and the text is extremely easy to read. All in all it can be said Brain Assist gives average graphics, but it doesn’t really need to give anything ground breaking either.
Brain Assist consists of several mini games (a total of ten) and two evaluation tests. What’s odd about Brain Assist is that it doesn’t offer any mathematical puzzles, a component of the brain that many would assume would come under the umbrella of “Brain Training”. Instead, there’s merely several simple cognition, retrieval and memory tasks in Brain Assist. The tasks presented are all pretty easy at first, but as players progress they will notice that they do get a lot harder and that they pose a significant challenge. When Eva, the gothic looking nurse comes out, players will know they’re doing well. All in all, Brain Assist has a nice variety of minigames for all levels of the family. Secondly, there isn’t a whole lot of depth to the game, and there is no encouragement to continue your “training” like similar games. Brain Assist does not feature any tracking of statistics similar to Brain Age. Because of this simple fact, it’s a far more casual experience than Brain Training. Whereas Dr. Kawashima would make you feel guilty for not playing Brain Age, the lovely nurses at Brain Assist won’t hold it against you should you forget to pick it up and play any days.
The music presented in Brain Assist is pretty varied. Many of the tunes are upbeat and sometimes may even cause excessive panic and place additional pressure on the player, which really does a great job at drawing the player into the game and getting them involved in the puzzles presented. Of course, naturally, the music does eventually get REALLY old and to the point where players will find themselves playing their DS muted.
Brain Assist really does have a lot of content packed into it’s tiny cartridge, but it’s questionable as to the quality of the content versus it’s quantity. While some may find the large amount of mini-games repetitive and boring, it’s valid to say that many will enjoy them too. Brain Assist will keep many gamers busy for a while, especially if they aim to complete all puzzles and continue building upon their scores. Players feeling lonely can also engage in Multiplayer mode, which accomodates up to 4 players. Multiplayer allows players to compete either while alternating turns or by playing together in the same puzzle. Good news for those on a budget, Brain Assist only requires one game card too!
Brain Assist is a worthy addition to the genre. Although it’s riddled with problems in terms of keeping the player interested in the game’s content itself, it simply won’t hold everyone’s attention. In terms of the degree in which it tests player’s brains, it simply doesn’t cover all bases that are expected to be covered in a game of this genre. Brain Assist is great for kids but it’s hard to recommend it to adults or anyone that hasn’t already played a brain training game.
FREEDOM WARS Remastered, Once Again and Super Onion Boy+
To pass the time.
Or in the office, we won't judge