Thinking of Nintendo's efforts to capture a more mainstream audience with non-traditional games, the Brain Age series leaps immediately to mind - and then leaps right out again, because we can't seem to concentrate on anything these days. Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, Nintendo's resident neuroscientist, has noticed this too, and has geared this latest Brain Age entry towards improving players' concentration by cultivating their "working memory" with daily Devilish Training exercises. It's Dr. Kawashima's prescription for the age of information addiction, where multitasking is both a necessity and a distraction - and Brain Age: Concentration Training is just what the doctor ordered.
The main attraction of Brain Age: Concentration Training is the all-new Devilish Training mode. Here, Dr. Kawashima dons his devil horns and dishes out difficult exercises designed to train your working memory. Though there's a good variety of styles and content in the eight activities, they're linked by the basic idea of juggling several just-memorized pieces of information while simultaneously processing new information.
In Devilish Calculations, that idea plays out in a series of simple, cascading maths problems. Instead of writing the answer to the question on the screen, you're asked to write the sum of the previously viewed equation. That starts out easy enough, but things escalate very quickly when you're asked to write the answer to the question two, three, and even four back in the sequence. Two more activities, Devilish Shapes and Devilish Listening, follow this same format, but with recall tasks based around specific geometric figures and spoken equations, respectively.
Devilish Cups and Devilish Mice are variations on the shell game, where players are tasked with keeping an eye on covered, shifting objects and reporting their new positions at the end of a round. Devilish Blocks follows a similar concept, with one block out of many flashing briefly before the blocks change positions several times, and players then tapping out the complete pattern of flashing blocks. Devilish Pairs is the classic flip-to-match card game, made more difficult by the number of cards in play. Finally, in Devilish Reading, brain trainees read several sentences aloud (the 3DS' microphone makes sure you read the whole thing!) while memorizing underlined words in each phrase, and writing those words back afterwards.
Every one of these Devilish Training games is seriously challenging, and a dynamic difficulty level makes sure you're always training at the limits of your abilities. Each session lasts for five minutes, during which there are several rounds. Your performance is evaluated after each one, and depending on how you do, you'll either move up a level, stay at the same level, or drop back down. The level of each activity determines things like how many equations back in the sequence you'll go in Devilish Calculations, how many mice you'll have to track in Devilish Mice, and how many sentences you'll read in Devilish Reading, so the tasks become exponentially more complicated as the levels increase.
The dynamic difficulty is a fantastic addition, and really does help with concentration, at least as far as the game is concerned: since you're constantly in over your head, there's no time to rest, and no time for things to get boring. Five minutes of maths go surprisingly fast when you're working as frantically as you are in Devilish Calculations, whether on level 2 your first day or level 5 after a week of training - and the sense of accomplishment from finally reaching a higher level is incredible.
Along with the main Devilish Training mode, a Supplemental Training mode is included to help improve the speed of your working memory. These exercises are all returning activities from previous Brain Age games, and are mostly time attacks focusing on simple calculations and word recognition: you'll count change, tell time differences between two clocks, add up sums, perform chains of quick calculations, and scribble words as fast as possible. Trying to beat your best time can be fun, but these Supplemental Training exercises are a good deal more mundane than their Devilish Training counterparts. Without a dynamic difficulty, the added challenge of n-back recall, or any of the visual embellishments found in the game's flagship mode, they feel sadly uninspired by comparison.
The third collection of training exercises, Brain Training, is based on the classic Brain Age aim of keeping your brain active and young, rather than specifically targeting your working memory. It features returning favourites like Piano Player (a play-along piano mini-game with 45 unlockable songs) and Word Blend, as well as several new games including Mahjong and Klondike, Spider, and Golf Solitaire. A standout among these new activities is Block Head, a minimalist puzzle game developed by Intelligent Systems (of Pushmo and Crashmo fame). Players take turns with the AI hopping on tiles with point values attached, and after all spaces are claimed, the side with the most points wins. It's strategic, addicting, and very fun - we only wish for a pass-and-play multiplayer mode to play with friends.
Finally, when you've had enough training and are ready for some cerebral repose, three Relaxation Mode activities are on hand to provide a wind-down. Blob Blast is a fun, original match-three puzzler, played with the stylus while holding the 3DS vertically. It looks a bit like Puyo Puyo with bombs (required to clear the matching blobs), but its touch controls give it a unique hook: you control the falling blob as always, but you can also move nearly any blob already in play at the same time, as well as hold blobs and bombs suspended in mid-air while you wait for a falling piece. A variety of special mechanics come into play to make things more interesting, like blobs that can only be matched diagonally or that have to be burst by two different bombs within a time limit. Beyond Blob Blasting, there's Germ Buster, a stylus-controlled Dr. Mario clone that's also played vertically, and a Music Appreciation activity where you can listen to soothing songs as accompanying visuals play on the screen.
While there's certainly no shortage of content in Brain Age: Concentration Training, it's worth noting that nearly all of it is doled out at pre-set intervals based on the number of real-life days you've been training. The Devilish Training games become available quickly, with a new one popping up every day you play, but you'll have to wait significantly longer for other exercises — 40 days for the very last Brain Training activity! The drip-feed delivery system does help keep the game feeling manageable, and ensures you're able to get a handle on each new exercise as it's unlocked. It certainly makes sense if you think of Brain Age as a daily training program - which is how it's intended to be used, after all - but it's going to cramp your style if you just want to play some Dr. Mario (Germ Buster) before day 12. Similarly, Dr. Kawashima won't let you do a single Devilish Training exercise more than once a day, dashing dreams of whiling away the afternoon with Devilish Mice.
Along with introducing new exercises one or two at a time, Brain Age makes things easier on players with unfailingly excellent tutorials for almost every aspect of the game. From teaching you the rules of a Devilish Training mode to elucidating the science behind the exercises in "Brain Seminar" lectures and "Brain News" TV segments, Dr. Kawashima's explanations are helpful, easy to understand, and often slightly amusing. Players who have wrestled with games requiring text input in the past will also be happy to know that Brain Age's handwriting recognition is top-notch — we tested it on a bumpy bus ride and the game was able to discern our jittery scrawl without issue.
In terms of presentation, Brain Age: Concentration Training takes it cues from the clean lines and subtle colours of Wii Fit. The 3D effect adds a nice touch to Dr. Kawashima's floating, polygonal head, and a subtly layered look to the top half of the Devilish Training exercises, but it's sadly completely absent in the Supplemental and Brain Training modes. Since these two components are already significantly simpler visually - and in the case of Supplemental Training, almost completely monochromatic - the loss of 3D makes them feel straight out of the DS days. Those modes aside, however, Brain Age looks great. The fonts used are crisp and clear, everything animates smoothly, and the Relaxation Mode games are colourful corneal treats.
Happily, the audio side of the experience holds up the same standards. Though there's no music during the training exercises (in the name of "concentration", we assume), the harpsichord-heavy menu tune is both catchy and classy. Better still is Dr. Kawashima's consistently calming voice-over, which serves as a soothing antidote to the stress of Devilish Training, and adds a whole lot of personality to the proceedings.
In fact, the good doctor's voice is part of a long list of charming little touches that give Brain Age's first 3DS outing a distinctly Nintendo feel. You'll notice them from the first time you're asked to stamp the attendance sheet using the touch screen, and watch the ink mark fall exactly where you've tapped, rather than dead-centre in the box. It continues from there, when you're asked if you're ready to try Devilish Training: if you tap the "No" button, it jumps cheekily out of the way, bouncing around the screen to avoid your stylus, eventually hiding behind the "Yes" button and sealing your fate in the most adorable way possible.
As a side note, to anyone worried about the game's suitability for impressionable little ones, what with the floating demon-professor and all: Dr. Kawashima keeps his kind, comforting voice even in his devilish form, which makes the demonic doctor seem more as if he's just eaten a particularly spicy jalapeño and placed a pair of ice cream cones on his head, rather than arrived fresh from the depths of the underworld.
There's no multiplayer mode to speak of, but Brain Age: Concentration Training does have space for 4 profiles (each using a different Mii) on the same game card, and takes a Wii Fit-like approach to its shared leaderboards. You can compare your powers of concentration to your friends and family playing on the same system, as well as see your personal bests. There's also a StreetPass function, which lets players swap profile cards, records, and a Miiverse-esque message with fellow brain trainers. An impressive collection of Awards rounds out the package, with over 100 certificates of commendation available for everything from training for three days in a row to setting up StreetPass.
Conclusion
Brain Age: Concentration Training takes Nintendo's cerebellum-enhancing series onto the 3DS in style. It boasts a wealth of content, smart presentation, and loads more charm than you'd expect from a brain-training game. The new Devilish Training is a supremely satisfying challenge, thanks to the game's dynamic difficulty, and returning Brain Training exercises are joined by some excellent additions. We're crossing our fingers that continued use of Dr. Kawashima's system actually improves our concentration, but either way, this is definitely a prescription worth filling.
Comments 36
Nice review. I might get this game eventually when I can find it at a discounted price.
Its an insta-buy for me, however I hate the EU name of this game. Nintendo showing a bit of ignorance there again. NA's naming is a lot better. Sounds like a Great game going for under £18 at launch from shopto.net
Sounds like another winner!
It looks like a pretty nice game and I think I could enjoy it in short sections but I will definitely wait for discount. Josh Thomas has just started doing a video journal of this game. Check out his videos at thebitblock.com (or his Youtube channel), you won't be disappointed.
I might get this game. I need to concentrate bad >_<
Good review... err, first paragraph. I lost concentration after that.
It sounds like a great game...at bargain bin price.
Is there a way to turn off the awful voice??? The spanish voice on the demo was a nightmare!!!
Well I had the original for the DS, so why not ill get this. (Good Review)
@Mart2006 Haha! Fair play
@DashDG There is! But it's a bit cryptic - you need to go into Settings and change "Doctor's Appearance" to "Off". It also makes his head go away, leaving just a pair of disembodied spectacles - odd but effective!
I have never tried any of these on DS, but it sounds meaty and very interesting. Thanks for the nice review. You even wrote "jalapeño" with the ñ, so kudos to you Morgan!
Nice review.
I might get this sometime down the road.
Thanks for the review.
I might get this down the road as well, my concentration needs some improvement.
I wish Nintendo--or the party that published this game--would warn that this is a video game, not a magical way to flex one's mental cognition
Tried the demo. My poor tiny brain...
Got this last night. There looks to be many, many unlockables in the game and an achievement system as well. It plays really well as well. Great game! Now, where's the puzzle panel for this game like Japan got, Nintendo?
I tried the demo, put if I pressed start, it reset the game! What the heck?
Great evaluation. Well written, thorough, and one of the very first to be posted online. Thanks for investing the extra time that was required to craft a thoughtful and well-edited review.
Sounds good, just won't buy at the moment due to me saving up for Luigi's Mansion 2. Though, I will expect to buy it sometime down the road when it's at a good retail price.
"Beyond Blob Blasting, there's Germ Buster"
Yay! Germ Buster is back!
@zimpon: Thnx for the info, now Im getting this title!!! =)
@LEGEND_MARIOID : I feel the opposite. I'm really glad that Australians will also be getting the superiorly titled version of the game, which stays true to the silly Japanese title. I also hate the fact that the U.S. version has essentially censored "Devil" from the title.
definitely getting this at sometime. not right now though as I have EO4 to get and maybe Sonic this month....will have to wait until May to get this as I have too many 3DS games to get right now.
I've got the second one,and that was really good,but ever since the Layton games came out,I lost intrest in it .
I'll probably go for this,if it's £20
I've tried the demo and I'm HOOKED! Playing 1-back was easy, but 2-back really makes you get your stuff together!
Probably would be good for me, just don't want to spend money on it right now. What's the deal with the floating devil head anyway??
This would be useful for me , I got short attention span
Just a tip: on the eShop, this costs $30, but at retail, at least at the gamestop I went to, they charge $35. Anyway, crazy hard game, but I love it!
Sweet! I loved the demo! Can't wait to get this my brain is ready for some concentration!
@kobe1724 And it's $40 at Target, $30 at Walmart, $30 at Best Buy, and $30 at Toys R Us. I had to have Target price match for me to get the $10 difference back.
Pricing, at least at launch, is usually consistent between retail stores. Weird.
Definitely getting this on payday this week!
Hmm, some good points made by @sillygostly and @New_Age_Retro_Hippie ... Didn't know the US had actually "censored" the name (?)...Anyway, I'm still getting it. It's a class game.
My girlfriend bought this for me a few months ago. I miss the "Book Mode" the older games had (turning the DS on its side)...and the Sudoku, but it's still a great overall update to the formula. Devilish Training is frustratingly hard at times, but breaking through that mental plateau is an amazing feeling.
will you europeans EVER get this game?
This game sucks. They added an annoying voice, increased the polygon count just making the graphics ugly, among other things.
The lack of a UK release is getting silly now...
It's listed on the official Nintendo site. What can possibly be taking so long?
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