more brain teasers in in minutes a day.

I got Brian Age 2 about a month ago after seeing it on a store shelf. I have been wanting to try it but never got around to buying it. I loved the original Brian Age with it’s math and word puzzles. Brain Age 2 has the same type of brain teasers and even more Sudoku puzzles. But it has something more a bit more style.

Graphics.
While the graphics weren’t anything big in the original and there not big here but they are a bit better here. Rather then just numbers and text some modes to include pictures of money for you to count, and piano buttons on another. Yeah not a huge amount of improvement but since the original brain age graphics were limited to animated clocks being the big eye candy this is an improvement. There is also a doctor Mario game that uses the virus animations.

Sound.
Other then a remix of fever for the Dr. Mario theme, and the music for the piano pieces there is no music in the game. Sound effects are just two different kinds of beeps for right and wrong answers,

Gameplay
Like the original brain age the game is focus more on math and word problem teasers. The idea is that the game won’t make you smarter, but help make you sharper by forcing your brain to think on some basic problems. Of course your not score on if your right or wrong but how fast you can solve the puzzles.

Sign Finder.
The first Brain Age gave us the rapid math tests where we had to answer simple math problems has fast has we could. In this one the goal is to find the right sign for the problem. For example it will 3 blank 8=24. You then have to draw a X on the touch screen to get it right.

Piano Player.
This one shows Brain Age 2 is a bit more complex in it’s mini games. The idea here is to play a classical song (all of them are in public domain) on a piano keyboard. This game is pretty easy on it’s default setting has it stops and tells you what notes to play, fun but not very challenging. Unfortunately hard goes to far has it not only doesn’t stop but doesn’t even tell you what notes to play. Still an interesting game.

Word Scramble.
Basically a word scramble game, the only thing different then the word scrambles found in the news paper is that these rotate around making it a little more distracting.

Memory Sprint
Pretty much identical to head count but rather then keeping track of how many people are in the house you try to keep track of what place a runner is in has other stick figures run past him. The first one is always easy while the 5th and last animation goes by super fast.

Change Maker.
The idea of change maker is to count change. You see the dollar bills they are presenting and the price and you have to make change by pressing the right dollar signs on the bottom. It’s not to difficult but then again the whole idea is to get the best time.

Word Blend
Word Blend has you listen to two words said at the same time and then you have to guess what they are. You can have them repeat the words several times before the game forces you to give up and it can definitely be a challenge to figure out what they are saying.

Calander Count.
A math game played with the calendar. What was the date 3 days before 2 days after today, or what will the debate be on Tuesday of next week. Check the date on the calander before playing this game has this one can stump you if you don’t keep up with the dates.

Math Recall.
Solve Math puzzles has fast has you can but what keeps this one from being a simple math game is that the numbers are quickly covered up. For example you see a 7 at the start and it gets covered up and that covered up 7 gets put into a blank +4. You solve that puzzle and the 4 gets covered up for the next problem. Not only does it take good math skills but good concentration and memory has the game gets faster.

Clock Spin.
The hardest game in Brain Age 2 you have to find out what time it is on a clock. The hard part is that it not only can be upside down but flipped around mirrored. This one gives me a head ache to play.

Block Count.
Blocks fall into what starts out has 3 columns but goes to 6 columns. The area is covered so you can only see the blocks start to fall. The trick is to answer how high whatever column it asks you for is. Like memory sprint this one starts off easy but gets hard has the game picks up speed.

Virus Buster.
Not a brain game but rather just a take off of Dr. Mario. You move and flip the pills with the touch screen. And on the higher difficulty more then one pill can enter the bottle at a time. Parts of this remix of Dr. Mario were added in a new mode for the Wii Ware version of Dr. Mario on the wii.

The Brain Age check.
Every day you can take one of these and there are 3 little tests that must be completed in order to get your brain age. Just like the last time but tests now are different. And there are more of them brining more variety and a bit more enjoyment. There is still a speaking portion of the test if you choose to do it. This time it has you playing rock paper scissors and saying the answer. The tricky part is that it will ask you to loose half the time and win the rest. The game is a little bit more accurate in sensing what your saying but I still found myself frustrated half the time that it didn’t understand what I was saying.

Other puzzles in this one include picking up the highest numbers, tricky has the numbers shown will be different sizes and even moving. Math Recall will be used, and a symbol match game. The big memory test in this game has you trying to memorize number a 5 by 5 grid and placing them in the correct order after 5 minutes. A lot more enjoyable then trying to figure out 30 4 letter words.

Sudoku.
Sudoku is back with more puzzles. The whole idea to completing the puzzle is to fill in numbers 1-9 on a 9-9 grid. Each row and column can only have one number, plus only one number can go into a 3-3 box. Easy to learn and hard to master these puzzles can test your wits.

Final Recommendation.
If you liked the original Brian Age you will like Brain Age 2, if you didn’t like the original Brain Age then your probably not going to like Brain Age 2. Anyways it’s a cheap game for only 20 dollars and with the exception of clock spin the games are fun. Also there is 100 Sudoku puzzles thrown into the game has a nice bonus.