Brain Age
That 20-year-old girl sunbathing in the quad may look young, but how old is her brain? "Brain Age," a mind-training software for Nintendo's continually innovative DS handheld, could answer the question.
The non-game is inspired by the work of Japanese neuroscientist Dr. Ryuta Kawashima. Here, his 3D-animated head guides players through a series of challenges designed to stimulate the brain, including addition, reading and counting. The goal is always to complete the challenges as fast as possible.
Players can calculate their brain age whenever they like. Twenty is the ideal, but 70 means "Brain Age" was a wise purchase.
Interestingly, players are only allowed to complete each challenge once a day. "Brain Age" is designed to be played for about 15 minutes daily, and it tracks scores in each challenge and overall brain age on a graph so it's possible to see improvement over time. Those who don't mind their roommates playing can even compare scores.
Gamers looking for something to take on a road will be happy to hear "Brain Age" also includes a set of Sudoku puzzles to solve, and the paper-to-video game conversion is excellent.
What really makes "Brain Age" cool is its use of the DS's capabilities. The game is entirely touch-based, so players enter all their answers with the stylus. The microphone is also used, and players are sometimes asked to say their answer aloud. Thanks to this intuitive system, "Brain Age" is ultimately a game anyone can pick up and play.
The graphics and sound are very minimal, but the emphasis here is the addictive gameplay. "Brain Age" somehow makes using one's brain fun, a very strange concept indeed.
Magnetica
What's more fun than marbles? How about magnetized marbles...on a track!
"Magnetica" is yet another touch-based puzzle game for Nintendo's dual-screened handheld. Though not the best one on the market, it provides hours of frantic fun and is perfect for road trips and uneventful work-study jobs.
Like all good puzzles, "Magnetica" is based on a simple concept. Basically, multi-colored marbles roll along a long, curvaceous track. If they reach the end, game over. To stop them from getting there, players shoot randomly generated marbles of their own that stick to the ones on the track like magnets. Line up three or more of the same color and the group is destroyed.
Shooting the marbles is simple thanks to the DS touch screen. Just grab onto a marble in the center of the screen with the stylus, and then flick it in the desired direction.
Throw in some power-ups and rockets and "Magnetica" becomes a game that feels fresh every time you play.
The game features three modes of play: Challenge, Quest and Puzzle. Challenge is kind of like "Tetris." It puts players through 99 continuous levels of seemingly endless marbles. Quest takes things stage-by-stage, with changing level designs and increasingly challenging puzzles. Puzzle puts an unmoving line of marbles on the track, but players must break them all in a set amount of turns.
The diversity of play styles gives the game a lot more flexibility. Puzzle is slow-paced and methodical while Challenge and Quest can get absolutely frenetic. Replay is encouraged as well by high score tables in Challenge and medals in Quest.
The puzzler lets two players go head to head even if only one owns the game, but there is no support for Nintendo's Wi-Fi network. It is also compatible with the DS Rumble Pak, but this accessory seems far from needed in a game of this type.
"Magnetica" is not the most original puzzle game to come along in recent years, but fans of the genre can't go wrong giving it a try.
