Brain Challenge – Review

Our rating:

By: Gameloft

Version #: 1.3.0

Date Released: 2008-07-08

Developer:

Price: 9.99

User Rating:

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This is a pretty nice implementation of a popular genre of ‘game’ that Nintendo developed originally for the game boy.  No, Nintendo didn’t do this one too, but since I’ve spent some serious time with the Nintendo series of "Brain Games", I think that Gameloft has done a great job of expanding where Nintendo left off.

First, I really think that this game does a nice job in the variety of mini games it uses to exercise the different parts of your brain (logic, memory, visual, etc).  I like the use of the iPhones interface to interact with the game, although Nintendo does a pretty good job of this too (including audio which Brain Challenge has not done).  But what makes me like this one a bit more is the clever variety of mini games it uses for each individual brian challange.  After playing this game for only a little time, i started to like the fact that it doesn’t continually use the same mini game over and over to test the same brain function, and in fact, it seems to progress the challenges more and more as you get better at playing the games.

I haven’t played the X Box version, but the fact that the iPhone has a unique interface would seem to make it more enjoyable in this portable version.

I also like the fact that the game supports up to 5 profiles, so if you wanted a friend to try the game or a spouse, it wouldn’t affect your score.

The stress test is a unique feature that can be pretty challenging, the use of distractions and secondary tasks ads some excitement to the mini game challenges.  My only issue with this application is that it seems to exit out of the application (crash?) once you complete the challange.  It happens every single time and almost immediately after a challenge is complete.  If it wasn’t for that one fact, I would have given this a 5 star rating.

Quick Take:

Value: Worth every dollar.
Would I Buy Again: Yes, in a minute.
Learning Curve: Low. Every game is explained in full detail.
Who is it for: Anyone who wants to challenge their brain.
What I like: The challenges continue to change.
What I Don’t: The continued crashes after each challenge.

Final Statement: Brain Challenge is a great game, I would recommend it for anyone, the only thing they need to do is fix the reset that occurs each time you complete a challenge.  Other than that, this is much better than Nintendo DS’s Brain Age.