Brain Age is a bit of a puzzler. It helps to train you to think faster by doing simple exercises. Most of these exercises involves a lot of memorizing, calculating and speaking aloud. You have a host to guide you along the way named Dr. Kawashima. Well, only his head anyways and he's usually bouncing up and down, exclaimating his approval or disapproval at your performance. Through daily exercises, he will help you bring down your age to 20 years which is his ideal goal.

The Daily Training mode is where you'll be spending most of your time. There is a limit of doing the sessions only once a day. You start off by having a data file open for yourself (a maximum of 4 data files can be created). Then, as a preliminary exercise, Dr. Kawashima will conduct the Brain Age Check on you. Now, the Brain Age Check is basically 3 random tests out of 6, depending on whether you want to do the audio tests or not. These range from simple mathematical calculations with single/double digits to memorizing words in 2 mins. Other Brain Check tests include speed counting 1 to 20, connecting alternate alphabets and numbers in chronological order, speaking the color of a word rather than speaking the word itself, and identifying how numbers move on the screen. I think the trick is getting 2 tests completely correct and the last test can be 50% correct. That's what happened to me when I could only remember 18 words out of 30 words and still got 20 years.

The exercises in the Daily Training regime are a combination of calculation, memorization and reading exercises. Calculations are the 20 questions or 100 questions of single or double digits. Memorization would be arranging numbers in numerical order. There's one where you have to count the number of syllables in a sentence. The tough one for me was the Head Count where you have to count the number of people in the house as they go in and out of it. Sometimes they go so fast it's hard to remember. As you train with these exercises, newer exercises would open up. I've only had the game for about a week so there are still 3 modes that are still not open. They should open up when I play it more often. Daily Training exercises I still have to open are the Triangle Math of doing quick calculations, Time Lapse to determine the time difference between 2 clockface and Voice Calculation by speaking the answer of a mathematical question.

Your progress is tracked on daily graphs which you can compare over a two month period. Of course, Dr. Kawashima, being the helpful guide, will sometimes have some words of praise or encouragement to booster you onwards. He gets a bit hyper when you do the exercise everyday. I did have a bit of problem with the mic. Having a lisp, I couldn't pronounce the word "Blue" so I kept getting the wrong answer and making my brain age go up higher. Because of that problem, I went up to 30 years once. Since then, I've stop doing the vocal Brain Age check because of my speech issues.

There is a simpler mode known as Quickplay where you can try out all the tests without having to open a data file. You can also have this Quickplay/Demo mode downloaded on another DS. There's even a multiplayer mode up to a maximum of 16 people battling it out with 30 calculation battles. Caution at this point : playing with relatives will get a bit rough.

Included with the Brain Age game are Sudoku puzzles. They range from simple basic puzzles, through intermediate and finally to tougher ones. I haven't managed to open all of them up as each stage had about 40-50 puzzles each. Admittedly, this is the 1st time I actually learned how to play Sudoku as anything resembling Crossword Puzzles used to put me off. Now, I can't seem to stop playing. So far, 5-10 min are my shortest time on basic puzzles. Still trying to finish all the puzzles there first before proceeding towards the more complicated ones.

Overall, as a game, Brain Age would appeal to casual gamers who don't mind doing a bit of thinking. Even though the thinking is tougher than it looks, it does stimulate the mind. Although, I can't show this to Mum else she would get too stressed trying to calculate. I happen to like puzzle games, provided that they do not require too much brainpower and Brain Age is definitely one of them.