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When you think casual games, Windows is the obvious choice. It offers a veritable smorgasbord of gaming goodness. But, it's not the only platform for casual fans. A less obvious alternative is Nintendo's DS, now available in a "Lite" version (more games, less grams).
Yep. You'll find a cool cache of casual games on hand, or soon to appear, for this diminutive device.
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DS games range from puzzlers to sims, arcade classics to adventures, strategy to board games and more. It even plays Game Boy Advance titles. And, a DS can do what most PCs can't - go with you just about anywhere. Frankly, it's the most casual-friendly portable ever created thanks to its touch screen display and popularity (over 21 million units sold). The only handheld that comes close is a PDA, at several times the cost.
So, watch this space for the best in DS games. Who says you need a hulking PC to play it casual?
For the inaugural installment of DS Casual, we're going to prove that grey matter really does, well, matter and dissect a pair of brain games: Big Brain Academy and Brain Age. Similar, but distinct in approach, it's weight vs. age in how they measure brain capacity. In Big Brain Academy heavier is better, while Brain Age finds youth preferable. Further, the latter is primarily a training tool and the former a collection of games.
Okay. Grab your No. 2 pencils, oops, I mean styluses, and let's see just how these brain builders whip our noodles into shape. And, be honest. It's something we can all use, right?
Big Brain Academy is the more "fun" offering. It assumes a lighthearted, less serious methodology, guiding you along with the assistance of Dr. Lobe, the academy headmaster. More visually oriented, it offers 15 neurologically stimulating, 60-second mini-games that test your ability to Think, Memorize, Analyze, Compute and Identify, and three modes of play: Practice, Test and Versus.
The first thing you'll do before anything else is take the Test. It randomly selects one game from each category to establish your starting point, the initial heft of your cranium, assigning a letter grade and an intelligence category such as Politician or Museum Curator. Once complete, it's time to enter Practice Mode and, hopefully, improve enough to raise your Test score.
Each Practice category offers three similar games, with three difficulty levels each, to strengthen your mental abilities. What activities are provided? Well, mini-games are quite diverse and consist of, among others, Heavyweight, where you determine which character is the heaviest; Memo-Random, in which you memorize and identify objects; and Matchmaker, a game of matched pairs. Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum medals are awarded in each exercise for intellectual prowess.
Big Brain Academy may not have any scientific basis to suggest that its mini-games really make you smarter, but they're fun nonetheless. Solo play is entertaining and challenging, while wireless Versus Mode adds extra hours of fun for up to eight DS owners using a single copy of the game. This is one instance where it pays to have a "big head."
Brain Age, on the other hand, is all about how "young" your noggin is, inspired by the research of neuroscientist Dr. Ryuta Kawashima whose likeness serves as the title's on-screen persona. I say "title" as this program is definitely more of a training tool than a game, even though a truly cool version of Sudoku is included. In an "un-gamely" twist, however, it reorients the DS in a book-like manner with the display screen on the left and touch screen on the right (the opposite for left-handers).
Daily training is the key to Brain Age. A few minutes a day keeps you intellectually fit. Though, as with any training, success means sticking with the program. Something you must do if you wish to "regress" to a season when your brain was younger and more capable. How's it accomplished? Via a battery of cognitive exercises that stimulate your prefrontal cortex, the control center of "practical intelligence." I know this is kinda cerebral, but hang in there. It's important and, as you'll see, fun.
Initially, a Brain Age Check, comprised of three random tests, establishes your brain's, umm, age. The accuracy and speed of your responses are the determining factors. After you find out how "young" your skull putty is you move on to Daily Training. Meanwhile, Brain Age, whether massaging your medulla oblongata day-by-day or running the Check, tracks your progress using simple line charts. Plus, a Quick Play "demo" option is provided for family and friends, and Download serves up mental mêlées for up to 16 DS owners with a single game card.
Daily cognitive activities employed are Calculations, simple math problems; Syllable Count, tallying syllables in a phrase; Low to High, number memorization; Head Count, tracking people entering and exiting a house; Reading Aloud, oral readings from classic literature; and more. The Stroop Test, verbally identifying words by their color as opposed to their meaning (the word "black" in blue letters, for instance, is "blue"), is one of several exercises that appear only during the Brain Age Check.
Although the daily exercises in Brain Age can be fun, the real enjoyment, in my mind, is playing Sudoku. Forget pencil and paper versions. This blows them out of the water! Possible answers, or Options, can be written in each square and are easily "erased" or replaced simply by writing the correct number over them. Moreover, you can undo moves and save puzzles in progress. While this column won't permit further detail, especially for folks unfamiliar with this puzzler, suffice it to say that Brain Age is worth the investment for Sudoku alone!
And, there you have it - a pair of brain games offering two distinct hemispheres of entertainment. Big Brain Academy with its more entertaining approach to increasing mental mass and Brain Age providing neurological stimulation for the young in mind. Brainiacs and Einstein-wannabes will love 'em both.