- Site: Brain Challenge
- Publisher: Gameloft
- Developer: Gameloft
- Genre: Puzzle & Trivia
Game Media
By Brad Cook
Legendary actor and comedian Will Rogers once said: “You know you’ve got to exercise your brain just like your muscles.” Decades later, we have an even better understanding of that basic axiom: a healthy mind is crucial to a healthy body. Brain Challenge helps you achieve that goal with 20 games spread across five categories: Memory, Visual (process information and complete a related task), Logic (pattern solving), Math, and Focus (respond to a fluid situation). It’s the best way to keep your mind sharp and in shape.
With assistance from Dr. Hurley or Professor Stevens, undertake the initial test that determines your level of brain usage and sets a baseline for future growth. Each time you launch Brain Challenge, you can tackle a daily test that features challenges from all five categories, or you can head to the training room for a workout in a specific area. At the end of each session, you’ll see how much progress you made — at any time, you can view your overall statistics and see how far you’ve come from the day you created your profile.
Many Ways to Train
Each time you embark on a daily test, you can choose from a brain test, stress test, or kid test. The first one serves up a sampler of challenges while the second offers the same with various distractions, such as critters crawling around the screen or mini-games where, for example, you must answer correctly to keep a panda balanced on a ball. Kid tests feature simpler versions of the challenges — they’re perfect for the younger members of your household or even for those times when you want to ease into the tougher brain teasers.
Stress tests are also available in the training room, where you’ll find the new challenges you unlock during your daily tests. The training room lets you work on challenges at easy, medium, or hard difficulty, so you can build your skill in that area and put it to work during the next daily test. Brain Challenge’s difficulty system is self-adjusting, so, for example, if you exceed at the easy setting, you’ll find some medium-level teasers thrown in so you can push your abilities. And if you begin to struggle, the game will switch to easier tasks.
When you just want to unwind and relax, head for Creative mode, where you can create drawings, construct mind-bending mazes, or set off spectacular fireworks displays. That last one sounds perfect for celebrating your latest Brain Challenge achievement. Are you ready to get that noggin in shape?
Game Hardware
Check out our systems for your best gaming experience.
Presto Change-o. Watch the tiles as they pass through the question marks.
Save the Panda! In this stress test, you’ll need to answer quickly to keep the panda from falling.
Report Card. 100% accuracy is great, but if you take too long to answer each question, you’ll still wind up with a bad grade.
System Requirements:
- Mac OS X version 10.5
- Intel processor
Tips and Tricks
- Some games are best played with the keyboard, while others are perfect for the mouse. For example, you’ll find that your fingers can fly across the arrow keys to reproduce the paths in Trout Route, while the mouse is best for quickly clicking on the right answer in Bouncing Ball. Figure out the method that works best for you in each training exercise.
- Don’t be afraid to choose the easy difficulty setting early on and work your way up to the hardest level. While the easy exercises may sometimes seem too simple (along the lines of grade school age homework, perhaps), they’re great confidence boosters for the tougher challenges, which become difficult very quickly. Not only are the harder exercises more complicated, but you’re expected to answer them faster.
- The easy difficulty setting is also perfect for formulating the best strategies for tackling exercises. For example, you’ll score poorly if you stop to count the blocks in the Ascending challenge, so your best strategy is to estimate how many there are of each color and make a quick decision.
- Speaking of quick decisions, don’t let the countdown timer toward the end of each challenge fluster you: push ahead and ignore that ticking clock. You’ll find that even with two or three seconds left, you can still squeeze in one more answer and push your score a little higher.
- Speed is key for high scores — the game will let you know if you’re exceptionally fast or slow with answers, and your trainer will offer encouragement if you quickly figure out the right response for several consecutive challenges.
- In the iPhone and iPod touch versions of Brain Challenge and Brain Challenge 2, keep both thumbs ready so you can quickly tap the screen from either side. For example, that comes in handy during math challenges that require you to tap balls floating around the screen.
Noggin Nourishment on the Go
When you’re away from the computer, keep those mental workouts going with Brain Challenge and Brain Challenge 2: Think Again! for iPhone and iPod touch, as well as Brain Challenge for clickwheel iPods.
Brain Challenge 2 features 30 new challenges spread across the Logic, Math, Memory, Visual, and Focus categories, along with a series of tests that measure your visual acuity and five mini-games. This time you’ll find new challenges, such as figuring out which domino will ultimately knock over the specified ones, or remembering which cars finished a race in what order. Professor Stevens and Dr. Hurley return to guide you through your exercises, and two new trainers, Professor Danny and Dr. Claire, are unlockable after you’ve completed enough of the game.
Like its predecessor, Brain Challenge 2 features daily tests, stress tests that measure how well you perform under duress, and plenty of charts for tracking your overall progress. It also offers an online leaderboard so you can see how your scores compare to other players around the world.