What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this is a sequel to the excellent Brain Age puzzles for the Nintendo DS. All the puzzles in this version are new and just as intriguing as those found in the first. This game can be played by a group and only one software cartridge if each person owns a Nintendo DS. Since the puzzles require mastery of money concepts, telling time, spelling, and computing math facts, it's better for ages 9 and up.

Families can talk about which brain games they like best and why. Do you like the ones you are best at? Or are certain kinds more fun to play regardless of your score? Do you think brains need a workout like bodies do?

Common Sense Media Review
In 2006, Nintendo revolutionized the nature of video gaming by introducing Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day . The Nintendo DS game contained a series of mini-brainteasers to put your mind through a workout. The game was a hit, selling over 8 million units worldwide. Now there's a sequel: BRAIN AGE 2: MORE TRAINING IN MINUTES A DAY!

Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, the famous floating head from the original Brain Age, is back with 15 new grey matter-flexing puzzles. During your first training session, Kawashima measures your current brain age by having you play a variation of the game Rock, Paper, Scissors, using the Nintendo DS microphone to respond. If you aren't in a quiet place, you can opt to take the non-verbal Serial Subtraction test where you start with a two-digit number (like 71) and continuously subtract a smaller number (say 7) by writing your answers on the touch-sensitive screen. After this first test, Kawashima assigns an age to your brain. The ideal brain age is 20, but you are likely to start out with something substantially higher, particularly because the voice recognition is somewhat spotty.

The idea behind Brain Age 2 is that you should play a few of the 15 brain games every day to keep your cortex sharp. From the main menu, you can access Daily Training. If you play one game a day, you will earn a stamp on the doctor's calendar. Each day you can also re-test your brain age by playing three randomly selected games. The doctor will keep your progress on a chart. At first, you will have to play for several days before all the content is unlocked.

The brain games are intriguing and very different from the group introduced in the first Brain Age game. Here you will make change, solve word scrambles, learn to read music to play the piano, and see how many numbers you can memorize in two minutes. In one of the more challenging games, you listen as two or more words are spoken at once and then try to write down the words that you hear.

The software can keep statistics on up to four players for a year. That way whole families can compete, by comparing their scores for individual brain games.

Brain Age 2 is also fun to explore with others using the wireless download feature of the DS. Up to 16 people can compete using only one game card if they own separate DS units. There are three brain games available for this multi-person brain bash.

In addition to the brain games, Brain Age 2 comes with 100 Sudoku puzzles, making it a great game to have when you have time to kill. You can unlock other goodies including Virus Buster, a match-the-color-type game.

While inconsistent voice recognition can mess up the initial brain age testing, the rest of the games work well using writing recognition. Kids have to be old enough to know how to make change, spell well, tell time, and compute math facts to play these games.

Other brain games worth exploring include the original Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and Big Brain Academy .