Brain Coach with Dr Kawashima

If, in the not-too-distant future, aliens were to come to Earth and investigate the smouldering remains of what was once mankind, they could be mistaken for thinking humans underwent a drastic transformation between the periods of the 1970s and the 2000s. For while in 1978 they would appear to have liked nothing more than to wage wars in games like Space Invaders, in 2007 all they'd seem concerned with was the training of their puny brains.

This revolution would also appear to have been led from the front by a Japanese man known as Dr Kawashima.

Back in the present, then, and it's understandable. The good doctor gets everywhere these days and having conquered the DS demographic he's now cemented his face on mobiles for this Namco-developed brain trainer. Unsurprisingly, this means Brain Coach sticks to the tried-and-proven formula of daily tests and brain age checks, which you're likely to have experienced before if you own any of the other countless brain training games currently available. (If we'd followed a rigorous brain training routine ourselves, we'd probably have been able to tell you how many there are.)

While the content may not be revolutionary, on the positive side this game presents its tests very nicely and they've been well adapted to mobile. They're challenging, too. In fact, our only immediate gripe is that they're quite difficult right from the start. Another concern relates to our brain age dropping from 49 to 29 in the space of one day, which somewhat spoils the feeling you're gradually improving your intelligence.

But let's talk structure. As seems be to the norm with brain training games, you can play a Brain Test every day and your progress is then recorded on a chart that's viewable at any time. In addition, there's also a daily Brain Age test to tell you how old your brain is (the younger the better, clearly).

Free Mode can be engaged in as many times as you like, and lets you practise the game's various tests. Adding a bit of an incentive here is Dr Kawashima scoring you in visual form at the end of each game. So an average performance makes you a human, while higher scores make you a whale or a mountain. Yes, mountain. Very wise, those lumps of rock. (Which, if nothing else, makes our recent unbeaten string of chess matches against the Alps all the more impressive.)

There are ten playable exercises in total and each falls into a different category, such as arithmetic or memory. Before each test you're told which regions of your brain will be activated by playing it (for example, the frontal or temporal lobes) and this is helpfully displayed in visual form. It lends a bit of pseudo scientific authenticity to the experience, although we can't say our frontal lobes feel much different since playing.

Some of the exercises are really very good, though. In Rock, Paper, Scissors you must select one of the three actions depending on whether the game tells you to win, lose or draw. Much harder than it sounds. Inverted Numbers, on the other hand, has you reading and typing in mirror-written numbers against the clock, while Predominant Number shows you a grid of various digits and you must quickly determine which number appears most frequently.

The tougher games include Follow The Pencil, in which you must track pencils along the lines and decide where they're going to end up. Honestly, it's tough because you're quickly given multiple pencils to track at once. And there's also Rolling Shapes, where the forms are quite small and roll faster than footage of a grasshopper on fast-forward. Well, almost. (You get the point.)

Overall though, the toughness won't put you off and Brain Coach emerges as one of the easiest to follow, cleanly presented, and well designed brain games we've played on mobile. It has no gimmicks – just the likeable digitised doctor in his white coat providing trustworthy sounding assessments of your mental capacity. And some of the exercises are so addictive you'll keep playing them just to earn a high-score.

So, Dr Kawashima scores well in yet another satisfying brain training game. One more to add to his bulging resume and further evidence his name will be remembered in years to come.

Brain Coach with Dr Kawashima

Well presented, accessible brain training game featuring the now-renowned Dr Kawashima
Score
Kath Brice
Kath Brice
Kath gave up a job working with animals five years ago to join the world of video game journalism, which now sees her running our DS section. With so many male work colleagues, many have asked if she notices any difference.