Cranium

Do you know how old your brain is? The aim of most brain trainers on the market is to get the age of your brain down as low as you possibly can. This has always struck me as a little perverse.

When I was a nipper, the kind of matters my brain focused on were whether I had the right Lego bricks to finish that police station, or if I had enough ketchup in for my chicken nuggets dinner. I was hardly blessed with bulging brains as a result of my youth.

Luckily, Cranium makes no claims about improving your brain power, conversely offering up a fairly light challenge that's more likely to play a role as a tea break filler rather than a Mensa examination.

Coming with challenges that fit into four set categories - standard Data Head questions, drawing tests in Creative Cat, spelling in Word Worm and pop trivia in Star Performer - Cranium relies on you getting enough questions right in just fifteen turns.

Each question or challenge you undertake can offer up a total of four points, depending on how quickly you answer, with all your points pooled together to form a total score. Your target is a seemingly high one of 45 points, though in truth, with score multipliers popping up every few rounds and a fairly forgiving time limit, it's far harder to fail than it is to succeed.

The tasks, too, almost throw points at you. Though creative in terms of their range, it's fair to say that Chris Tarrant would quickly go bust if the standard of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire's questions dropped to Cranium's level - though, for the younger amongst us, that might not necessarily be a bad thing.

While Data Head rounds throw up fairly standard challenges, such as picking the odd one out from a list of four or declaring whether a statement is true or false, Creative Cat charges you with recreating simple drawings by putting the pieces together, or recognising objects from half-drawn sketches.

Word Worm, too, puts forward some interesting concepts that initially have the power to bamboozle: spelling words backwards or using the letters preceding the ones you actually need to make a word.

But these slightly left-field tests are balanced out by some other disappointingly tame ones. There's no doubt that Cranium has been developed with an American market in mind and, as such, answering questions about Jessica Simpson or The Hills in Starstruck mode becomes a regular facet of every play through.

They never sit especially well with the other tests on offer, even though an apparent paucity of questions means they pop up with alarming frequency.

Yes, Cranium does tend to repeat itself. It's fair to say that, running through the main mode five or six times (which is actually a necessity, in order to earn enough 'star points' to unlock all the games in Free Play mode) will unearth all the game has to offer, with a number of repetitions.

As time goes by, you'll find yourself scoring top marks purely from memory, Cranium inadvisably revealing right answers when you make a mistake.

It all results in a game that has the right structure and a whole host of intuitive ideas (including a neat multiplayer mode), but that doesn't quite pull it off in terms of actual play.

Let's be clear: this is no car crash. and there's a lot to enjoy, from its cheery presentation to some of the more 'physical' tasks on offer. But Cranium needs to grow a few extra brain cells itself before it can be transformed from a mere brain teaser to a full on brain tester.