With the world of video games now becoming obsessed with keeping your body and brain healthy, Big Brain Academy fits right in. It’s simple and clear graphics make it easy to understand and read for all ages or abilities – this game is not limited to who you are or what you do. Unlike conventional brain games, Big Brain Academy rates its games on brain weight, grades and suitable careers. All the explanations of the game and activities are very well explained and therefore easy to understand; of which makes getting to grips with the game a lot easier.

When you start up the game, you can begin by doing a quick demo test, which takes approximately 3 minutes; half the length of the normal test. This helps to introduce you to what you may expect from the game, or if you are in a hurry and want to quickly test yourself. The demo option is perfect for you. If your friend wants an idea of what the game is like, before they buy a copy for themselves you can send them the quick demo.
Once you begin your own game, you are advised to take the test first: so following their instructions I did. You are presented with five categories; compute, identify, think, memorise and analyse. You then have a different activity randomly picked for you from each category. The explanations are very clear and precise, so that when you begin that specific activity you know exactly what you are doing. Once you have completed all five activities they have randomly given you they supply you with your brain weight; this is a more interesting/innovative way of displaying your results compared to using brain age. You are shown a picture of a hexagon, which spreads out showing how well you did in each category. Along with telling you your brain weight, mine being 1043g on first try, the game also tells you a fitting job and grade based on the activities you just did. With my brain weight, I had the brain type of a theatre producer and a grade of C+.
After having taken your test, you can then go and practise all the activities to try and improve your brain weight for next time. You are presented with the same five categories that you were in the test, except this time within the five categories there are 3 different games. Each game has three different levels of difficulty, with three different medals (bronze, silver and gold) in each level of difficulty. The layout and explanation of the games are once again very clear. Each game is different to the last one making it very fun and interesting as you play. Once you have attempted an activity you get the chance to go back and have another go at the questions you got wrong. This is a brilliant addition to the game, as it helps you to see where you went wrong and improve for your next attempt. Once again you get the pentagon shape to show you the progress for each category. The only problem I would be able to associate with this game and its activities is that once you have achieved all gold medals in all the games there are no more medals to award you, or new activities to attempt.
But if you feel that playing by yourself is not entertainment enough, Big Brain Academy has a versus mode so you can play against other fellow DS users near to you. The game allows each person to select one of the games in which you compete against the other player. It is good competitive fun, as you constantly strive to prove that you are better than your friend!
This game is so much fun, and it really does make your brain work! Its clear graphics and layout making using it easy, meaning that it will benefit all, regardless of age, ability or nationality – with its wide range of languages on offer! This game gets you thinking and enjoying it whilst you play, brilliant fun, what more could you want!