Training your brain has been a successful sub-genre on the Nintendo DS for quite a while now. Brain Age humbles you with how awful you do at first, and then builds you up into a memorization and math machine after a couple of weeks. It is surprisingly satisfying. Now Namco Bandai, with guidance from Dr. Kawashima (the man behind the Brain Age games) brings us Body and Brain Connection for Kinect to not only train our brains, but get a little physical workout at the same time. The result is actually quite good, but a question of value dings it a little. Find out all of the details here in our full review.
Game Details
- Kinect Sensor Required
- Publisher: Namco Bandai
- Developer: Namco Bandai
- ESRB Rating: “E" for Everyone
- Genre: Logic / Puzzle
- Pros: Responsive Kinect controls; good menus; some fun minigames; genuinely satisfying
- Cons: Poor value at full MSRP; not a lot to do here
Features
Namco BandaiBody and Brain Connection is a successor to Nintendo's Brain Age series in everything but name. It is set up exactly the same way with you doing a daily test to check your brain age and then lets you loose on a number of mini-games that build your memorization, math, and other skills. The game tracks the changes in your performance from day to day and you get a real sense of progression that is quite satisfying.
The Kinect controls are remarkably good here as well. It isn't like you are doing anything that should tax Kinect too much, but it is a relief to see a game that actually gets everything right after so many broken launch titles. The menu is easy to use. The controls for most of the mini-games are perfect. And the whole interface is really clean and easy to use.
Gameplay
The mini-games you have to play are split into math, memory, logic, reflex, and physical with a handful of different games for each. Each game also has different difficulty levels to truly put you to the test. The mini-games have you doing things like moving your arms to set the time on a clock, punching numbers that come up to add up to a specific total, moving your arms to make bridges for vehicles to drive over, punching multiples of two numbers as a timer counts up (you punch the number that the timer is currently a multiple of), or using both hands to guide Pac-Man safely through a sea of ghosts. These are just a few of the games. All of them control very responsively, and most of them are surprisingly fun.
It has to be said, though, that this is still much more of a mental test than a physical one. Each game has you moving around, but it is usually just your arms or legs or leaning to one side or the other, so nothing that is going to make you sweat.
Value
I think the main issue that the game has is that it is priced way too high for what it is and what you get out of it. The MSRP is $50, which is just way too much. This isn't something you are going to play for long periods of time. You'll play it for 20 minutes (hopefully) every day, or at least until you get bored of it, and that is it. There are only a handful of mini-games, so the value here is kind of questionable. For $30 or less it would have been much more appealing.
Bottom Line
Namco BandaiBody and Brain Connection is a good game overall, though, and if you are of the right mindset you can get a lot out of it. It won't keep hardcore gamers occupied for very long, but they aren't the ones buying Kinect anyway. Casual gamers, parents, grandparents - the same people that have made the NDS Brain Age games successful - will definitely get a kick out of it. That type of audience will be more likely to actually play it every day for a few weeks and actually get their money's worth out of it, so for them I'd say a full MSRP purchase might be okay, but I'd still wait for a sale. For other Kinect fans that don't think they would actually use it every day, a rental or sub $30 purchase is recommended. Body and Brain Connection is a well put together and fun, but definitely niche, game that uses Kinect surprisingly well. If you are in the niche, and you should already know if you are depending on how interesting the term "brain training' is to you, it is worth a look.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our
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