'Challenge Me: Brain Puzzles' (DS)

Also available on: N/A
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Oxygen Games
Publisher: Oxygen Games
Release date: March 27, 2009

It must have been a tough pitch trying to convince Nintendo bosses that a game based around giving the brain a good workout would be a success; however, fast-forward a couple of years and the Brain Training series has been exactly that. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training is one of the biggest sellers on the DS and is popular among gaming veterans and newcomers of all ages. Aside from units sold, the second biggest clue that a game is doing well is the number of imitations it spawns. A plethora of beat-em-ups arrived after Street Fighter II made a splash, while rhythm action games have popped up everywhere following Guitar Hero's success. The same is also true for Brain Training style puzzle games on the DS.

At a glance, Challenge Me: Brain Puzzles may seem like just another Dr Kawashima clone, but if truth be told it's a much more focused and specific package, featuring two of the more popular varieties of puzzle games. This may seem a little flimsy at first, but, if Suduko and Nonogram (Picross) puzzles are your thing; there are plenty of individual teasers to make journeys and breaks all the more enjoyable.

Sudoku really needs no introduction, but in case you've never played, it's a number game played on a 9x9 grid which is split into nine 3x3 grids. Players must input the numbers 1-9 into the boxes within each 3x3 grid, while also ensuring that the numbers appear only once across each horizontal and vertical column. There's very little that can go wrong when developing a Sudoku title, and fortunately, Oxygen has avoided control scheme issues by not including the often unreliable handwritten input method. There are 500 Sudoku puzzles to master, which can be tackled progressively in the 'Challenge Me' mode and against the clock in 'Free Play' mode - beating your times in 'Free Play' mode being the more enjoyable of the two. The game includes the handy ability to write four potential answers in the corners of each box, which makes experimenting with answers a little easier, but can be confusing if done too often. The only complaint with the Sudoku aspect of the game is that if played against a black screen, the 3x3 grids can be hard to make out.

The picture logic puzzles are probably slightly less well known, but have previously seen the light of day on the DS in the form of Picross and Mario Picross. The picture games are simple Nonogram puzzles, with a picture being formed if you figure out which squares need to be coloured in based on being able to match up the numbers from above the grid and from the side. After a few monochrome teasers, the picture puzzles begin to incorporate multiple colours, which eventually makes things really tricky, especially when you tackle the puzzles around the 500 mark. With Sudoku puzzles everywhere, picture logic feels like more of a novelty and is the more enjoyable of the two game types. There are very few technical issues with the game, with the most obvious being that quite often the pictures don't resemble their subject matter. Also, when played in 'Challenge Me' mode, which tracks your progress in a chart, you may lose points for accuracy due to the occasional stylus slip or slide, which is hard to avoid when colouring in parts of the grid.

While the two puzzle types keep it simple and do very little wrong in terms of gameplay, Challenge Me: Brain Puzzles is let down by some really poor presentation and boring graphics. Visually, there's only so much you can do with these types of games, but even when colours are added to the picture logic puzzles, it still seems rather dull and drab. In addition to the boring visuals, the game lacks a genuine sense of personal development, with the only feedback coming in the form of a dubious radar chart. Also, despite both games being fairly well known (especially Sudoku), there isn't really a detailed explanation of how to play. The help screen only breaks down the play area, which is great, but a step-by-step tutorial with an example of a puzzle being completed would have been a nice option for those unfamiliar with the games - this is especially true of the picture logic puzzles. All of the complaints simply point to the fact that this is a game for fans of these particular types of puzzles, with newcomers welcome but not expected.

Despite the complaints, Challenge Me: Brain Puzzles does exactly what it sets out to do. It can be picked up and played in short bursts and provides the brain with a decent daily workout. It may lack the charm and charisma of Brain Training, but by featuring two tried and tested games it still manages to keep you engrossed. More puzzle types would have been welcome, especially one with a bit more style and flair, but considering there’s a thousand puzzles to master, there's enough in there to keep you going for a long time. All in all, for cheap (but not necessarily cheerful), no-frills fun, this is a worthy title, just don't expect any innovation or character.