Review: Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training. Photo / Supplied

I downloaded Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training while cooking dinner and watching TV simultaneously. I opened the game, thinking I could somehow play, watch and cook.

I was greeted by a floating head named Dr Kawashima, who advised me that information addiction was causing a decline in concentration spans.

People are so easily distracted they struggle to focus on one important task.

It seemed familiar.

Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training is a series of exercises designed to improve your short-term memory. On the first day, you solve math problems and have to memorise previous answers while you solve more math problems.

You also play memory - the game where you flip cards over and memorise their location so you can make pairs. After five minutes of each, you're locked out of the game until the following day.

The more days you log into the game, the more exercises you unlock.

There are also brain-training activities focused on problem-solving and puzzles, as well as a match-three game - think Bejeweled - designed to give your brain a rest between tasks.

All of these activities are fun and can get difficult quickly. Whether they're effective or not is a different question. The more you play a game, the better you'll be at it, and I got better over time. However, the scientific consensus is that brain training doesn't have any real impact.

Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training seems like a good way to spend a few minutes, but as for improving overall concentration ... well, I'm not holding my breath.

I should probably just stop checking my emails in meetings instead.

Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training

Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Rating: G
Verdict: Devilishly difficult, but just a game