With the recent success of Brain Training for the NDS along with many other educational games, Sega has decided to jump on the recent bandwagon by releasing their own series of “Brain Trainers.” The series has primarily been an exclusive to the PSP and although don’t make use of a touch-screen nor a microphone they can easily stand on their own. Nou ni Kaikan: Aha Taiken is in part a collaboration with Kenichiro Mogi of Sony Computer Science Reasearch Lab. The idea that you can get your brain working by pointing out subtle differences in photographs is what this game is all about. . The game works similarly to a recently released title for the Nintendo DS, Unou no Tatsujin Soukai! Machigai Museum, though the concept of Sega’s version is slightly different and fails to actually train my brain the way Machigai Museum has. For the most part the different modes of Nou Ni Kaikan: Aha Taikan haven’t seemed to have had a positive affect on my brain. The frustrations I’ve felt with the game may have inadvertently caused a tumor to grow within my brain. Read on to find out how this game has not trained my brain in any way.

I just wanted to briefly point out how Sega found it necessary to find a mascot for their series of Brain Trainers. Nintendo has Dr. Kawashima for their Brain Training games and Sega has a kind gentleman who is obviously more aged. He has a slight lazy-eye yet seems to have a lot of confidence in his intelligence and wisdom. Dr. Kawashima is definitely a man you’d trust, he could be telling me that drinking battery acid would help with my health and I’d truth him 100%. There is no way I’d doubt a 3D figure-head with glasses, but looking at Sega’s mascot I just can’t help to distrust this man. He seems like he has a secret agenda on hand, I don’t even think he cares about the player getting smarter and training their brain. However he does bring up helpful facts on occasion and gently gives hints on how you can improve your life-style, but his credibility is brought down some because of his lazy-eye. But I’m willing to bet that the guy is a top-leader in the Yakuza game, probably a tie-in to Sega’s Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza).

This guy has a secret...