Resco Brain Games 2009 Review

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I’ve been a fan of brain training games for a while now.  I own a number of them for Windows Mobile, iPhone, and even my Nintendo DS.  What I like is that I can work with them in short time bursts – like in the gap between meetings, without a big time commitment, yet doing something fun and even personally productive.

This time around, I’m taking a look at the latest brain training offering from Resco – Brain Games 2009.  Let’s take a look…

Resco Brain Games 2009 on Windows Mobile has undergone some changes to make it pretty finger friendly.  I still find many of these finger friendly apps to have an “odd” feel to them when executed on standard resistive screens.  There’s a slight lag that always occurs that doesn’t feel natural.  That said, Resco did a pretty good job in execution and the lag is really minimal.

Brain Games 2009 has a large collection of games, most of which are really minor variations on a theme.  They are nicely collected into one of 4 training categories:

* Calculation Games – help you improve your calculation skills.

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* Memory Games –  to help improve your memory.

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* Analyze Games – to help improve your analytical skills.

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* Attention Games – to help improve your ability to pay attention to details.

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There are a lot of different, games here – many of them very similar to each other.  The color-coding is nice, but the games are kind of all thrown into one pot together where you select each page of games like you select programs on an iphone – by swiping at the page.  This is interesting, and touch-friendly, but I’d like to see the programs better organized.  There was kind of an unfinished feel to the overall interface.

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Each game has a quick explanation of the game available.  Generally this was adequate, but a couple of times I wish the instructions were a little clearer.  I generally was able to figure the game out anyway, but an extra sentence or two worth of explanation, would have made things clearer sooner.

As you play the games, they get progressively more difficult, providing a good set of tools for brain training and increasing the longevity and play value of the game.

I should also mention that the game has a nice profile feature.  The game supports the use of separate profiles so that each player can have their own set of statistics and their own lists of favorites.

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What I liked: Nice color-based organization, but it should go a little further.  Games have a nice professional, updated feel to them.   Many of the games are a lot of fun.

What Could Be Improved: I’d like to see more variety in the type of games as appears in some competitors.  Many were too similar to each other.  Price may be too high for today’s market.

Also, the color coding of the game type is really nice, but with so many similar games, I thought that Resco would be better served to maybe tier game selection based on category rather than leaving them all in a continuous flat (scrollable) main area.

Overall: Brain Games is a lot of fun, but while there are a LOT of different games, many of them are very similar to each other.  I’d like to see more different types of games, much as you see in competing packages.  I’m also concerned that the $19.95 price may scare away some potential purchasers, but there is a free trial version available so you can absolutely try it before you buy it!  More details about the game and purchasing it are available on Resco’s web site here.

If you like brain training games, you’ll definitely like Resco Brain Games 2009, but I think you’ll soon find yourself wanting more variety.  It’s a solid game, but for a little more variety it could stand head and shoulders above the competition.

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About the Author

Christopher Gavula
Chris has been a COBOL programmer, a desktop support technician, network engineer, telecommunications manager, and even a professional musician. Currently, he is focused on deploying Voice over IP technologies in a large, corporate setting. He started working full-time at the tender age of 14, even before there were PCs, and will probably be working and trying to finish “just one more project” as he’s lowered into the grave.