Brain Training on DS is quite simply the easiest DS title to pick up and play, both in its presentation and controls, but also in the way that it makes you feel welcome no matter what time you do so. The entire game is hosted by Dr Kawashima in low-poly form. He's there to make sure you feel right at home every step of the way and will even go out of his way to make sure you understand every new test you unlock and give you handy tips to make sure you're training your brain even when your DS is turned off.

While younger DS owners may find this title a little too much like extra homework, the different ways they will interact with the software might make it seem a little more fun than their standard day-to-day homework. For those of us that have left school and haven't really needed to use our brains in the years we've been working for the man, Brain Training hits you like a breath of fresh air.

The title is split into three areas: Daily Training, Brain Age Check and Sudoku. The idea of the Daily Training is to warm you up for the Brain Age Check. You can select from a list of tests and you need to answer as accurately and as quickly as possible. When you have completed your first test for the day you are given a stamp to mark off the day. Complete three tests and your stamp will grow to show you put in extra effort that day. Once you have earned enough stamps you will unlock more tests and a few little Easter eggs.

The Brain Age Check will measure how old your brain is compared to your actual age. The ideal brain age is 20 years old and it's up to you to get as close to this age as possible. Three tests are chosen at random - some of which you can't practise in Daily Training - and your Brain Age will vary depending on how you went. The unlockables appear depending on how many stamps you have received.

After the first day of training you will receive your first stamp and your first unlockable test, and two weeks of solid training later you will still have two or three tests yet to be unlocked. It's a great way to get you to switch on Brain Training as you will never know when the next test will be unlocked and if in fact it is a test that gets unlocked.

Every test you do - whether during the Daily Training or the Brain Age Check - is marked off on a simple graph. Your first result of the day for each test will appear on a simple graph and over the days/weeks/months you can see how you compare to when you first started, or even how you compare to the three other people that can store their info on the same cart.

Another thing that you can compare with your other family members (or friends that are stored on your cart) are drawings. During your experience with Brain Training you will be asked to draw three items from memory; supposedly this is a good way to improve your brain. Once they are drawn you will be shown Dr Kawashima's versions of each of them and given a little tip on what to focus on when drawing each of the items. If others on your cart have drawn the items you have drawn you will be shown a comparison and told to discuss the drawings with that person.

While your first attempts at the Daily Training or the Brain Check may vary as you get to grips with the voice and writing recognition of the system, over the next few weeks you will see improvement. The voice and writing recognition found in this piece of software is almost flawless. We say almost because there will be times where the software just doesn't do what you want it to do. Since the version NZ got of this game was made for the UK market, it isn't uncommon for certain tests to only recognise words if you speak in a Received Standard accent. Black becomes blark or bluck and blue becomes balooo. Thankfully these tests can be skipped by simply hitting the "No, I can't speak" option that appears at the start of every Brain Check. You also may need to change the way you write some numbers. Four seems to be the hardest number to recognise but after a few attempts you'll be answering without needing to correct in no time.