Body and Brain Connection

Feels rewarding. [Issue#69, p.87]

Body and Brain Exercises is a nice experience. The game has some hardware issues, but considering the lack of good alternatives on Xbox 360, you should buy it if you are looking for a Brain Training-like title.

Limited and occasionally scrappy, Dr Kawashima may not offer the perfect medicine, but its gentle brain teasing and enjoyable body twisting means that the idea of "mathercise" perhaps isn't so scary after all.

Still, BaBC is a solid brain-training title that packs a fascinating concept -- one that I hope Namco-Bandai will develop a bit more robustly in later iterations of the title.

Tracking your Brain Age from day to day and playing the game with your friends is enjoyable. This being said, some of the mini puzzler games have control and response issues. Not to mention Body and Brain Connection seems to be limited in terms of content and variety.

Body and Brain Connection succeeds in keeping our mind agile thanks to new kinds of exercises only possible with Kinect, but it hardly will be able to keep your attenction high for more than few minutes per day. Consider it if you're looking for a challenging mind test, but don't expect a properly entertaining experience.

It lacks content and polish, yet it still could be funny with friends and familty.

In the end, Dr. Kawashima's Body and Brain Exercises is an interesting concept on the Kinect that works on some levels (improved mental and physical reactions) but is a little lost when it comes to real fun.

As it stands, the game can be considered a noble attempt with failed execution, and only those with a good amount of patience or excellent lighting should consider trying the game. Everyone else would be better off waiting for a sequel or a patch that irons out the game's technical issues.

Dr. Kawashima's next installment uses Kinect delivering a fresh experience with our body movements. Unfortunatelly, only twenty minigames makes it feel without depth, and in some exercises, body tracking is not accurate.

Body and Brain Connection might just test your self-esteem more than your brain. Playing alone was okay but playing in a party environment was just so much more fun when everybody could laugh and make fun of the person who was getting "roasted" by the professor. It's probably more stressful than educational, and with only 20 games and three difficulty levels you probably won't play long enough to make any real self-improvement. I'll stick with my DS brain exercises for the time being.

After its triumph on the Nintendo DS, Kawashima is back with new exercices to train not only your brain, but your body as well. Exclusively playable with Kinect, the title is well designed, provides a nice variety of smart mini-games to train reflexes and coordination. There's also a multiplayer mode (up to 4 players, but only 2 at the same time), and provided that you have the room to use it, Kinect responds well. But despite all these qualities, one will still review all there is to see quite quickly. With a lower price, it would have been more in line with the offer.

The concept seems to get lost in the transition to the big-screen living room television.

While its intentions are pure, the result is far from perfect due to the lack of quantity and quality of the mini-games.

Ultimately there's not a whole lot to it, but if you can ignore the odd Kinect upset there's a competent brain training experience for those willing to embrace it.

Who really knows if this game works as it is selling itself, but as far minigame collections go, this one offers you a little more incentive to keep revisiting it. It's pretty fun, but that's about it. Also, Dr. Kawashima is a bit of a jerk.

Decent enough, but the doctor's latest is often more of a mind annoyer than a brain teaser.

Overall, Body and Brain Connection isn't a horrible game but it does have quite a few problems. Your enjoyment of this game will depend on how you can deal with those problems and whether you can overcome them.

Though shallow and flawed, Body and Brain Connection has some neat minigames that engender a satisfying sense of progress.

Do not forget that Kawashima KINECT is meant for short play sessions every day, and less for an extended test session.

There's no online play, use of the camera is minimal, the only things you unlock are extra difficulty levels for the mini-games that already exist, and it just feels a little bare. Maybe wait until it drops to the £15 mark, then by all means give it a whirl.

Body & Brain Connection may not bring anything new to the industry but it does show its potential as an interesting franchise for Kinect if done properly.

Let's get this straight, this is not an exercise game in the normal sense, in that you won't be shedding any pounds whilst playing - it's simply not that kind of deal. However, you will be treated to some puzzles which test various parts of the brain, and in this regard you can assume that it's being exercised - probably a lot more than lounging out in front of the TV watching drivel.

Dr. Kawasima's Body and Brain Training is an entertaining novelty at first, but it quickly becomes tiresome after a few days. An achievement awarded for playing a total of 50 days seems hugely ambitious then, as the appealing Avatar-based challenges will grow increasingly dull, prompting you to find new methods of self-improvement. Perhaps Kawashima should practice what he preaches, and go back into training and come back with a better score.

Difficult to recommend. [Mar 2011, p.98]

I'm not going to argue whether or not Body and Brain Connection will make you smarter, but I do know that if something isn't fun, you aren't going to stick with it and that defeats the entire purpose.

It's easy to see what the aim of Body and Brain was, but on a platform like Kinect it has to offer flawless recognition when you're submitting your answers, otherwise it completely defeats the point.

Enjoyable nothingness. [May 2011, p.99]

It quickly turns into a daily act of attrition rather than anything that promotes mental or physical growth, and a game that is unlikely to hold the attention of anyone - of any age - for very long. [Issue#108, p.125]

Namco Bandai may have the heart, but my brain gets bored quickly from this game. Too many insults and not enough constructive gameplay makes this more of a chore than an exciting exercise.

Want a way to reap the benefits of multitasking physical and mental activity? Read a book on a treadmill instead. [March 2011, p.80]