I don't know about you, but ever since Nintendo announced that Big Brain Academy was to debut in Europe alongside its more famous cousin, Brain Training, I had assumed that the game was a much simpler piece of software- a Brain Training for kids, as it were. So it was understandable trepidation that I approached this new title, Nintendo's newest addition to their fledgling Touch Generations series. It comes as a surprise then, to learn that the tasks in Big Brain Academy, far from being a push-over, can be fiendishly difficult, and while the game borrows much in concept from Dr. Kawashima's title, BBA stands out as wholly separate title- with much to recommend it, even for those who have got their Brain Age down to the magic 20 mark.

Initial impressions make it very clear that this title is closely derived from Brain Training. Quirky 'teacher' who guides you through the software? Check. Odd, arbitrary measurement of brain capacity (Brain Age/Weight)? Check. Succession of touch-screen mini-games featuring computation and logic? Check. Heck, both titles even feature near-identical modes, the principal ones being the ability to practice individual exercises, and then take a test on a random selection of timed mini-games. Despite these clear similarities, it quickly becomes obvious that Big Brain Academy is no Brain Training clone.

Firstly, the game requires you to hold the DS in the traditional manner, with the two screens aligned vertically. Indeed, the whole game design is a lot more conventional than in Nintendo's other brain game- BBA features no attempts at handwriting recognition or voice recognition, two of Brain Training's most intriguing features. Whilst this may come as something of a let-down to some, it does lend a certain purity to the BBA experience- as any mistakes you make in this title cannot be blamed on faulty voice or handwriting recognition.

Big Brain Academy, whilst purporting to analyse your 'brain weight' in grammes, doesn't take itself too seriously. For a start, there's no 'celebrity endorsement'. Professor Lobe, the aforementioned teacher who guides you through the game, is entirely fictional- and he certainly won't be talking about 'activating your prefrontal cortex'. In keeping with this more laid-back theme, after completing a test and issuing you a grade, he will inform you what kind of a brain you have. According to the eminent professor, I have the mind of a hair stylist. Completely bonkers, of course, but harmless fun.

The whole presentational style of the game is infinitely more colourful and animated than Dr.Kawashima's offering. On top of that, you can practice each of the 15 different games and try to achieve a bronze, silver, or gold medal in each of the three different difficulty levels. These features make BBA feel more like a conventional game, and perhaps less accessible to non-gamers. The jaunty, colourful presentation is a world away from Brain Training, and I think it's fair to say that it is the previously-released title that will be more inviting to non-gamers.

But what of the exercises themselves? There are fifteen in all, spread over the five themed categories of Compute, Identify, Memorise, Analyse and Think. All of them use the stylus alone for input, and use the console's dual-screen capabilities to good effect.

Some of the mini-games will be familiar- 'Pathfinder', for example, requires you to draw a line on the touch-screen to complete a path for a character on the upper screen, in a manner identical to one of the bonus games in Mario 64 DS and more recently, New Mario Bros. Another, 'Written Math', asks you to solve simple maths problems, á la Brain Training, using a keypad on the touch-screen. Others, though, are more fresh. Of particular note is 'Get In Shape', where a shape appears on the top screen, and you must select a series of shapes on the touch-screen that go to make up the full shape. Other games include matching pairs, memorizing sequences of numbers and counting cubes. They're all simple, but no less entertaining than Brain Training's suite of activities.

There's much less emphasis on progressively improving your performance- there are no graphs for viewing your results over time, and unlike Brain Training, you can take the test any number of times daily. To me, the way that Brain Training made you feel like you were gradually improving and the incentives to train on a daily basis were some of the main reasons why I still continue to play it regularly. BBA offers a weaker sense of achievement, and this helps to weaken the lastability of the single-player experience.

Suprisingly enough, the multiplayer mode is where all the action's at. Big Brain Academy offers a comprehensive, well thought out and highly competitive multiplayer mode that gives perhaps the most compelling reason to pick this title up.

In stark contrast to Brain Training's highly limited calculation battles, Big Brain Academy allows you to wirelessly compete with up to eight players across the full range of activities available in the single-player mode- and guess what? It's absolutely great. Best of all is that you only need one game card to play wirelessly, with no restrictions whatsoever on game modes. The result is a tremendously competitive experience that adds untold lastability to the package.

If I was asked which was the better title, Brain Training or Big Brain Academy, I'd be hard pressed to give a definitive answer. One is a daily training programme, whilst the other is a more eclectic combination of mini-games. Whilst Big Brain Academy lacks the progress-tracking features of Brain Training, if it's a great multiplayer DS experience you're after, you can't go wrong with this one.

That said, both games are different enough to have a place in your DS library.Ultimately, then, Big Brain Academy is a fine continuation of Nintendo's Touch Generations series, and a surprisingly challenging and entertaining experience in both single-player and multiplayer modes.