Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day is just that - more of what we already got with the first game in the series. The ever charismatic Doctor Kawashima is once again your daily (if you wish) guide through a series of math and language-based puzzle games, and three randomly chosen “Brain Age Check” games, which he uses to determine how “old” you brain is. The actual science of all this is certainly questionable, but Brain Age 2 is undoubtedly a fun and clever game.

The only real differences between this and the original game are the brain training and testing challenges themselves. Some of the new ones are great, like the piano game that has you tapping virtual keys on the touch screen in rhythm, and the rock-paper-scissors game that has you either winning or losing (the game tells you which) against a picture of a hand showing one of the three gestures, by saying the opposite one aloud. Some are pretty average, like the change-making game, and the game that has you filling in missing signs in math problems, and some are inexcusably bad, like the game that plays two or three words being spoken simultaneously, and asks you to write down the word you just heard. It’s too hard, and not at all fun or interesting.

Thankfully you’re never forced to do any of the games, as you pick and chose which training games to do every day, and you can use a code to select which three of the Brain Age Check games to do. Really, though, you’re not forced to play the game in the first place; all of the games should be good, or at least playable.

In the end though, Brain Age 2 is a solid game, worth your money if you missed out on the original, or if you enjoyed it and are itching for more. Even the main problems with the first game, the handwriting and voice recognition, have been completely fixed - you shouldn’t find yourself struggling with them at all. It doesn’t break any ground like Brain Age did, but it’s a worthwhile successor.