Sight Training (Nintendo DS) > Reviews (10)

I got my DS a couple of Christmas' ago, and with it I got the Dr Kowashima Brain Training, the game is great, and although you never complete it in that the game ends and you can go no further without starting again, there are only a few of the little games on there, and it gets that way that your only using the game for half an hour each day. So when I saw a new game called Sight Training, with the same kind of packaging and design, I really wanted it.

The game isn't by Dr Kawashima but has very very similar packaging as to make it look as though it is, whether it is made by the same company but not endorsed by the same "Dr Kawashima" I don't know, but it is much like the original Brain Training game in the way the packaging looks, and even the way the game is set out and played.

PRICE:

I got this game pre owned from Blockbuster, it wasn't in the DS box, was just loose, and cost £2, it works just as the game would if it had it's box, but there was no instruction leaflet or box to hold it; if you can get it preowned I would, as it cuts the cost down alot.

But, if you are buying new the game costs between £7 and £10 from Game shops (GameStation, Game) and off the internet. It is a very good price, and much less than many Nintendo DS games, some of which cost £30. It is well worth the price you pay for the game, and if I couldn't have got this game pre owned, I would have been more than happy to pay the full price for Sight Training.

The Game itself:

The game is made to strengthen your sight by giving it challanges and tests and teaching you how to excercise them to keep them fit and healthy as you do with the rest of your body. The game gives you a range of games to play and puzzles to complete to test your eyesight and make it strong. I don't suppose the game says anything about stopping you needing glasses or keeping your sight at 20/20 vision, but it does claim that it will make your eyes stronger. Whether or not this works, I don't know...I have only had the game for a couple of weeks, and I suppose the effects will show in the long term rather than short!

GAME PLAY:

When you pop the game into your DS, you get a menu screen with 3 options "Daily Training", "Quick Play" and "Download". The Download function is for multi player, so that if there are two people with DS's they can both play the game without having to buy two games. To do this you need to be quite close to one another (I think it stops working afetr around 5m).

Quick Play: This is a quick game where you can get a quick Eye age check and do some quick training, to play this part of the game you don't need to make youself a profile on the game, so it's good if the profiles are all full and someone wants a quick play to find out their eye age!
In this section the training is just one random activity from the range of activities in the main training (I will go through these later in the review). And the eye age check is the same, normally a different activity than your training, it tells you how to do the activity, and then throws you into it.

When you have done this activity, your then told what age range your eyesight is in, 20's, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s. This doesn't give you an actual age, whereas in Daily Training you are given an age (i.e. 55). It is a good way to get into the game though, and is good for people thinking of buying the game as a demo.

Now onto Daily Training:

First of all you are asked to create a profile (you can have 4 of these, meaning it's great for a family). Here your told to give your real age and some other basic details after it gives you a brief introduction to the game and 3 quick games to intorduce you to the game. Once your quick games are completed you write your own name using the stylus on the touch pad. Then you pop in your DOB andf register yourself, it then guesses your eye age from the 3 quick activities you have done to give you a starting point.

Now your registered you can start playing the game properly. When you are into your profile, you will see "recomended training", this is where you should go first as it gives you a good selection of activities which match each other, and also match what you have done before.

But you can chose Custom Training where you can pick which activities you want to do, but you should make sure you do them equally.

The rest of the game I will let you work out for yourself!

The activities on the game vary: some of which are "box tap", where little red cubes pop up on the screen and you have to tap them before they disappear. This is said to help with your hand eye coordination! It's pretty easy at the beginning but you have to do them in order so when lots comes onto the screen moving quickly it does start to get more confusing!

Then there is circle follow, where a circle is put under a box and then it's hidden with another two identical boxes. It moves around and you have to remember where the circle is, you know the kind of game I am talking about, there are hundreds around there in many different forms, mainly used by Magicians.

There are lots of other games which come along as you use the game and unlock them, so I will leave it up to you to find these new activities as you go along!

The game is easy to use, and is fun, but like the Brain Training game, once you have unlocked all the games, game play only lasts around half an hour a day at the most as it only records one Eye Age a day, so if you don't like the age you get one day and want to improve you have to wait until the next day to do this. But it is a good game which gets you thinking, and makes you use your eyes and brain alike!

Definitely recommended if you like the game Brain Training, More Brain Training or Big Brain Acadamy!

Thanks for reading!