Mensa Academy Review

Mildly reminiscent of Nintendo's ridiculously successful hit, Brain Training, Mensa Academy offers up a variety of ways to keep one's brain active and quick to react. It's quite fun but it comes at a higher price than most, weighing in at $4.99.

Five different disciplines are catered for, covering Numeracy, Language, Logic, Memory and Visual. A varied mix of challenges come about, comprising of over 1000 in all. Language, for instance, might involve picking the odd one out from a selection of themed words or spotting the missing letter. Logic offers pattern based puzzles, as players figure out how a pattern would continue. Numeracy tests the brain's capacity to solve sums quickly, while visual tests the memory.

None of it is overly challenging, certainly not in the early stages, but the test comes more from reacting quickly and correctly, than dealing with huge conundrums. It creates an experience that's ideal for short doses, given a lot can be achieved in this time. It's fun to play, too, with that ever hopeful sense that one's brain is benefiting from the brief challenges.

Besides the Play section, coaching and testing is also available for further knowledge gaining, but the focus is squarely on this Play section. Like so many games, three stars can be gained for fast and accurate completion of each stage, adding to the replayability.

This means that the only real issue for Mensa Academy is its price. $4.99 is quite a lot, even for a well made brain testing game. It brings it in line with more in-depth gaming experiences, rather than being an impulse purchase. For those not too fussed about the price, however, Mensa Academy provides a quality experience for players keen to boost their mental reactions.