Being a chess-nerd, I am a rabid fan of most games that are designed to educate or train the brain. I have the Brain Age series, as well as similar but more specific titles such as Left Brain, Right Brain for the Nintendo DS. In fact, with the exception of some logic-puzzle type games like Crazy Machines, almost all of my “brain” games are on the DS. That’s great for the portable factor, but leaves me wondering “what else could be done — with more hardware at their disposal”? Got Game Entertainment answered that question with MindHabits. This was the 1^st Prize Winner at the Great Canadian Videogame Competition in 2007, which is an amazing feat.

Designed to be more of a Trainer and also billed as a Stress Reliever, it has more scope than the DS games I have become accustomed to playing. This was designed as the result of research and testing by Dr. Mark Baldwin, and focuses on using familiar objects or names to help you “play”. It is, in fact, work — just as it is when training the body in a gym — minus the sweating (maybe) and having to carry a towel. Water bottle optional. You begin by doing seemingly routine things that feel like simple product registration. I thought I was filling out a Marketing profile, but was in fact setting up the core for how the game tests me. Names, dates and personal data is tossed back at you later — in various forms. “Bill” is not “Billy.” That kind of nuance is critical for serious brain-training! Be honest and serious in that setup, or you are doomed to fail — as the game depends on those answers and how you feel towards them.

Depending on the path you take, the tests can vary from photographic images to colored bars, balloons or word games. You start with a baseline test to gauge your present state of mind. I literally started this game after having one of the worst days of the summer, and extremely stressed out. The test tries to confuse you and see how you perform as a result. I did … fine. I hit high marks and subsequent trials showed little change. Does that mean I am immune to the stress-testing baseline (and de-stressing “therapy” that follows), or does the test not work at all? Not having a consensus to compare to, I will assume it was all me, and the tests/tasks really do help (others) reduce their stress. One of the methods of bringing you down from your Unhappy place is by making you interact with happy images and words. Smiling faces and feel-good verbiage floating by on balloons. I just need some kittens and warm milk and I’m good to go. The problem is the controls and executions of the images is too prone to glitches that cause you to make errors. If your task is to click on a certain moving object, but you cannot due to it being blocked by another object, you fail. One slip-up, and it resets your progress dramatically. If you do not achieve a certain level, your game ends and you can retry or move on to another test. Either way, your stress level has increased due to events you can’t control. It’s like playing “snatch this pebble from my hand,” but never opening the hand to get it.

Other goal-oriented tests include working on your “Chi”. It is literally called “Grow your Chi”, and includes a “Chi pet” (looks like a sheep) that fluffs-out as you progress. Chi is the Eastern belief that there is energy in all things, and such energy can be focused and harnessed for the betterment of the body & mind. (Disclaimer: I am a logical skeptic. There is no unbiased, existing scientific evidence to confirm that Chi exists. From years of martial arts, I had Chi thrown in my face over and over, but I was able to break as many boards sans Chi as those that claimed to be the Masters of channeling it.) However, I went through the MindHabits tests with hope that no matter what the goal was, I would have fun and feel good for having done it. I watch Ghosthunters, but not because I believe in ghosts — I just think it’s fun. Like my stress tests and therapy, I did not get a change in my Chi (though my sheep got fluffy), so I guess my super powers will remain suppressed for now. Like the art of Tai-Chi, the goal is to make you relaxed, focused and “channeled.” Once again, I finished each trial feeling more annoyed than when I began. The same goofy controls and lack of reasonable interaction make it hard to achieve the Chi. I am not sure how Chi, an uncertain feel-good notion, made it into a game designed by alleged scientific research. It’s the equivalent of a mood ring, with the same level of accuracy. I just file it under “can’t hurt,” and move on.

“Words” was one of my better exercises. It is just like the age-old printed game known as “seek a word,” in which words are hidden within a giant page full of letters, and you have to circle the words from a list. That’s one of my favorite bored-on-a-subway type activities, so being able to do it for educational purposes is nice. The words in the puzzles are based on your profile, and general thoughts of joy and happiness. You will see words such as “Love,” “Kind,” “Accepting” and “Cherish,” as well as words only you will relate to such as the place you were born (profile!). It is very picky, unlike a printed, paper version of the game. “Like” can appear twice — as in “Liked”. You can’t get away with circling the wrong one, even though the word is the same. That’s crazy. It’s a speed game, so though you may see “Love” within the word “Loved,” that is not the right one.

There are many, many tests, milestones and tasks to experience, and they all have their purposes. However, none of it will do any good unless you have a really decent mouse and keyboard! Wow … did I underestimate the importance of such factors going into this. Who’d have known that your success in a brain game could rely so much on external hardware? There is a lot of fast-clicking and movement of the mouse. If your mouse is slow, you will never score/progress to your potential. If you have an older mouse with a ball and dirty mouse pad, expect to be miserable. I switched keyboards at one point, and the performance reflected that change. One keyboard’s arrows are more sensitive than the other, which is a critical part of such games as “Stroop Tracker” and “Focus Tracker.” You have to be quick in the brain but also on the arrow keys. You may see the word “Red” in a GREEN box, and you have to select the correct arrow to identify the box’s color. Being slow or missing it by accident will skew your results and you won’t reach the level’s score so you can move on.

The music is slow and steady through most of the game. Since the game’s purpose is to train via the best method for you, that can be adjusted from the Main Menu — if you think better while listening to your iPod blasting out some Metallica. The default music is simple with an electronic drum and mellow synthesizer. Event sounds like “popping” are not too jarring or otherwise distracting.

The visuals are simple and effective. The minimum requirements of the game don’t require much of a system, so the graphics reflect that. It’s relayed in a cool, simple interface with loads of menu items from the main screen. Big buttons and rounded corners with cartoonish people smiling at you. It looks very much like a web page with “Frames.” Within the game’s tests themselves, you see actual photographs of people. Though moving across the screen at various angles, the images are sharp and easy to see, though some of the specific faces are hard to read, which is a requirement for playing. Example: you must click on (only) the smiling faces; but some of the faces are hard to tell if they are smiling or just being neutral.

The game suffers from a constant, tedious amount of glitches that are out of your control. Speed and reaction are everything. Despite having a cutting-edge mouse or keyboard, you are helpless if a balloon is being masked by another balloon. If you do not make the right connections, your score and progress suffers. I continually failed to improve my scores by any decent margin, so I guess my brain was not improved or the whole system is flawed. The MindHabits site actually claims that playing the game will reduce stress (Cortisol) by 17%, which is a unique claim to see attached to a game. Given the amount of stress and annoyances I encountered, I don’t see how that is possible.   

Gameplay: 5.0
The real challenge that is not appreciated is the demand for good hardware. I can not imagine playing with some of the tests on a simple laptop with a “glide pad” as a mouse. Even with my high performance mouse and keyboard, I was taxed to be accurate. Again, this wasn’t due to my mental prowess, but being able to move to a balloon fast and have that click register as I intended. With the glitches in items across your screen, it is deathly annoying, and causes “unforced errors.” No amount of practice or daily testing will alter the fact that you aren’t able to click on things when you want to. It only gets worse as you progress and things move faster.  

Graphics: 6.5 
It looks like a pretty Web page, or even a Mac application with its cute boxes and friendly faces. The actual photographs are sharp, though the contents of those photos is sometimes harder to decipher. It is not always possible, in the time allowed (super-fast scrolling), to determine who is smiling, and who is angry. Not because I am trying to process it in my head, but because the face is unfamiliar, and I don’t know what that person’s smile looks like to begin with.

Sound: 6.5
The music is slow, rhythmic and soothing. It can ramp up, but I turn it down so much anyway, it wasn’t much of a factor. I found the music — even as subtle as it was — to be too repetitive too soon. That may not bother others, so I can’t say it’s a negative factor. Just a personal observation that distracted me early on .

Difficulty: Medium
The way the “game” plays is based on your ability to grow and perform. It gets harder, but not always by design. The overlapping mess causes errors that no amount of practice will overcome. You are at the mercy of how images are scrolling across the screen, so if things are not in proper sync, you are not going to get as far.

Concept: 5.5 
The brain game genre has been around for a long time now, but I don’t see it as much on the PC. I guess the makers don’t think it’s a big market, but this type of game, which plays easily on most systems and designed for a few minutes a day, is ideal for a PC. It’s nice to play these games and get the brain-training on something other than a cluttered little handheld system for a change. The tests themselves are mostly new to me, but they don’t feel new. They just feel like old tests done in Psychology class — with a modern, digital twist on them. I can easily see this as a live, interactive web based game, but as a stand alone title, it’s very weak.    

Overall: 5.5
This game is designed, like many medicines or therapies, to be used over the long-term. You can’t sit down at one session and benefit from the experience. This was created from years of social science and intelligent research (except for the day when someone decided “Chi” was a scientific factor in anything). Some of the tests are odd at first, but you know that someone, somewhere, figured out that by doing “this,” they will improve in some way. When the game tests you for a baseline, you have to trust that it is accurate, because the rest of the “treatment” for you is going to build on that foundation. Not that you’re expected to never have a “bad day,” but if you want genuine improvement, you want to do your best and be focused when you play/train. Day by day, the makers claim, you will improve on the various areas they focus on for you. I really liked the stress relieving sessions. I think one decent aspect of MindHabits is the ability to tailor your time. I was in a really foul mood the first time I touched the Stress section, and though I did not measure much better later, I can see how extended periods of time of playing Matrix (not the Movie version!!) in MindHabits might help someone feel better. It forces you to absorb and interact with positive images. That makes perfect sense, even if it failed on me. Little things like the random “Thought of the Day” (some of which I wrote down to share with friends) and the built in resource called “Science Lab” (where you can learn about Chi), help make up for some of the other shortcomings. I still believe in the concept of this type of game. I do not think this particular offering is as beneficial as it claims to be. In most cases, I felt worse after playing the game for more than 15 minutes, which is the opposite of their claims. Trust me — I needed this to work as promised. It’s the Placebo of the brain-games genre. Like other treatments, results may vary.