With the release of titles such as Nintendo's Brain Age series as well as Big Brain Academy on the DS, the market for educational games has grown in the past few years, with game developers creating games with the purpose of enlightening and educating DS players of all ages. Junior Brain Trainer is one of those games, with its design aimed solely at the elementary school crowd. While its ideas are good, the overall execution limits its value as an educational title.

When you first start the game you are asked to create a profile. Once you do, you are taken to the main menu. There are four main options: Daily Exercise, Reading and Writing, Games, and Quiz. Daily Exercise is the main mode of the game. It features a series of exercises based on the basic cognitive skills, such as reading, math, writing, critical thinking, and deduction. Once you complete these tests, you unlock one extra activity. This only happens once per day, though. So when you are done with the exercises, you only get one activity per day, though you can go back and replay the activities once more.

And this is where the game's design problems begin to suffice. While the game's method of unlocking bonus content does mean that the replayability is extended, somehow it's discouraging to know that all of the game's activities are locked and that only one can be unlocked per day. Considering that the game's goal is to teach, it is weird that the developers chose such an odd way to present its activities.

The exercises themselves are also part of the problem. As previously mentioned, you will partake in everything from reading and writing to math and deduction. The problem is that these exercises aren't explained very well. Junior Brain Trainer only has a small explanation at the beginning of each exercise, and it barely helps in explaining the players what they need to do. There's no on-screen guide that helps the player along, and there is clear indicator of when you are doing something right or wrong. I also felt that some of the exercises were too complex for the intended age group, being made worse by the lack of proper instructions.

In all fairness, though, Junior Brain Trainer features a lot of exercises to partake in. Even classic games, such as Hangman and Snake make an appearance as learning tools, and provide the most fun out of all the games in this title.

In terms of controls, Junior Brain Trainer neither impresses nor annoys. It uses the touch screen for most of its activities. Using the touch screen for writing is a great idea, making it one of the better exercises available. Most of the other motions include clicking and dragging icons into their respective spaces. The only problem with the controls, though, is that some of the input buttons are too small, often making it a chore to select a number or a letter.

The graphics are very simple, but appropriate for the theme of the game. At times it becomes a bit too childish, especially since some of the exercises, namely the logic games, are fit for latter elementary school levels. So, having such colorful graphics to present these complex tasks can be distracting to the player. The music is also quite basic, with a few tunes that loop endlessly, but they don't grate or annoy.

Junior Brain Trainer has its heart in the right place, and many of the included exercises are quite fun and educational. But the overall game is hurt by poor presentation. The lack of clear instructions will confuse younger players, and it's annoying that only one activity can be unlocked per day. This makes Junior Brain Trainer a fun diversion for kids, rather than a full-featured educational tool.