My Word Coach

The recent fad of Brain Training games is hitting the UK like a massive tidal wave and to be perfectly honest, while I could stand the charm of Sight Training and the potential benefits of Brain Training, there is a limit to things like this.

I have to point out that this is not so much a game, although likes most games of this nature, it breaks everything down into bite-sized mini-games, some of which are OK, some of which are just horrifically dull. In all, you get six, which doesn't sound like a lot (and it's not really) and two of them, Pasta Letters and Safecracker, are beyond dull really.

On the plus side, Block Letters, which has you tilting the DS on its side and spelling out the words listed on the left-hand screen (the top screen) on the touch screen, is a fun game to play but one decent game doesn't make up for the slightly less exciting ones on offer.

You can unlock a bonus, faster paced version of the Block Letters game for your own amusement and you… more »

The recent fad of Brain Training games is hitting the UK like a massive tidal wave and to be perfectly honest, while I could stand the charm of Sight Training and the potential benefits of Brain Training, there is a limit to things like this.

I have to point out that this is not so much a game, although likes most games of this nature, it breaks everything down into bite-sized mini-games, some of which are OK, some of which are just horrifically dull. In all, you get six, which doesn't sound like a lot (and it's not really) and two of them, Pasta Letters and Safecracker, are beyond dull really.

On the plus side, Block Letters, which has you tilting the DS on its side and spelling out the words listed on the left-hand screen (the top screen) on the touch screen, is a fun game to play but one decent game doesn't make up for the slightly less exciting ones on offer.

You can unlock a bonus, faster paced version of the Block Letters game for your own amusement and you can even unlock a spelling bee-style game. However, the downside to this mode is the woeful execution of it. When you spell out the word, you have to do it, letter by letter, can't go back and delete any letters and you have to confirm each letter as you go along. It is beyond frustrating.

And yet I find myself going back to this game more often than I would like to admit. There is a part of me that feels this is actually a far more useful tool than it really ought to be. It's not as if my vocabuary was terribly limited beforehand but I find myself using new words I learn from the game when I can fit it into the proper context.

So, it's a bizarre little thing really. It isn't a proper game but it's an interesting little curio and a good little tool for anyone who wants to improve their vocabulary.

It is nothing more and nothing less.

From the gamer's perspective, it's not going to do you any good really... not unless you want it to.