Some of you may associate Brain Quest with fond childhood memories of riding in the back of a minivan, wondering whether or not you're there yet. To pass the time, parents liked to give their children educational games like Brain Quest, a deck of cards with questions pertaining to the subjects that you covered in grade school. Electronic Arts has decided to come up with new brain-testing questions and put them on the Nintendo DS so kids today can play and learn a thing or two. At the EA Studio Showcase in Redwood City, California, we got some hands-on time with the fifth and sixth grade questions. EA is also coming out with Brain Quest Grades 3 & 4.

　　Brain Quest comes with a couple of modes as well as Sudoku. Brain Mode is a quickplay mode that allows you to pick a subject, whether it's English, science, math, history, or geography, and answer several questions. There is also a grab bag option that will mix up the questions. The question is displayed in the top screen, and answer styles range from filling in the blank to multiple choice. Some answers require you to draw a line to connect the word to its suffix, and some answers, being in ascending or descending order, have you use the touch screen to drag the answers and put them in the right place.

　　Quest Mode's storyline has you play through the game as an adventure. You have access to different scenes in which you can meet and talk to new characters. Some characters will send you off to another location and have you challenge someone else before they will bother speaking with you. The theme of Quest Mode is sports related, whereas the theme for the third and fourth graders' version is a zoo that keeps things interesting for the target audience.

　　There are 6,000 questions for each game that were made specifically for Brain Quest on the DS. The more you play, the more points you'll earn, with which you can then purchase and unlock new background images and stickers in order to create your own unique picture. These pictures can then show up on your top screen when you're playing Sudoku. There is a full Sudoku game with several difficulty settings and like the version in Brain Age, you can jot down multiple answers to keep track of and depending on your setting you can also get hints.

　　There is no wireless multiplayer for Brain Quest; rather, it's like a hot seat mode, where players can either take turns to compete against one another or help one another answer questions. Each question is worth 1,000 points, and the number will decrease the longer you take. The timer does stop at 500 points, so children don't get discouraged when they get the correct answer.

　　Right now Brain Quest is aimed for a North American audience, although we did notice that some of the questions would be easier for students who are educated in the United States. Arriving just in time for the school year in September, check back soon for more coverage when this game ships.