Games developers are clearly worried about the state of the nation's education system, as there has been a recent rash of games designed to exercise the little grey cells and presumably turn us from flabby, mindless TV watchers and computer game players into sharp, incisive Mensa marvels.

Avanquest's latest contribution to reversing the dumbing down trend is the combatively-titled Ninja Brain Workout. Essentially this is a collection of mostly familiar board and puzzle games that have been transposed to the PC and given the 3D graphics treatment and some fun variations.

For example, the popular Sudoku appears in three formats; Sudoku Quest, Sudoku X and Killer Sudoku. The Quest variation is the standard model where you have to fit the numbers 1-9 without duplication within the usual grid pattern. Sudoku X adds the requirement that all the 1-9 numbers have to appear only once in a large diagonal, while the Killer starts with a blank grid plus a few sum numbers to help you on the right path. There's even an option to 'pencil in' numbers you think might be correct before you commit them finally to the page.

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If you're a crossword fiend then you might be disappointed as there are no cryptic clues in this package's crossword section, and the largest size puzzle is only 11x11 squares (even though you can depart from the usual black and white and colour your squares Rose, Olive Green and Shades of Autumn). You're up against the clock but there are cheat tips if you are genuinely stuck.

Staying with word games, there's a much more PC-friendly "Great Wall of Words" challenge where the aim is to link adjacent tiled letters into the longest words you can make. There are 'bomb' tiles that'll help clear levels quicker if you use the letters closest to them, plus other special tiles that will increase your overall score or give you extra time. Again, there are three modes, all of which are against the clock and against a mythical Chinese opponent. In practice we found this to be the most brain-teasing game on the disc.

If it's spacial awareness and shape recognition that you need to improve, then Jigsaw Mania is the perfect tutor as it gives you 610 ready-made jigsaws ranging in size from 60 to 432 pieces, covering a wide array of topics including geography, art, holidays, sport and transportation. You can also make your own pictures, importing photos from your private albums.

The collection is rounded off with MahJong: Journey of Enlightenment, which is not the full version of the famous Chinese game but simply a pair-matching exercise against the clock.

Not the most complex of mind-teasers, and fans of crosswords and MahJong might well feel somewhat short-changed, but the Sudoku is challenging and the Great Wall of Words has the potential to be very addictive.