Professor Layton and the Curious Village

 

 

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The first chapter in Level 5's puzzling trilogy starring the titular professor and his plucky side kick, Luke. It combines elements of point and click adventure games with brain teasers to great effect. In this installment, Professor Layton has been summoned to the strange village of St. Mystere by Lady Dahlia, widow to Baron Reinhold. The late Baron has willed his life's fortune to anyone who can solve the mystery of the Golden Apple. Unfortunately, the apple is hidden somewhere in St. Mystere and no one knows where it is. It's up to the Professor to solve this and many other riddles along the way, with the help of his trusty assistant Luke and the citizens of St. Mystere.

Professor Layton uses the touch screen almost exclusively for everything from talking to villagers to moving about town, to writing answers to solve a puzzle. Just about anyone, regardless of gaming experience, should be able to pick it up and play it immediately, assuming they can read. Don't take that to mean the game is easy. There's plenty of text in the game, and key to solving many puzzles is paying special attention to the wording of a question. Slight hiccups may occur with the game's hand writing recognition, but it's nothing a quick do-over won't fix.

There are over 120 puzzles to be solved, in a wide variety of styles. Very few puzzles boil down to trial and error, with most having specific, logic-based solutions. The difficulty also varies greatly from puzzle to puzzle, so it's probably not suitable for very young players. Puzzles are presented both with text and often some kind of visual diagram which you may write on, if the need for simple calculations or notes should arise (and it will).

Aside from the puzzles, Professor Layton's primary strength lies in its lavish production values. Beautifully drawn characters and backgrounds in a distinctive style similar to 'The Triplettes of Belville', and music evocative of a Paris cafe, transport you to a wonderfully idealized vision of early 20th century Europe.

Professor Layton & The Curious Village is a win-win combination of classic brain teasers with a storybook animated film. For my money, Professor Layton is a better game than its competition (Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Hotel Dusk, etc), because unlike many point and click adventure games, where the puzzles often require a specific item or have illogical solutions, Professor Layton deviates from the norm to create a much more user-friendly experience. With its unusual cast of characters and setting, Professor Layton is much more engaging than standard edutainment titles, such as Brain Training or Big Brain Academy.

PROs:

Polished & Original visual / musical style
Dozens and dozens of interesting brain teasers
Touch controls make it easy to pick up and play by anyone
Free, Weekly puzzle downloads keep you coming back for more
Excellent for short bursts of play

CONs:

Uneven difficulty may cause some frustration
If you're NOT a fan of brain-teasers definitely pass!
Slow pacing may put some gamers off
Free downloadable puzzles will require Wi-Fi
The downloads won't be available forever'

This game is challenging enough to divert your attention from the need to re-visit certain scenes to obtain more information (which is sometimes taxing, but required). Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves a good challenge! Definately 5-star material!

This game has so much variety that you don't get tired of playing it. Some of the puzzles are easy while some are very challenging (there are hints on the internet if you really can't figure them out) so you actually feel involved with the story.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Super fun and challenging game
This has got to be my favourite DS game so far. If you like quizzes or mind teasers you will like this one. The graphics are great and the story is creative. Read more

Published 20 months ago by emerick06

5.0 out of 5 stars Addicting
I have always enjoyed a puzzle or two but when tied together with a Video game I can only compare it to the perfect combination of food and wine. Read more

Published 22 months ago by D. Moak

4.0 out of 5 stars good game for puzzle lovers
This is a fun game, but I had to go on the internet to get a walkthrough because some of the puzzles were a bit complicated for me ! Read more

Published on Aug 22 2009 by Marie-Pier Matte

5.0 out of 5 stars Great quality!
Great art, great cut-scene animations, GREAT character design, great voice acting!

And best of all, a great adventure! All in all an awesome game.

Published on May 14 2009 by Bianca Mormina

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best!
This is definatly the best puzzle game for the DS. I appreciate the effort that was put into the graphics for this game....great animation. Read more

Published on April 26 2009 by CuperCyrus

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