Professor Layton and the Curious Village should not be missed by anyone who owns a DS, Quite simply an enjoyble game.
Remember when you were 7 years old and you’d work through mountains of brain-teaser books? I’m pretty sure some people might have remembered those days, which is why ‘Professor Layton and the Curious Village’ felt like a perfect stroll down memory lane.
Level 5 is a video game developer that should be familiar to some RPG fans. Level 5 is responsible for Playstation 2 RPG epics such as ‘Dark Cloud’, ‘Rogue Galaxy’ and the award-winning ‘Dragon Quest Journey of the Cursed King’. It is safe to say that Level 5 does quality work on RPG’s, but how do they fare with other genres? With ‘Professor Layton and the Curious Village’, the first in a trilogy of puzzle games, Level 5 has proven more than competent in melding classic brain teasers and logic puzzles into a visual novel style graphic adventure. Both types of games are popular on Nintendo’s DS handheld and though Professor Layton may not be Brain Training, it’s still definitely worth checking out.
The games story follows a man called Professor Layton who is a genius at solving puzzles and riddles, along with his young assistant Luke. Layton and Luke travel to a village called St Mystere where a wealthy Baron has passed away but leaves a will that points to a hidden treasure, the ‘Golden Apple’. It’s up to puzzle mastermind Professor Layton to uncover the Baron’s hidden treasure and unravel the mystery of what is going on going on in the village.
I never thought Professor Layton would be one of those games that I would be playing over and over again
Gameplay: Like ‘Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training’, you’ll be using the touch screen for writing down your answers to puzzles as well as writing notes. There is no time limit to solve puzzles, so you can take as long as you like or do another puzzle and come back to it later. Most puzzles will be basic and easy to do, however some are really challenging and you’ll really have to think hard in order to complete them. But when you’re writing your answers down, the DS might not pick up your type of hand writing depending on how you write stuff, like if your writing a 4 down on the touch screen it might turn into an 8 or 5.
What I liked about ‘Professor Layton and the Curious Village’ is that most of the puzzles were challenging and can also keep you busy for months on end unlike other games which can last a few hours or days at best. But ‘The Curious Village’ really is a unique game that should not be missed by anyone who owns a Nintendo DS.
With over a 130 puzzles that you can simply jump in and out of, this game can keep you busy for a long time, either when you are out and about, on a long train journey or stuck indoors on a rainy day.
Graphics and sound: Another thing I liked about Professor Layton was the mix of beautiful full motion video, as well as the attractive still scenes. ‘Professor Layton and the Curious Village’ also makes itself feel like an Anime film all poured into a DS game…but the puzzles are the real stars of the show.
Most of the graphics in the Curious Village such as the environments and the characters have a hand drawn look to them and look like they all came from an illustrated children’s book. If you remembered that children’s TV cartoon Mr. Ben back in the early 70’s (that’s if you can remember the cartoon, of course), the graphics have the same style as that show.
The music is repetitive and annoying throughout most of the game, although there’s some great voice acting from the characters with their charming British accents, almost as good as the actors in the Harry Potter series, and the plots and twists make it feel more like a fictional book than a game.
Overall: Once you’ve beaten the game there is still a lot of stuff to do, extras to obtain and puzzles you’ve missed out which you can return to without a problem. Some puzzles can be a little tricky no matter how old you are, whether you’re a 7 year old playing this game or around your 20’s, some puzzles will really make you think hard. Although you can use Hints Coins if you are completely stuck on a puzzle and you need some hints or you can come back to it later.
Every week you can download a weekly puzzle by using the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection on your DS. The more puzzles you solve, the closer you’ll get to unlock the secret in the game which a surprise but I’ll not spoil it because Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a game that should not be rushed to finishing in one go.
There are so many puzzle games I’ve played through before but I never thought Professor Layton would be one of those games that I would be playing over and over again with its charming graphics, deep plot and its mind boggling puzzles.
The Bad: Music is repetitive and annoying
Diamond Y Award