I want to be Professor Layton when I grow up. There, I said it. But there’s really no shame in that, because Professor Layton is easily the smartest guy in the world. Or, at least, he is when it comes to brain teasers. His DS game, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, combines a compelling-but-basic point-and-click adventure game with 135 logic puzzles and riddles. The combination of its charming presentation and tricky challenges makes for a terrific end product that fits perfectly onto the DS.
It’d be easy to forgive Layton for a substandard storyline, because the puzzles and challenges are what give the game its lasting value. But the story, which has Layton and his young apprentice Luke scouting around a strange, puzzle-loving town in search of the mysterious treasure of a deceased noble, is great, too. There are just enough twists and turns in the mystery to keep you interested in what will happen next, and even though you may start to suspect where things are going before you reach the conclusion, getting there and seeing it for yourself is definitely worth it.
The game’s puzzles are jammed into this standard adventure game structure. You’ll encounter plenty of different characters on the streets, and more often than not, they’ll drop a new puzzle in your lap. Don’t they understand that you’ve got mysteries to solve? While you don’t need to complete all of the game’s puzzles to finish the game, you’ll occasionally encounter roadblocks in the story that prevent you from moving forward until you’ve completed a specific number of puzzles. The puzzles are almost never related to what you’re actually trying to accomplish in your investigation, so you may occasionally wonder why these goons are getting in your way with some mind-bender about wolves, sheep, and a raft when you’re trying to get to the bottom of a murder. Layton, being the type of gentleman that I can only hope to become someday, patiently solves these puzzles, as opposed to open-hand-slapping them while shouting obscure early-90s rap slang.
If you’ve ever encountered a book of brain teasers, many of the puzzles in Curious Village will seem pretty familiar. Old standbys, like reorganizing matchsticks to change one picture into another, or Die-Hard-3-style liquid pouring challenges, or trying to place queens on a chessboard in such a way where no queen can attack any other queen are all present and accounted for.
While the puzzles at the front of the game are a bit easier than the ones you’ll face near the end, the challenge comes from within. Even if you think you’re reading things closely, you’ll probably get tripped up here and there. If you do get stuck, the game offers three levels of hints for each puzzle, though you’ll have to spend a hint coin each time you want to see one. Hint coins are hidden around the town, and you can usually find more by tapping garbage cans, doors, and other out-of-place objects. While the three levels of hints are supposed to become more and more helpful as you burn through them, one of the more frustrating moments in Professor Layton comes when you’ve seen all three hints for a puzzle and still have trouble figuring out the answer. But with a healthy helping of perseverance, most players should be able to complete enough tasks to see the game’s ending without resorting to a FAQ. Once you’ve exhausted the main game’s puzzles, you can go on to try a series of harder bonus puzzles that unlock as you complete certain in-game tasks. Or you can get online, as the developers are offering up one new downloadable puzzle every week. The downloadable puzzles are of roughly the same quality as the ones found in the main game, but when you remove the puzzles from the adventure, they aren’t quite as meaningful.
All this adventuring and puzzling is wrapped up in a neat audiovisual package that ties it all together. You’ll get full-motion video for the bigger story sequences, complete with some great character voices. Outside of that, though, the hand-drawn still images for characters and backgrounds look great and give the whole game a very warm feeling.
That’s not a trait that one would commonly associate with a puzzle-based game that, when you break it down, probably has more in common with Nintendo’s long list of brain training games than anything else. But that warmness is something that really sums up the entire experience. Professor Layton and the Curious Village has a certain warmth to it that makes it easy to love, even when you’re up against a particularly annoying puzzle. Personally, I found this first adventure so strong that I’m already getting antsy just thinking about the next game in this planned trilogy.
72 Comments
Looks nice!
been playing my copy since monday, and i couldn’t agree more jeff
AAARGH! You beat me to it! But hey, I should have seen this coming:)
Awesome read man! And yes, I kept coming back again and again and again until I got all the puzzles solved. Once again, good read man and can’t wait for the sequel.
I need to get this one of these days, looks cool.
Sometimes I just wish I had a DS. Love these type of games
This definitely sounds like a great DS title. I guess there is no form of multi-player. From the type of game you’ve described, Jeff, I suppose a multi-player experience would feel forced. Nice review.
BTW, can’t wait until the video reviews are up and running.
Hrm. This isn’t the first time I’ve been given another reason to go buy a DS.
I’ve been waiting to get this game for a while, great review.
I may have to pick this up once I get through all the Pheonix Wright games I have in my queue.
Yep Professor Layton is a great game indeed. I heard ’bout on a polish gaming podcast and decided to give it a go. Every time I start playing, it sucks me for about 5 hours. The only minus that I found is that it makes me very sleepy when I end playing. I think it has something to do with my brain overheatin’ or whateva
Definitely agree, really enjoying this game. It fits the DS like a glove and was totally under my radar. Best surprise of 2008 so far.
great review. I’m a fan of puzzle games but this game was definitely off my radar. The characters seem adorable and the concept sounds fun so I will check it out.
Absolutely love this game - well worth the time. My journey to work flys by since picking up Layton….
Glad you like this game Jeff. I’m waiting for it to come out in the good ol’ UK.
(PS - how do I sign up on this site?)
I played this game on a week’s vacation to St. Lucia with my wife. I couldn’t stop. I became flat out obsessed, and I can rarely play a DS game for over 15 min at a time. I have a DS shaped white spot where the rest of my tan should be.
Without a doubt, one of my favorite games of this year, and one of the best DS games ever.
My mother even likes it, and she swears up and down that videogames are lame, despite her DS collection being bigger than mine.
This has a really classy mix of puzzles, but as the game progresses, the puzzles become increasingly nonsensical. Impossible, even! But it`s satisfying to finally figure out the tricky wording… Good stuff.
I’m glad you agree, Jeff. I thought Professor Layton was an extremely fantastic experience. I absolutely can’t wait for the next entries in the series.
Hey, this looks like an awesome game. I’m going to pick it up “for my girlfriend”.
ething I would like to see in the final Bomb is Video Reviews. i find myself reading less and less reviews these days since I just dont want to stit and stare on the screen for that long reading something. I just want to hear what the reviewer has to say in 5 minutes and be done with it + I get some live footage as well. Also when I read small white text on a dark background I tend to see lines all over the room when I look away from the screen. Something I really want to avoid. You should really start looking in to Video reviews. It dosent have to be much at all. Just you talking to a camera like youve done countless times on your Points reports. In the beginning it dosent even ahve to include any ingame footage. Just some well chose words.
woah. excuse all the typos and incorrect grammer in that post. Hope my point got through anyway.
Does 5-stars just mean “good”?
The screenshot function you got going is amazingly slick.
2 perfect scores out of 3 total reviews… Are you guys getting soft or just reviewing awesome games?
I got into this game expecting more of a “Phoenix Wright” experience but that wasn’t the case at all. I’m not a puzzle fan myself and I would’ve appreciated the game more if it had fewer puzzles and more variety in game mechanics. That doesn’t mean the game is bad, it surely has a special charm you will not find anywhere else, it’s just a love it or hate it game experience.
I’ve been meaning to get this game for a while now. I have yet to get around to it. I have heard nothing but good things though.
Riggidy Raow!
*slap*
The game just feels sort of creepy to me, but I’ve been looking for an excuse to pick my handheld systems for a reason other than a game series that rhymes with “Blokeyhan”, so I’ll probably pick this one up.
Been playing the game for a week now and I like it. It’s a great game, altough at this point (a little over halfway through) I’m getting bored a bit. The quality of the game is superb however…it’s just that 120 or so puzzle may be a bit too much for me. Still, highly recommended.
BOMBS instead of STARS !!!
Sound great, but I noticed some mistakes! You said the puzzles at the beginning of the game are harder than the games at the end, and you said “All this this” in the beginning of the 2nd-to-last paragraph.
I like Juan G’s idea about bombs.
That was a bomb review. Might have to finally pick up a DS again.
Ah, I’m picking this game up soon–sweet review!
I do not approve of the bomb-star replacement system. Maybe something related to bombs, such as dynamite sticks, but not bombs.
Nice review Jeff, this is a must have DS game, very addicting
Agreed - this is a DS game that all types of gamers can enjoy as well. I love it.. my girlfriend bought a copy and she loves it.. another one of our friends bought it and they love it. Nice review.
There seems to be a lot of high quality portable games coming out. I may have to buy a PSP or DS soon…Contra 4…it’s calling me! and this game has been getting a lot of good buzz around it.
…Is it weird that I bought Patapon and yet I don’t own a PSP?
Seems the verdict is pretty much unanimous then….maybe I should get a copy. I do enjoy the portable puzzle games. I really love it when developers understand how to develop for a system and act on it. This seems like a great fit for the DS.
Do I smell Zack & Wiki degree of marketing…Yes…I think I do.
this game is great and so is the review!
5/5 stars ?
This game is great. Good review.
Another game I got off gamefly that I just had to keep. Gamefly would be awesome if I sent games back once in a while instead of just keeping them all.
i need to play this game to belive it. they are not actractive to me.
I might have to check this game out
I finished this not too long ago and it is by far one of my favorite DS games. It’s worthy of the praise and I’m eagerly awaiting the second one.
Yo Jeff, I was a Gamespot regular but every since you left it hasn’t been the seme. Start up a premium service bro, ill pay for unbiased opinions, I cant trust the spot anymore.
I wish I had a DS. Maybe I’ll buy one, mmmmmn.
nice review, i’ve been meaning to pick this one up.
This game looks awesome. But one, I really don’t have much time to put into a game. The only thing I have been playing as of recent is Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 on the PS2 just because I really seriously only have like 30 minutes a night to play games at most…and thats if I don’t watch any TV or read for pleasure.
Great review Jeff… and who knows. Someday you may become Professor Layton. You’re already the Professor Layton of the gaming industry. I can’t wait for your SSBB review.
Love me some Professor Layton, I couldn’t put it down from start to finish. A perfect little DS game, great review.
Great game; I normally hate these brain teasers, but this made for a great DS experience. Hell yeah to the 5 stars!
I was gonna pass on this, but now that I’ve seen Jeff give it a good review…. it might just be up my ally. Might check it out.
The Bomb hasn’t lead me astry yet (Burnout Paradise, Poker Smash) this was already on my wish list, looks like I REALLY need to give this one a go.
Good review..
Having a look at ebay right now
Thanks
I reall should invest in a DS and soon. Games like these just scream out to me, I would love to wind down after a hard days work to this in bed
Great review, Jeff.
Gamefly has notified me this is shipping today. I’m psyched!
when is this game out?!?!
Doesn’t get much better than this. I could hardly put that game down. All I cared about was that there almost never a shortage of completely random logic puzzles. Who doesn’t love that?
When is this game out in the uk? or is it already it i havent seen it anywhere.
“Die-Hard-3-style liquid pouring challenges”.
Jeff, it’s so good to see you back, dude. You’re still keepin’ it real. More Die Hard, less track.
My lady friend is getting a DS soon and this might be the game for her. Great review.
How long is the main story mode? A couple of hours? 10 hours?
Interesting…I may have to get this game.
cool
You sold me on it. This is my next DS purchase. I’ll have to put off picking up Metroid Prime Hunters a little longer.
no psp section on the website?
These type of brain teaser and riddle games are awesome. The story isn’t half bad either.
I just imported this to the UK and spent the last three hours playing it on the sofa. It’s really fantastic, like a mix of Tintin and Brain Training. In fact it puts Brain Training to shame. Buy it!
odd… Prof. Layton got a better score than Brawl…
If I had a DS, I would so buy this game.