Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Professor Layton is basically a Brain Training title wrap up in an old school point and click adventure game.  No wait, don’t go!  Trust me on this one I have simplified it greatly.  You basically play the game’s titular character along with his side-kick Luke as they trail around the village of St. Mystere looking for the “Golden Apple”.  This is a treasure claimed to be left by the late Baron Reinhold for anyone who can solve the many riddles and puzzles that he left behind.  Whilst undertaking this task you stumble across several other unsolved mysteries with in the village itself and set about clearing these up at the same time - What a guy!

So graphically if your expecting light bloom and pixel shading you are looking in the wrong place my friend; go look at Bioshock on the PS3 instead. If you are looking for a good clear art style, heaps of Studio Ghibli inspired art work and fluid animations then your in the right place indeed.  Professor Layton has heaps of manga inspired charms and the short movie sequences are as good as any representation of that genre.  The screen is full of Victorian styling and clear design thought has been put into achieving this.  I will say that sometimes it can be a little confusing on some of the puzzles as the limited palette and resolution of the DS can hamper the dynamic of a puzzle.  With that said I found this easily one of the most ascetically pleasing titles on the DS.

Basic gameplay involves you moving around different areas of the St Mystere village undertaking quests handed out by the mysterious villagers that inhabit it.  You wade your way through a grand total of 130 puzzles with in the game but a fair number of those are optional puzzles and are not required to move the story along - think of them as GTA style side quests.  You move around the village using the DS stylus to basically change “scenes” as you have no on-screen protagonist to move (think the ‘Myst’ style of interface) and movement if fairly fast and pain free.  As you move around the locations within the game, you come across many of the village’s inhabitants.  As you talk to them to help unravel the mysteries they will challenge you to puzzles (the villages favourite activity) that, if you complete them, will reveal more about your quest.  This sounds a little hokey but works incredibly well; being very satisfying when you nail a puzzle and move on.

The puzzles contained in the game are a result of the Head Gymnastics series of puzzle books by Professor Akira Tago, which have sold more than 12 million copies to date in Japan.  As you would imagine the initial puzzles are basic to say the least and most will be breezed through them with ease.  The later stage puzzles pose somewhat more of a challenge and a lot less “breezing” will be had by all.  The puzzles range from simply lexical challenges (A says he is lying, B says A is lying and C says A and B are lying - who is correct) to the more obscure.  All the puzzles will challenge you in someway or another and even if you’re stuck, the game uses a hand hints system.  As you move around the village you need to investigate the areas fully by prodding sections with your DS stylus.  This can reveal hint coins (as well as hidden bonus puzzles) that can be exchange to hints when you are stuck.  Each puzzle has a three tier system for the hints, the first being vague, the second more direct and the third fairly obvious.

The sound effects are of a good quality and produce a pleasing result from the small plastic box.  The voice acting is good throughout, albeit very contrived and cringe-worthy.  Both Layton and Luke have a terribly bad, could only be in a Japanese cartoon, English accent.  It’s comical to be honest but can grate at times.  The musical score is jaunty enough and suitably spooky at the relevant times.  The video and audio quality of the movie sequences is also high for the little DS and look and sound clear and precise.  Don’t expect THX and surround sound here but what is available does the job well enough.

As mentioned earlier, the game comprises of 130 puzzles, many of which are optional and hidden so the longevity depends on how much you want to play the game.  I could easily have breezed through the game doing only the core puzzles in about 5 or 6 hours at most.  As it is, I undertook most of the additional puzzles and clocked up just over 12 - no mean feat for a hand held puzzle game.  There are plenty of extras to collect on your travels through St Mystere including the Picarates you earn for each challenge (the amount earned depends on the number of tries it takes you), parts for “Gizmos”, parts of a mysterious picture and items to decorate both Layton’s and Luke’s bedrooms at the hotel.  All in all there should be plenty to keep you occupied.  There is more though; you can download new puzzles via the DS internet connection thus extending the puzzling longer - but not the story.

All told, Professor Leyton and the Curious Village is a delight to play and I must say I had great fun.  This is one of the few games my other half has ever played to conclusion and she can’t wait for the next game: ‘Professor Leyton and Pandora’s Box’ (which was released in November 2007 in Japan) to be converted into English (rumor has it stated in for early next year).  I fail to see why it had taken so damn long for this excellent title to be released in Europe.  Yes I understand that it is text heavy and a large amount of translation would have to be done, coupled with that ‘Level-5′ (the developers) are not exactly a huge developer.

If you like adventures, enjoy a good story or just like puzzles, then this game it exactly right for you.  Sure, some of the puzzles are fairly basic or seemingly nonsensical at times but the game has a certain charm and that “one more try” ethos that is lacking from so many of the big budget games on the current gen systems.  So, give it a try, if you can’t wait another six weeks then import the thing from the US, you won’t regret it at all.