Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box Review
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is the second in the Professor Layton series. This DS game is know for its puzzles, and does it with a twist of mystery. You'll be playing as Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke, as you solve puzzle after puzzle. This time around you're trying to solve the mystery of a box that once open seems to kill any close to it. You'll be traveling through strange towns, and on a very special train. You'll also get the chance to meet a friend that you made from the first game.
Graphically this looks identical to the first. It has an almost storybook feel to it. It, once again, has animated cut scenes with subtitles (a huge bonus). The size of the puzzles is just right. This game doesn't have any puzzles that look like they are truly squished.
The music is straight out of the first, which in most cases would be a bad thing, but the music that goes with the Layton series just works so well that there's no reason to ever want to change it. There are a couple of voices in there that seem to be repeats, and its almost completely odd when they decide to do the voices and when they don't.
The controls are all about the stylus. If you can use it to move pieces around the screen, choose the correct answer, draw a circle, and other stylus movements you're going to find that the controls are quick to pick up on. When exploring you'll be able to click on the shoe to change your location, or you can click on the trunk icon to give you a peek into your inventory.
The game starts off with a letter from Professor's mentor. In the letter it discussed the research around the deadly box. Professor Layton and Luke rush over to his apartment to find a crime scene, and the box, gone. Of course you'll be having to run an investigation in parallel with Scotland Yard. Can you uncover what happened to the box, how it keeps killing everyone who opens it, and can you stop it from killing again?
If you like puzzle games, and sometimes pushing your mind to the limits to try to uncover a mystery, this is a game you'll like. There are some mini-games mixed into the game, but nothing that is really going to enhance the game. This is a great game to have, and you can do this game in easy one puzzle at a time doses. This game gets a 9.1 out of 10.
