Layton and his assistant are back with new mysteries and puzzles.
The Nintendo DS is infested with puzzle games, but in my opinion only a handful of them is quite as interesting as the Professor Layton series. It mixes well thought-out puzzles with a story that's light but still with the right dose of depth. The characters are charismatic and fit the purpose of the game. This is the second game of the series released in English language and the follow-up to Professor Layton and the Curious Village, released in 2008.
To tell the truth, this game is pretty much what you've played -- if you've played -- in the first game, and that can be a bad or a good thing. It's good because the first game was awesome, and it's bad because they could have dared a little more. This time, last game's Mysterious Village is out, but mysterious places is something this game does not lack. The main story follows Professor Layton and his faithful assistant, Luke, investigating the death of Dr. Schrader. The doctor was good friends with Layton and, for what the clues seem to indicate, he passed away because of a mysterious box called Elysian Box. Several strange stories surround this intriguing item, unfortunately it was lost with the death of Dr. Schrader, and the murderer probably has the item at hand. They know that the box is the key to solve this and they decide to hunt for it. The only clue Luke and the Professor find in the doctor's home is a train ticket, they then decide to board the train and search for more clues about what happened.
The player has more places to investigate and travel about now, the first one had the Mysterious Village and pretty much that. It's true that Mysterious Village had a certain obscure atmosphere surrounding it, something this game rarely causes to the player in any of the new locations. It's not bad, the style has changed a bit, but the overall idea remains the same; it still immerses who's playing just as much. The new characters are quite enjoyable, as the plot progresses some will have key roles and will help or hamper the job of the two protagonists; one of them actually makes a comeback from the first game and ride along with Layton and Luke. The sound work has few differences from the first one, the most easily recognizable puzzle-time track continues the same; it was a great music track if it serves as excuse.
The high point is certainly the puzzles, all very imaginative as it was in the previous. They range from simple to very complex, from simple mathematics to logical guessing, from arrange the blocks in a certain manner to exam the shown picture and find the errors. There are dozens and dozens of them, and they are found scattered around the locations in the game; they can be presented by local people -- apparently everyone in the world is quite fond of puzzles -- or come out of nowhere from the head of the protagonists just to spice things up a bit during the adventure. Either way, they're fun. It seems to me that the puzzles in the sequel come about in more reasonable ways than they did in the predecessor, maybe it's just personal, maybe it's been a while since I've played the first game, maybe it's actually true. Again, if you find the puzzle too difficult, you can use coins to buy hints to help you solve them; there are three hints for each puzzle and the coins can be found examining the in-game locations using the touch screen.
Beside the in-game puzzles, which you have to solve in order to resume the adventure, you have side puzzles as well. Among the side puzzles there's one to collect pieces of a shattered photograph camera by arranging the pieces in the right position trying to fix the camera; also one where you have to get a hamster in shape, he's been living with a cooking chef for much too long and now he's way overweight, it's up to you to make the pet lose his extra pounds. Those are two among other side-puzzles, like one to make different types of teas by using different ingredients and mixing it all up; good call for a moment break from the main story when you're saturated.
This solid puzzle game still ought to be played, Layton and Luke are back bringing many new characters, a nice new story and many fresh puzzles. It's true that the general idea is pretty much the same, but it's not quite the same to make it feel old. If you've played the first game and liked it this game is for you, you'll certainly find something to be amused here, if you didn't like the first one don't waste your time and money, and if you've never played a game from this series it's never too late to try. It lost most of the "wow" factor the first one had, but it's still pretty solid.
