"One of the best puzzles game I've ever played!!!"

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

There have been a lot of puzzle games made throughout the history of video games. These puzzles games range from putting blocks together, guiding a character through a course of obstacles, or even adding 1+1. One thing to be sure of about puzzles is that you will always have the same concept of the puzzle throughout the whole game. Like Tetris will always have you putting blocks together, the Phoenix Wright series will always have you searching for clues then going to trial, and Picross will only require you to put dots on a board while following requirements. My point is that I never played a puzzle game that had so much variety of puzzles in it so that a puzzle isn't only harder because its longer but harder because it becomes more complicated and requires you to really think hard. That game is Professor Layton and the Curious Village, the first game of the Professor Layton trilogy.

Story 10/10

Professor Layton and the Curious Village....well the title pretty much tells the whole story in a way. In more detail though this game is about Professor Layton, a man who really loves puzzles, and his apprentice Luke. They are summoned to the village St. Mystere to solve the mystery of the "Golden Apple" which is a treasure left away by the deceased Baron Reinhold. In order to do this you will have to investigate the village and talk with its villagers. Some villagers have some pretty good info but in order to get it you will have to solve the puzzles they give you. Pretty much in order to get through the whole story you will have to solve puzzles. The story is very interesting and is a mystery in itself so you will be drawn in the moment you start and all the way to the end.

Gameplay 9/10

The gameplay aspect of this game is simple point and click style. You pretty much click where you want to go and where to explore. You pretty much do that the whole entire game until you click certain spots which trigger puzzles. Pretty much all the villagers have a puzzle for you so these puzzles aren't hard to find. There are some hidden puzzles though so its good to throughly explore an area before moving on.

The main part of the game is, of course, the puzzles. One thing I liked about this game is the variation of puzzles and the range of difficulty. Each puzzle is given a story, or a situation, in which you will have to figure out the problem given certain requirements. These puzzles range from certain mathematics, sliding pieces around, finding a certain object within a picture, and my favorite logic. You will solve these puzzles via the touch screen. They all range from drag and drop, drawing a line, or to simply writing a number or letter.

Let me just tell you right now, this game will make you feel dumb at times mainly because of the heavy logic behind these puzzles. Another thing though is the sense of accomplishment you will feel when solving these difficult puzzles. Not all these puzzles are hard though and with a little thinking some puzzles are really easy. If you get stuck though, you are given three hints to help you solve the puzzle. Also if you get the answer wrong you will also be given a hint. These hints aren't free to use however, and require hint coins which are coins hidden throughout the game. These coins aren't too hard to find and their locations are kinda obvious.

You can tell the difficulty of a puzzle by how many "picarats" they are giving you. "Picarats" is this number value you will receive after solving each puzzle. The higher the "picarat" rating the more difficult the puzzle. These "picarats" don't have any really value in the game but they are more like a rating system. Each time you get a puzzle wrong the amount of "Picarats" you receive will decrease. Don't worry about it decreasing to zero though, the rating will only decrease two times. You can use this to show people how smart you are with a high "Picarat" rating. Although you can cheat by starting the game over once you get the answer, but please don't and learn to accept your mistakes.

Graphics 9/10

The graphics in this game aren't anything revolutionary or mind-blowing, but it does suit this game really well. The exploring part pretty much just shows you a background of the town with the villagers simply pasted on it in which all the characters are drawn in anime style. The puzzles are just a bunch of text with a picture for you to interact with. The cutscenes in the game are animated with voice-overs so it kinda feels like your watching an anime. Nothing over-the-top but this style really suits this game well and the DS in that matter.

Sound 9/10

Just like with the graphics, the music really suits this game well also. Matching its modern England type style the music really draws you into it. The music is constantly looping over and over but it doesn't get annoying since it matches so well with the game. Take for instance the puzzle theme, which plays whenever you're doing a puzzle, it really makes you feel like a detective and gets you thinking. Due to the repetition of these music tracks these songs will grow on you and don't be surprised if you just suddenly start humming one of the tunes.

There are voices for the characters but it only happens in the introduction and in the cutscenes. Everything else in the game relies on text, so it kinda hurts that there was no voice-over for the whole game since it really feels like a great anime. With that aside the voices that are in really match the characters and is very well done.

Play Time/Replayablity 8.5/10

The length of this game really depends on how long it takes you to solve these puzzles. If you get stuck, it could take you from around 5 minutes to a day or more to solve one puzzle. That is unless you look to Gamefaqs for the answer. There are a lot of puzzles to solve with over 130 in all so this game will take you a while no matter what. I beat this game around 19 and a half hours and some people beat in lesser time so its gonna differ based on how fast you get through the puzzles and how often you play it. I was addicted to this game when I first got it and kinda played it non-stop, but if you limit yourself to like a few puzzles a day or so this game will last a while.

Their isn't much replayability to this game since it relies on puzzles. Once you beat a puzzle theres no sense in going back and solving it again. There are some puzzles though with different ways to solve them so if you're up for a challenge you can try to find every variation possible for one puzzle. You can also share these puzzles with friends and see how they fare against these puzzles. Another good thing about this game is the Wi-fi ability it has. Each week a new puzzle will be released via Wi-fi and you can download it and solve it. You won't be given hints until the following week of that puzzle's release. Also don't worry if you missed a puzzle of a certain week because you will be able to download all the puzzles available and they are dated so you can see which one you missed.

Overall 9/10

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is the first game of a trilogy. I recommend this game to any puzzle lover out there. Also if you like games like the Phoenix Wright series or Hotel Dusk this game should be up your alley. The story is very compelling and will have you interested until the very end. The puzzles also help since you will want to move on so you can solve every single one. This game is very addictive and very rewarding. Too bad there wasn't much voice-over but its such a small thing to get over since this game is so very well done. Once you beat it though theres not much else to do with it but its good to share with family and friends, or even some unknown person. The weekly puzzles do help but if you will solve that puzzle early in the week you will have to wait a while till the next one. Other than that the game is pretty much awesome and I suggest you look it up to see if it interests you and don't be too intimidated by the difficulty of the puzzles as the great Professor Layton always says, "Every puzzle has an answer."

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/19/08

Game Release: Professor Layton and the Curious Village (US, 02/10/08)