"This jug reminds me of a puzzle I heard of once..."

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a unique puzzle game on the Nintendo DS. The player explores a village to solve brain-teaser type puzzles and larger storyline-based mysteries. Overall, Professor Layton is an extremely high quality and entertaining game, with a few issues that detract from the experience and some moments of downright infuriating confusion.

GRAPHICS
Everything in Professor Layton is part of a unique art style. Character designs are amusing. Backgrounds are detailed and beautifully colored. There is not much actual movement or animation in the game, but that does not take away from it in the slightest. Some of the puzzles themselves can be pretty plain but that usually serves the individual puzzle well where extra things on the screen would only be distracting or confusing. Overall, there is nothing to complain about when it comes to the graphics in Professor Layton. More DS games should look this good.

STORY
The story centers around Professor Layton and his young assistant, Luke. They have traveled to the city of St. Mystere to solve a mystery. They quickly discover that everyone in town is obsessed with puzzles and they will have to solve them if they want to progress. Many parts of the story are told through animated movie scenes that are crisp and clear with full voice acting.

The story is very good and it ties the game together well. The characters are interesting. However, it is not as funny as other games of this nature like Touch Detective or Phoenix Wright, but the story is not as much of the focus as the puzzles.

GAMEPLAY
The meat of the the gameplay in Professor Layton is solving puzzles. Puzzles can be acquired from residents of St. Mystere, random objects, etc. You explore the village in a point and click adventure type fashion, moving from screen to screen and tapping on things to interact with them. There are many different types of puzzles in the game in various levels of difficulty. Completing each puzzles earns the player Picarats... which are sort of like points. How many of these a puzzle is worth is a good indication of its difficulty. Getting a puzzle wrong decreases the number of points you will earn when you solve it successfully.

Many of the puzzles in this game are very challenging and will require you to think carefully and sometimes even go and get a pencil and paper to make notes and calculations. While most of the puzzles are fun some can seem both infuriating and unfair... often due to what seem to be purposeful omissions in the wording of the puzzle rules/setup, unclear directions, and so on. For example, in the first puzzle of the game it is unclear what counts as a 'connection' between two places. Another puzzle made it difficult to tell what part of the map is a path... the squares on a grid or the lines between them? This does not happen too often but when it does, it can be infuriating, simply because you can't figure out quite how a puzzle is supposed to work so no answer seems logical.

If you are fond of brainteasers or where given lots of them when you were in school then the chances are that you have seen some of these puzzles before. Again, this isn't too common and many puzzles that are familiar are twists on classics instead of direct copies. Still, you will probably see some puzzles here you are familiar with and can solve instantly.

Finally, some puzzles are less puzzles than they are... well... math problems. This might seem a bit too far from a game for some people's taste. Younger players may actually have better luck with some of the math than adults who haven't had to do word problems and the like for years. It would also have been nice if the game had provided space for calculations.

When you complete a puzzle it can be completed again any time you like, but, there really is not much reason to do so as the puzzles almost universally have one solution and once you know it you can fly through the puzzle in a couple of seconds. Admittedly, most of the puzzles are relatively short. There is a very large number of them, but many do not take much real time to solve. Fortunately, there is also a hint system if you become really stuck on a certain puzzle. To get a hint you must pay one of the Hint Coins you find throughout the game. These coins are limited and it serves you better to just think about the puzzle and only use hints when you are really and truly stumped because you need a better understanding of how the puzzle works.

There are also larger puzzles that continue throughout the game... finding parts and assembling something, piecing a painting back together, fitting furniture inside a room, and more. These puzzles add another layer of depth to the game.

SOUND
Professor Layton features some of the best music in a DS puzzle game and some excellent voice acting. Like with the graphics, there is nothing to complain about when it comes to the sound.

REPLAY VALUE
This is where Professor Layton really takes a hit. Sadly, the game has almost negative replay value. This is not a short game but once you finish it and know the solutions to all of the puzzles there is no reason to play through it again and no challenge if you do since... well... you know the answers. To help with this, some puzzles are being offered for download to help extend the life of the game, but this is probably one you are going to be passing on to a friend or trading in once you've completed it.

GOOD:
-Beautiful graphics, music, and voice
-Amusing story
-Challenging puzzles
-Makes you think while having fun

BAD:
-Some confusing or infuriating puzzles
-Puzzles you may have seen before
-No replay value

Overall, I give the game a 7/10. Professor Layton is an enjoyable game and a delight to look at. It is hampered by a complete lack of replay value and some puzzles that are overly hard due to technicalities instead of actual difficulty. If you do not like brainteasers or the idea of having to do some MATH in a video game really turns you off then you will want to avoid this one.

Also, I would recommend this game as a rental if possible. Once you have finished it and enjoyed the 10-20 hour experience you are essentially stuck with a solved book of puzzles. It's certainly an experience worth having but one you can only have once.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/08

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