It seems not many people have heard of this game and to be honest, I wasn't very interested in it either but it turns out Professor Layton is actually quite a good game.
The premise is pretty simple, Professor Layton is a bunch of brain teasers and puzzles (things like move a match to creature 4 squares instead of 5, the usual "truth-liar" logic problems, etc, etc) wrapped around an intriguing and well presented point and click adventure.
But this game is great, puzzles are very fun to solve and well presented (for the most part they are easy to understand but some are pretty tough to solve), the art style is excellent (and a nice departure from the common anime style everyone is using) and the music is fitting as well, the storyline is presented by dialogs between Layton and his apprentice Luke and the characters that habit St. Mystere as different mysteries unfold, there are also some pretty high quality FMVs with decent animation and voice acting that really make Layton feel like a real adventure game and not just some puzzle collection.
Gameplay is pretty straightforward, you use your stylus to traverse around the village of St. Mystere, by "pixel-hunting" the areas you can find hidden coins (that are used to buy hints for puzzles you can't solve), hidden puzzles and of course talk to the people of St. Mystere themselves that will present you new puzzles and advance the storyline.
To spruce things up a little and give longetivity to the game, Professor Layton & The Curious Village also features Wi-fi downloadable puzzles, so far there is only one puzzle available for download but judging by the feature's name "Weekly Puzzle" it's safe to assume the developer is promising a new puzzle every week. Layton also has a puzzle index that lets you replay any puzzle you have solved in the storyline (pretty pointless but at least the option is there) and mark your favorites. There are also two blacked out options in the menu "Layton Challenges" and "Top Secret" which I haven't unlocked yet so I can't comment on them.
In the end, I would highly recommend this game, it's a well presented point and click adventure with a series of engaging puzzles to solve and because of the nature of this puzzles, Layton is a pretty accessible game for anyone.
So who else has picked this highly overlooked gem up?
The premise is pretty simple, Professor Layton is a bunch of brain teasers and puzzles (things like move a match to creature 4 squares instead of 5, the usual "truth-liar" logic problems, etc, etc) wrapped around an intriguing and well presented point and click adventure.
But this game is great, puzzles are very fun to solve and well presented (for the most part they are easy to understand but some are pretty tough to solve), the art style is excellent (and a nice departure from the common anime style everyone is using) and the music is fitting as well, the storyline is presented by dialogs between Layton and his apprentice Luke and the characters that habit St. Mystere as different mysteries unfold, there are also some pretty high quality FMVs with decent animation and voice acting that really make Layton feel like a real adventure game and not just some puzzle collection.
Gameplay is pretty straightforward, you use your stylus to traverse around the village of St. Mystere, by "pixel-hunting" the areas you can find hidden coins (that are used to buy hints for puzzles you can't solve), hidden puzzles and of course talk to the people of St. Mystere themselves that will present you new puzzles and advance the storyline.
To spruce things up a little and give longetivity to the game, Professor Layton & The Curious Village also features Wi-fi downloadable puzzles, so far there is only one puzzle available for download but judging by the feature's name "Weekly Puzzle" it's safe to assume the developer is promising a new puzzle every week. Layton also has a puzzle index that lets you replay any puzzle you have solved in the storyline (pretty pointless but at least the option is there) and mark your favorites. There are also two blacked out options in the menu "Layton Challenges" and "Top Secret" which I haven't unlocked yet so I can't comment on them.
In the end, I would highly recommend this game, it's a well presented point and click adventure with a series of engaging puzzles to solve and because of the nature of this puzzles, Layton is a pretty accessible game for anyone.
So who else has picked this highly overlooked gem up?
