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Categories: Review
Tags: adventure, ds, nintendo, professor layton, puzzle
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Developer: Level-5
Publisher: Level-5
Platform: Nintendo DS
Released: 2/10/2008
If Russia was “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma,” then what is St. Mystere?
St. Mystere, the curious village of the title, is so timeless and vaguely European it’s practically begging for a mad scientist. Instead it’s visited by the affable Professor Layton and his assistant Luke who have been invited by Lady Dahlia to find the Golden Apple. However, the Golden Apple, a missing treasure Macguffin, soon takes backseat to to a murder at the manor and the disappearances and more mysterious reappearances of St. Mystere’s villagers.
This setup seems to describe an adventure game, but Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a puzzle game through and through. Riddles, brainteasers, and math problems spout from villagers’ mouths and are literally hidden in every corner of the village. While the story drives Layton’s actions, directing him to search specific locations and talk to certain characters, real progress is only made by solving the puzzles that pack each of the game’s nine chapters.
The puzzles are a mix of classics like filling in a Magic Square and newer ones involving things like inconvenient parking lots. Logic, visual acuity, and creativity are called into play, but where other games might punish the player, Professor Layton seeks to challenge. Only a few of the puzzles require knowledge beyond what is given in-game. Each puzzle has three levels of hints available (provided the player has found hint coins to unlock them), and none of the puzzles are timed. The game also allows the player to walk away from any puzzle and attempt it later.
Solving puzzles earns Picarats which are technically a currency, but act more as a scoring system. Some puzzles also yield scraps of a painting, parts of gizmo, or furniture for Luke and Layton’s rooms. Assembling these parts correctly opens more puzzles to the player. Once every secret has been uncovered, the player will have been confounded by 130 different puzzles, overseen and mostly contributed by Puzzle Master Professor Akira Tago of Chiba University.
I typically think of DS sound and graphics in terms of functionality. Professor Layton is gorgeous. There’s a whole suite of music available, from recurring themes to ambiance-adding tracks. While the player moves around town by tapping from screen to screen, the artwork is lush and detailed. Character animation is limited, but character design is innovative and each villager is memorable. There were characters like Pauly and a wandering tourist who I really enjoyed running into. The game also fleshes out the narrative with high quality animated sequences. This, combined with the regular use of voice acting, made for a compelling experience.
Beyond the game and bonus content, Level-5 is offering free weekly puzzles available for download. Let’s be honest though, when you’re done with The Curious Village, a weekly puzzle won’t be enough. Hurry up and bring out Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box, I need to know what happens next!
On March 7th, 2008 at 9:28 am, Silvercube wrote:
Level 5 made this game?
As in Dark Cloud and that awesome xbox game that was never released? (True Fantasy Live Online)
your review makes me very compelled to get the game – i like the art style.