Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Level-5 (2008)
April 21, 2008
I have a problem.
It’s silly, I know, but I have a problem with brain teasers. I can’t put them down without getting really angry at myself for giving up. I will constantly think about the problem until I’ve answered it. It’s really quite unhealthy. So what do you think happens when I come across a game like Professor Layton and the Curious Village?
I lose sleep.
I will finish a puzzle, and then say to myself “just one more, it wont take long.” Next thing I know it’s 1 in the morning and I’m still feverishly solving mind-benders. I find my waking thoughts drifting back to the unsolved puzzles trying to work them out. I obsess over the words, searching for secret meanings and obtuse angles.
I love this game.
It’s one of the first games I’ve played for the DS that actually requires that you use the stylus instead of having it as a novelty. It’s direction, if a bit linear and predictable, is solid and well-written. The music and artistry throughout the game is top notch, and it even has voice acting that doesn’t suffer from Shatner syndrome or make me want to claw my ears off with rusty serving forks.
The story goes thusly: Professor Layton and his sidekick receive a letter in the mail from a duchess requesting his puzzle-solving abilities. When hey arrive, they are told that there is a golden apple hidden away somewhere in the city, along with a huge treasure store. If the Professor can find it, he’d be entitled to a cut, and thought of as a hero. Shortly after this knowledge is revealed, a murder takes place, and the Professor takes it upon himself to solve the mystery of the golden apple as well as the murder. In fact there are 10 mysteries overall that are solved by playing through the story.
Oh, did I mention that everyone in the village is obsessed with puzzles, and will prompt you to solve them with little care for whether you actually would like to or not? Yeah, that happens a lot.
My biggest problem with the game is that it’s so linear it hurts. In order for you to miss puzzles (which you can always access in the puzzle hut – don’t ask – later) all you have to do is go to every screen and talk to every person until they repeat themselves. You have to do this after every Chapter.
Actually now that I think about it, the most annoying part of the game is any of the “hidden” things, because they all require you to tap the screen like a retard, searching for that one magical pixel that will reveal unto you a coin or puzzle. It almost isn’t worth it in the end, except that you NEED coins for some puzzles simply because they are just so obtuse that logic just doesn’t really apply.
Other than that, this game is great. It’s solid from start to finish in its delivery, its novelty, its sound, and its visuals. The story is a little kiddish for me, but the exceptionally difficult puzzles (few and far between, but good God they’re there) help balance it all out. Seriously, if grade six kids can figure all these puzzles out (the script and average puzzle difficulty lands around there) they deserve a prize. I spent hours on a couple of those damned things.
I suggest picking it up and playing through it. You’ll kill time and increase brain activity by solving puzzles, you’ll be entertained, and you’ll even have some intrigue throughout the entire story. It also has a great scene involving a ferris wheel that made me laugh more than it probably should have.
8/10
Categories: Fairly Sweet Game Reviews Nintendo DS
Tagged under: 8/10, Game Reviews, Nintendo DS, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Puzzles, William Shatner