Review: Professor Layton and the Curious Village (NDS)

But it isn't long before bigger mysteries present themselves. The widowed first lady of the manor loses her cat, the only bridge out of town gets stuck shut, and then a man is seemingly murdered! An inspector from London arrives on the scene, but Professor Layton, fine English gentleman that he is, is resolute in solving the case himself. 

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is built in the mould of classic point and click adventure games. You navigate around static screens, using the stylus to prod people and objects, gather information and solve puzzles. Unlike most adventure games, the puzzles here are rarely related to what you're doing; they're just obstacles to pass through en route to the next location. Seemingly every character you'll meet has at least one puzzle to share with you, and by certain points in the game, you'll have to have solved enough of them to continue onwards.

There's a reason for the townsfolk behaving in such a way, but it's just a plot contrivance. There is more going on in St. Mystere than meets the eye. A huge, ominous tower looms over the town, and no-one quite knows what's inside. Lately, strange noises have been heard coming from the tower, and people have been disappearing, only to reappear later with no memory of what happened to them. But despite some dark themes, Layton is a bright and cheerful adventure suitable for all ages, and it's presented in such a charming and delightful way. It's somewhat 'Ghibli' in art style (particularly the aforementioned tower, top-heavy and haphazardly layered), and the music's accordions and other gentle instrumentals give the impression of being in a quaint French village. This magnificent art direction is some of Level-5's best work so far, and is matched by first-class production - video sequences crop up at regular intervals, showing some outstanding animation, and the game's entire opening section is fully voiced (although Luke's mockney 'chimney sweep' accent is rather excruciating!).

Puzzles in Layton are based on Akira Tago's Mental Gymnastics series of puzzle books, popular in Japan. Here, they range from very easy introductory puzzles to particularly tough head-scratchers, and take on many forms, from multiple choice to text input answers. Riddles, number puzzles, shape puzzles and all manner of tests of wit show up, each one an exciting new challenge, and they gradually get harder as you progress. Naturally, you could cheat by guessing some of the multiple choice questions until you get the right answer, but Layton tries to discourage that by reducing the amount of 'Picarats' earned after a wrong answer. Picarats have no worth throughout the adventure, but they do allow you unlock features in the bonus menu, and the harder the puzzle is, the more they are worth.

If there's one major criticism of Layton, it's that the puzzle game and the adventure game don't really gel. If you're looking for a collection of excellent puzzles, you have to play through an adventure game to unlock them gradually. Similarly, if you're after an entertaining adventure game story, you have to stop to solve lots of completely unrelated puzzles. Granted, the story isn't much cop, but just as it starts to get interesting and the mysteries are revealed, so too do the harder puzzles show up, slowing everything down. Along the way, you collect pieces of a painting, parts of a machine and furniture for your room, and completing these side quests unlock the hardest puzzles of all. It can very quickly go from a relaxing adventure to an obsessive quest to find everything. To keep you interested, there are also more than two dozen puzzles available to 'download' via Nintendo's Wi-Fi service, bringing the total to around a hundred and fifty!

By and large, the puzzles are excellent. You may have seen some of them before, or variations of them, but they're all designed to make you think. The interface is neat and you can often doodle on the bottom screen to do any 'working out' before you submit an answer. Pleasingly, Layton never requires you to compute complex equations or muddle yourself in maths. You will quickly discover that, if you're struggling with massive strings of numbers, you're overlooking a far simpler solution. There are trick questions and misleading wording, which sometimes comes across as cheap, but it's all in good spirit. The very occasional error (a misworded clue, for instance) does little to sour the experience, particularly when hint coins are so numerous.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is an accessible game with enough challenge to maintain interest for some time, and is full of charm and wonderful presentation. Despite some irritating voices, Gamestyle is eagerly anticipating the continuing adventures of Layton and Luke. If you haven't tried this one yet, don't miss out. "Critical thinking is the key to success!"

Rating: 8 / 10

Words by Daniel James