I'm a pretty big fan of puzzle games. Most of the time, just random logic puzzle games are fine, or games like Tetris and Lumines. Sometimes there comes a puzzle game that has an excellent story to go along with the puzzles. The Professor Layton series for the Nintendo DS has always been a great example of the latter.
For those who aren't familiar with the game series, it's about an English Gentleman (who's a university Professor who teaches Archaeology) and his young boy apprentice. Together they go around solving puzzles. Layton has such a reputation as a problem-solver that many people contact him regarding mysteries that are generally considered unsolveable. So far (at least game wise), the score stands at 2-0, with Layton figuring out every mystery thrown his way so far.
As the player, you play primarily as Layton, though the perspectives shift (inconsequentially) to his apprentice Luke and some of the other side characters.
The gameplay is largely unchanged from the previous games. You encounter people who challenge you to solve mystery after mystery, and as you work your way through puzzles (and the city(s)) you delve deeper and deeper into the plot.
Some of the puzzles repeat a little bit from the previous games, but that's to be expected. I have a feeling there can only be so many puzzles that exist, and they do have to save some more for the next game in the series. The puzzles this time around, however, are generally worded a lot better than the previous puzzles in the series. While there were a few puzzles that were extremely hard, most of the puzzles succeeded in keeping me busy for at least a few minutes.
The graphics are as good as the previous installments in the series. They consist of lovably animated characters and architecture. My only complaint when it comes to the graphics is that sometimes during cutscenes you get some patches of discoloration, which is largely due to the DS not being made to play video, and the video codec that's widely used throughout the industry for the DS still isn't the best.
The story itself is actually amazing. This game is, by far, my favorite in the series. You don't see the twist for quite a while, and even then the plot has many twists on it's various subplots.
The ending was also deservingly sad. I say deservingly because not every form of entertainment builds up to something sad. They usually throw it in in the end "because the writer wanted it to end that way" not necessarily having planned it in that manner from the beginning. For this game, without the player even realizing it, the whole game was building to the sad conclusion. It even leads you away from this sad conclusion for a little while, only to make the emotionally charged ending all the more bittersweet.
This game has Professor Layton more characterized than he usually is. In the previous outings, he's just been the dashing English Gentleman that always has all the answers. In this we get to see his past and some of the things (and people) that have shaped him into what he is today.
If you have a DS, I strongly recommend purchasing this game. It is a must-have for any DS owner, with fun (yet challenging) puzzles, an engaging storyline, and great visuals.
And for the lulz, here's a comic that's relevant to the game:
No comments:
Post a Comment