Pros: Over a hundred fun puzzles, lots of stylus use, great plot
Cons: Flat graphics, short, pricey
The Bottom Line: For anyone, this is definitely something new that you'll want to try. It's not just "sudoku in a cartridge"; it's got a solid storyline.
reporting's Full Review: Professor Layton & the Curious Village Games for D...
When I first saw the ads for this new game, "Professor Layton and the Curious Village", I was utterly uninterested. I thought, why would anyone want to play a game all about PUZZLES? Even when I visited the website and tried some of the gameplay online, I decided that 35 bucks was way too much for something like that. However, my sister insisted on buying a copy. As she progressed through the game, I was still uninpressed, although she spent hours a day bending over the Nintendo DS. As she asked for help on puzzles and raved about the plot, I decided that I wanted to give it a shot. I'm glad I did.
Gameplay
The story begins with a cutscene, showing the Professor and his assistant, Luke, driving down a winding country road, heading for a strange village. As they near the village, Luke pulls out a map and cannot find out which village is the one they are looking for. This leads to your first puzzle.
When you have unlocked or discovered another puzzle (which can happen in a number of ways: talking to villagers, examining doors, and more) you are brought to the puzzle screen. It displays the number of points, or picarats, earned from solving the puzzle, and shows the instructions for the puzzle. The puzzle is done solely with the stylus, either by tracing, drawing, circling, clicking, or writing the answers in. The puzzles range from extremely tough sliding puzzles to quick brainteasers. When you submit your answer, you will be taken to a quick scene showing whether or not your answer is correct. If it's incorrect on your first two tries of attempting the answer, picarats will be deducted from the prize pool for that particular puzzle. After completing puzzles you could also win "gizmos", "painting scraps", or "inn furniture", which are fun little side puzzles that you can work on throughout the game.
If the puzzle is too tough for you to finish on the spot (and trust me, many of them cannot be completed on the first try because of the difficulty)--don't worry! There are many ways where you can retrieve and retry puzzles. How to do this is explained through the course of the game.
Moving around also uses the stylus, and nothing else. You pretty much don't need to set a finger on any of the DS buttons. Even the menu can be accessed using the stylus. In this game, you don't literally make the characters "walk" around. You see the town from a first-person point of view, and use the directional arrows which appear on the screen to move from scene to scene around the village. At first, it may seem a bit limiting, but it's simple and eliminates the unneccessary navigating.
One of the fun parts of the game is that everything is touchable with the stylus. You can talk to virtually everyone in the game, and there are hidden items and puzzles EVERYWHERE, so you'll end up vigorously tapping the screen every time you enter a new area.
Graphics and Sounds
All the graphics in the game are flat and pretty dull. This is definitely a turnoff, but honestly, you don't need 3-D everything. Many of the NPCs (Non-Player-Characters) are ugly or plain creepy, but it adds to the storyline. The graphics aren't outstanding, or even quite nice, but it shouldn't affect your decision in buying the game.
There are plenty of different tracks in the game, but all of them sound pretty much the same. The music does sound pretty good, there are the soothing music-box tracks for the puzzles, and the creepy music when you near the looming tower. Again, it's nothing outstanding, but it's bearable and pleasant.
Storyline
For a puzzle game-- even compared to RPG's, the storyline is awesome. It's filled with NPC's with defined character, mysteries that you actually want to solve, and it's something different, not how all mysteries always end-- the most innocent person being the killer. No, the plot and intertwining mysteries always keep you on your toes. It certainly is something different, but really, it's great.
To buy or not to buy?
Even if you're a huge fan of first-person shooters, Sims person, or RPG fan, I'd say, go for it. It's definitely something different, and a pretty fun experience. You'll want to consider the price, though. Despite the puzzles (and trust me, you'll want to find a good walkthrough site for some of the tougher ones), finishing the game only takes around 15 hours, not including some of the bonus puzzles. This is made up for by the high replay value. I can see myself playing this game several times, just for the heck of it. But anyway, the game is pretty pricey for such a short one. It truly depends on your budget, but I do recomment this game.
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