Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Puzzle Paradigm

Puzzles can be found both by talking to people (the majority of puzzles are found this way) and by searching your surroundings. Ranging from math to problem solving to visual tests, each puzzle is ranked by the amount of Picarats (a currency that gives you something nice for collecting them) that are rewarded for solving the puzzle. But beware: If you answer the puzzle incorrectly, the game will deduct Picarats from the total reward. You can miss the puzzle as many times as you want but the amount of Picarats will only drop for the first 3 times you miss.

Solving puzzles also rewards you with pieces to other parts of the gameplay. For instance, you can collect strange gizmos and once you’ve collected them all, you can assemble something to help you with your adventure. Also, there are pieces of a painting you can find and you can attempt to piece the painting together like a jigsaw puzzle to help you solve another part of the mystery. Finally, there is an inn game where you collect different furniture through your adventure and you must determine the best place (either Luke’s room or Layton’s room) to put each piece of furniture in order to make Luke and Layton happiest.

The adventure mode can range from fairly short to moderately lengthy, depending upon your puzzle solving prowess. I finished the game in just around 12 hours (with 100% completion) and though this seems a little short, I found this quite long enough to keep you hooked but not long enough to feel like a chore. The only problem is that most of the puzzles are not meant to be played more than once and replay value hurts in this aspect. Still, one of the nice extensions of the gameplay is the ability to connect to Nintendo WiFi connection and download a new puzzle every week. Also, as is stated in the back of the game’s manual, there will be connectivity between this game and the sequel (that’s already released in Japan).

Simple Summary

To sum up my experience with Professor Layton and the Curious Village, a few words come to mind: Surprise, because I was pleasantly surprised with this game and its ability to work my puzzle loving mind; Unique, because the game is truly unlike any other game to date (it’s a mix of the best mystery and puzzle games on the market); Masterpiece, because the game’s art style, animation, and voice acting are so captivating and brilliant they remind me of a high quality cartoon movie; and Brilliant, because the game seems to find a way to seamlessly connect difficult puzzle solving (and mind building) exercises into a full-fledged mystery game. This is clearly one of the best, unique games on the DS to date and if you like puzzles in any way or are just curious about this game, you should definitely pick it up.