Professor Layton Video Game Review
Nintendo DS Role-playing Puzzle Game Stimulates Brain Activity
"Professor Layton and the Curious Village" is a puzzle-solving game for Nintendo DS that is not intended to be finished in a day.
"Professor Layton and the Curious Village" is slowly but steadily creating a sensation among arcade game players. Made for the handheld Nintendo DS, the game involves a simple detective story of a professor and his protege, trying to solve a mystery of a dead man's will. For those used to playing "mindless" games, this one will stimulate a considerable amount of brain activity.
The Storyline (No spoilers!)
Depicted through a 2-D watercolor animation that is similar to Japanese animations such as My Neighbor Totoru, this game is like watching a very calm, extended movie. Professor Layton and his apprentice are summoned by the request of a very rich widow Lady Dahlia, who wants him to look for the golden apple, a treasure that her late husband has hidden somewhere.
The pair travel to the village of St. Mystere, which is located on an island that can only be accessed by a drawbridge (that conveniently breaks down so that the professor cannot leave until he solves the mystery). The professor discovers, however, that there is more mystery in the village than expected, and tries to get clues by talking with the residents of the village.
Strangely, the villagers all seem to be crazed with puzzle-solving, and require the professor to solve a lot of problems before giving him leads on the case.
What Kind of Puzzles?
Some of the puzzles are simple and more like brain teasers, such as moving a match to create a certain pattern. Many, however, are more difficult analytical ones, like the questions that were featured in the analytical section of the GRE (the section was later replaced with essay-writing).
Because of the certain level of analytical thinking that is required to solve the puzzles, it is very different from the mindless shooting games or arcade games that portable game players are accustomed to. Aside from Sudoku or the Brain-testing series, many of Nintendo DS games have involved a lot of finger action (or tapping action, since the screens are touch-active).
Fortunately, players can search for coins that they can use to "buy" hints in solving the puzzle. There are not enough coins in the game to see every hint, but the amount is fairly sufficient in seeing hints when needed. Unfortunately, a lot of hints don't offer actual clues, just ambiguous ones such as "Think out of the box!"
Why Is the Game so Popular?
Popularity, of course, is a very relative term, but even when compared with games out of its genre, Professor Layton has been getting a lot of attention, generating in Japan and spreading to other countries. One of the biggest factors in its popularity is the fact that it is not a mindless arcade game that requires fancy fingerwork, thus attracting game players that enjoyed the "point and click" style games of the past.
It is interesting to note, however, that puzzle-solving games are not new, although they have not been part of the mainstream gaming industry. So-called "adventure games" such as Myst and Monkey Island have integrated more challenging puzzles in a more graphically elevated context. So game players who are agressively seeking brain activity in their games may be disappointed. The game offers almost 200 puzzles, but about a third into the game, one realizes that many games falls into a similar pattern. The game itself also has a somewhat monotonous structure of having to continuously solve puzzles in the same format.
The game rather appeals to players who are "new" to such adventure-style puzzle-solving games and people who do not play games at all, but are interesting in testing their analytical skills.
Other Perks
There are a couple mini-game functions, such as putting together an actual picture puzzle and assembling a robot. These mini games don't make a significant contribution to the game. One thing that players may enjoy is the graphics and the characters. Professor Layton and his apprentice share snippets of amusing conversations and have personalities that resemble idyllic Japanese children's animations. These artistic details give the game a surreality rarely seen in mainstream games.
