Just finished Professor Layton and the Curious Village on DS. The art was great, the music was excellent and overall the presentation was utterly charming… There’s a refined, very Francais Triplets of Belleville thing going on. There was a hefty disconnect between the puzzles and how they related to the characters and story, but it was hard not to like the game, regardless.
…It made me feel like a COMPLETE retard, though. I aced most of the 3D and logic puzzles, but the math and other types had me flummoxed most of the time. I don't think I’ve ever used an FAQ as often as I did for this game. It was somewhat humbling.
Humbling or not, Layton is a thumbs up for sure, but I’d like to see better integration of story and puzzles, and to have some choices and action that weren't necessarily puzzle-related. A little role-playing or a more active hand in solving the mystery of the village would have knocked this one out of the park. Not gonna review it, BUT IF I DID… I’d say a 7.5 probably, although there’s so much puzzlicious content that an 8 might be warranted.
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What’d you need an FAQ for man? It has an excellent hint system built right in! They saved my ass more times than I’m willing to admit… Excellent game overall though. It’s essentially just a puzzle book in an attractive skin, really, but I dug it. Like you, I certainly wouldn’t mind some more traditional adventure game elements on top of all the standard puzzles, but I don’t think it’s really a detriment without them, since the puzzles themselves are so strong. I eagerly download the new puzzle each week (and have been sort of disappointed at how relatively easy… Read more »