Professor Layton is a series created by Level-5, more specifically its owner Akihiro Hino. As a child, Hino was a big fan of Japan's Head Gymnastics books written by Prof. Akira Tago, and after finally meeting him, he managed to convince him to help him create a series where the player solves the mystery in a detective story by solving brain teasing riddles. Developed specifically for the Nintendo DS, Curious Village takes the player through a string of 135 puzzles.
The Story:
This is a story about the famous detective Hershel Layton and his apprentice Luke Triton. Layton is hired by a rich widow to come to a village called St. Mystere(Yes, you read right) to investigate the disappearence of her husband's inheritance. As they arrive and meet the townspeople both are baffled by how the villagers are obsessed with giving Layton puzzles to solve. As they solve puzzles and question people about the mystery of the disappearence they keep finding incredibly odd things about the town and its mysterious tower in the center. The story, while not brimmimg with depth, is very charming in its simplicity. The game does a great job of keeping the player interested in what is the duo gonna find next. The climax is also very heartwarming, making for a great reward for solving the game's difficult puzzles. The cast of characters is also very charismatic. They may not be incredibly well developed, but they manage to be memorable thanks mostly to the puzzles they give you. Alot of times finding a certain character again makes you remember how his/her last puzzle gave you trouble.
Overall it's a charming and intriguing story with charismatic characters.
8/10
The Gameplay:
The gameplay mixes elements from classic point and click adventures and brain teasing puzzle games. You point and touch the screen to investigate something, talk to someone or go somewhere.
The core of the gameplay is obviously the puzzles. They can be anything from math problems to logical riddles that test your attention skills. All of them use the stylus in some way, some just to pick an answer and others to use it to move objects. They are very well constructed and always make you feel either really stupid or very smart. The sense of accomplishment you get from solving a hard puzzle without cheating is something truly priceless and only adds to the charm of the game. About a quarter of the story mode's puzzles are optional and have to be found somewhere while exploring the village which gives the game replay value. There are also tons of extra puzzles that you can download using the console's Wi-Fi capabilities.
Overall, the gameplay is incredibly addicting and never gets dull.
9/10
The Audio:
The soundtrack was composed by longtime Level-5 composer Tomohito Nishiura. The european feel of the accordion driven music gives the game a very unique atmosphere and the tracks themselves get stuck in your head, especially the one that plays during a puzzle. The voice acting is fantastic and helps bring every main character to life, especially Layton's voice actor.
9/10
The Graphics:
There are very few DS games that look as good as this series does. The in game graphics use 2D sprite animation to create an old fashioned European animation look and the handmade animated FMVs look gorgeous. Character design is akin to British child books and only adds to their charm. It goes to show that you don't need a powerful console to create great visuals.
10/10
Overall, Curious Village is a fantastic game that entertains you with great storytelling while challenging your brain with very cool puzzles, and is a testament to the talent and creativity of Level-5.
Final Grade: 9/10
Next time, on the Layton retrospective, I review the second game in the series: Pandora's Box. See you then ;)
