Professor Layton Retrospective: The Eternal Diva

Four days before the 3rd Professor Layton game came out, The first movie installment of the franchise was released in Europe. It was made by Level-5 themselves in collaboration with P.A Works, the company that makes the FMVs for the games. Loved by fans, this is one of those rare good video game movies. The movie takes place after Specter's Call and before The Miracle Mask, let's take a look:

The Script:

Professor Layton receives a letter from Janice, a former student of his who's an opera singer. In it she informs the professor that a young girl claims to be a reincarnation of a dead friend of hers. It's up to the Professor and Luke to solve this mystery. The story is great, as it retains the family friendly but emotionally deep themes that the series is known for. The characters are also very interesting and likable, especially Janice. The script does a fantastic job of being a 1:1 translation of the games into movie format. It sucessfully blends puzzle-solving and adventure without making it feel forced.

Overall it's a fantastic script.

9/10

The Direction:

The direction of the movie is great. The movie deals character moments with great care, action scenes are stylish and epic in scope, and comedy is very well timed. It's incredibly easy to be swept by Layton's lovable world.

9/10

The Audio:

Just like in the games, we have Tomohito Nishiura in charge of the soundtrack. For the first time a Layton story is enhanced by a full orchestra instead of DS synths and it sounds phenomenal. Hearing the series trademark tunes fully orchestrated is a real treat for fans, and the new tracks are equally catchy and effective. The voice acting is, as expected, truly brilliant.

10/10

The Animation:

P.A Works bring the work they do for the games into the big screen and it looks great. All the characters look and move just like in the games, which will please fans. The only problem is the integration of the CG. For the most part it looks fine, but sometimes a cg vehicle can clash with the hand-drawn style.

8.5/10


Overall, Level-5's first venture into the movie business is a smashing sucess. It's touching, it's incredibly fun, the characters are just as lovable as they are in the games and it sucessfully blends all the elements that make the games great into one tight package.

Final Grade: 9/10


Join me next time when we go back to the games for the last game of the first Layton trilogy: The Lost Future. See you then ;)

Professor Layton Retrospective: The Pandora's Box

Curious Village sold 5 million units worldwide and was loved by critics and gamers alike. The Layton character became Level-5's mascot and the franchise is now the company's flagship series.
Since it was originally planned as a trilogy, Team Layton started work on the second game right away: Pandora's Box. Let's take a look:

The Story:

After receiving a letter from Layton's mentor Dr. Schrader about the Pandora's Box, he and Luke travel to his home to find more about it. To their surprise, they find Dr. Schrader dead and the box stolen. It's up to them to solve this mystery, which goes way deeper than they can imagine.
The story is phenomenal, it gets more and more interesting the more you progress through the game, and as in the first game, it all builds up to a wonderfully emotional climax. All the new characters are very interesting and memorable, and the returning ones are just as charming as ever.

Overall it's a wonderful story with great characters.

9/10

The Gameplay:

This game takes the gameplay from Curious Village and refines it. We still solve puzzles to advance in the story, but now there are puzzle-like mini-games like assembling a camera that gives you 9 "Find the differences in both images" challenges and for convenience we now have the ability to take notes during puzzles. Aside from that the gameplay is pretty much the same because well, if it ain't broken don't fix it.

9/10

The Audio:

Tomohito Nishiura returns to score the game, giving us one of the best DS soundtracks ever made. The music is still very accordion-driven and always fits the mood of the situation. Emotional tunes, atmospheric tunes, Ominous tunes, it's all here. The voice acting is again brilliant especially in the climax, and this time there's more voiced in-game cutscenes instead of just the first one like in the first game.

10/10

The Graphics:

The handmade look from the first game returns and is more detailed this time, with more animations and more detailed backgrounds. There are also twice more FMVs than the first game, which helps the story experience a lot. Character design is also like in the first game, and there's alot more variety this time around.

10/10


Overall, Pandora's Box is an excellent sequel that expands on everything the first game did. It's a brilliant game that any DS owner should own.

Final Grade: 9.5/10


Next time we'll do something different: We'll take a look at the first movie in the series: Eternal Diva. See you then ;)