Releasing a mere (yeah, right) eighteen months after it’s debut in Japan as a 3DS launch title, the rest of the world is now privileged to catch up with our pal Professor Layton in his latest adventure: Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask. After four title on the Nintendo DS, the first 3DS installment carries over the same great game play and puzzles as well as a decent knack for story telling. The Miracle Mask gives the formula a nice blast of refreshment, and it doesn’t look too bad in 3D either.
So, what if you’ve never played a Professor Layton title? What is it about? It’s a puzzler with a great story wrapped around it, in short. Don’t worry if you’ve never played one of these games before, you should still be able to follow the story for the most part, as it is all self contained. The puzzles themselves are the main attraction here anyway, so do not fret if you’re familiarity with the Layton lore isn’t up to scratch.
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask follows the the story of Professor Hershel Layton, his ever faithful apprentice Luke Triton and assistant Emmy Altave on a mission to help an old friend who he attended the School of the Professors with. The city of Monte d’Or has been under attack for some time from the Masked Gentleman, he’s performing what he calls ‘dark miracles’ on people such as turning them into horses and stone and other odd things. Yeah it’s a bit zany, but the alternative reality London that Layton resides in accommodates it just fine and zany is nothing new if you’ve played one of these before.
The most noticeable change with Miracle Mask if the way that the characters are drawn All of the characters in the game now sport a 3D and cel-shaded look, rather than 2D artwork. It’s a drastic change, though most should be happy with how they look on the 3DS screen in a relatively higher resolution. Of course, they become more impressive when the 3D is turned on too. For those who enjoyed the cinematic approach previous games took, there’s still tonnes of animated cutscenes throughout the game, so rest assured this aspect of the game remains intact. The general aesthetic and artistic direction of the Layton games have never looked this good than they do on the 3DS, which is good to see given the drastic changes.
With such a rehaul of the visuals, the signature themes and original score that you’re probably used to by now returns and give the game a great atmosphere, complementing the artistic design of the environments to really pull you into London and Monte d’Or. Players will get the warm and fuzzy feeling from the first moment they boot the game, with all those tracks getting you in the right mood to run around the streets solving puzzles and uncovering more of the story.
As you would expect, the puzzles are the main draw with Miracle Mask. Containing just over 150 puzzles, Miracle Mask is a substantial package. Like the character models we mentioned previously, the puzzles themselves look great in 3D but the effect is purely cosmetic – it doesn’t really add anything to the gameplay itself. Another issue with previous games was puzzle variety – a lot of the sliding block puzzles that plagued previous games are thankfully removed. This means there’s more room for brain crunching comprehension, with some puzzles even requiring some mathematical skill and the odd spatial awareness puzzle being thrown in as well. This is the thing I really enjoy about the Layton games, the fact that players have to actually think about the puzzles themselves. It’s not a matter of just moving fast and skillfully, but using your head and working things out mentally. There’s still plenty of hint coins (though I feel a little bit too many) hidden around the game world, and you’ll probably need them for the absolutely brutal puzzles that appear late in the game.
Following the inclusion of London Life in the previous game, nothing really could stand up to what was essentially a fully featured mini RPG. That being said, the mini-games included in Layton’s trunk are still well worth checking out. The Shop and the Robot game were the best out of the three, while the Rabbit Training one was a bit weird and just didn’t seem all that enjoyable (nor were we compelled to continue playing). I mean yes, you train up rabbits to work in the circus, and it’s adorable, but it’s just a little bit shallow.
If mini-games aren’t your thing, then you’ll want to check out the extra puzzles that are going to be released each day for a year via Spotpass. Don’t worry if you miss a day, you’ll be able to connect and download them all in a chunk. An additional 365 puzzles is nothing to be scoffed at and it makes the case for a digital download version even more compelling. Having access to the game and all these additional puzzles without having to plug the card around for a year might be worth the extra price of admission if you choose to purchase the digital version.
There really isn’t too much more to say about Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, it’s another compelling and well presented adventure with some great puzzles. Level-5 knows how to put a Layton game together and they still manage to do it very well. Our only disappointment is not really something to do with the game itself, but more so the franchise. We’re sitting at around five Professor Layton games now and they’ve all been very similar to one another. We love Layton and Luke’s adventures, so please, don’t let the series become stale if you can help it, Level-5.
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