Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) Review
Now and again gamers are treated to a title that comes out of nowhere and manages to amaze us to no end. Professor Layton’s first outing, the first in a trilogy, is one of those games.
Developed by Level-5, responsible for the acclaimed Dark Cloud series, Curious Village is an eclectic mix of charm, great art direction and challenging gameplay, and is sure to stump both children and adults too. Professor Layton & The Curious Village puts you in the shoes of Professor Layton, a renowned and well respected puzzle solver and his apprentice, a young and inquisitive boy named Luke. Both of them have been contracted by a Lady Dahlis of the aptly named town St Mystere in order to solve the puzzle of the “Golden Apple”, an alledged inheritance that Lady Dahlia’s late husband left behind shortly after his passing.
Naturally, with his finesse in puzzle solving, Layton is here to save the day and unravel the mystery behind the Golden Apple. Sure, it’s nothing overly engaging at first but the mysteries that pop up in Curious Village to get the gamer in – something a lot of handheld titles fail to do.
The general presentation of Professor Layton & The Curious Village is astounding. All the characters have been created and bought to life with some quirky animation and a generally appealing art style. The expressions that Luke and Layton show in varying situations really give life to the characters. The environment of St Mystere is beautifully drawn, although some gamers may find the game’s overall browning appearance to be quite depressing, though this reviewer believes that may be the intention of the developer.
Although you won’t see any absolutely ground breaking effects in Curious Village, you will be pulled in by the artistic direction of the subject matter, having a quirky almost signature style akin to Tim Burton. The game also comes equipped with some full motion video cutscenes which are animated brilliantly but unfortunately suffer from bad compression rates, a flaw best attributed to the medium on which it is presented.
Let’s get things straight – Professor Layton & The Curious Village is a point and click adventure. There is no controlling of the protagonist, there is no slaying of vicious beasts nor is there any sight of a double barelled shotgun in a swarm of zombies. Each level of The Curious Village is split up into segments, of which several buildings and characters may occupy. On each screen, players can tap around the environment to explore what each building is for, find hint coins (more on that later), converse with characters as well as move throughout areas.
Each level is presented on the bottom screen while on the top is an overhead map of the general area Layton and Luke are in, with a marker to indicate which specific area they are currently situated in. Although the game is by no means 100% linear, there are a lot of hints as to where to go, and a lot of the areas designed to progress the story will be protected by characters who won’t let Layton pass without solving a puzzle. 
And that brings us to the main flesh of The Curious Village – solving puzzles.
Being the revered puzzle solver that he is, Layton is always called upon by St Mystere’s residents to help solve their puzzles, which is a pastime of most of the residents. Each puzzle is worth a certain amount of “Picarats”, and the higher amount of picarats indicates that the puzzle may take more brain power to solve. Puzzles range from simple sliding and logic puzzles to more complex brain teasers and mathematical puzzles. Not all puzzles are required to be solved, and players are able to skip most of them if they wish to – but they must complete the story progressing puzzles. Each puzzle also comes equipped with three hints, unlocked through the usage of “hint coins” which are found throughout St Mystere.
Each hint costs one hint coin, and although doesn’t solve the puzzle will assist players quite a bit throughout their journeys in St Mystere. Hint coins can also be found by tapping areas on the map when not solving a puzzle, such as a tin can on a road. Although almost all of the puzzles are pretty easy to handle, some younger (or perhaps even older) players may be deterred by some of the heavier mathematical puzzles – but besides that a lot of them are classics and players are bound to recognise them from somewhere else. New puzzles can be “downloaded” through the Nintendo WFC also, should the one hundred and twenty-something puzzles not be substantial enough. Professor Layton and the Curious Village boasts a generally satisfying soundtrack.
The tones employed by the game as both background music and puzzle solving music don’t add to the frustration garnered by the puzzles themselves, and emphasis the fact that The Curious Village is one big mystery. The music conveys senses of mystery, uncertainty and a general fun feel to the game.
All in all, Professor Layton and the Curious Village came out of nowhere and surprised everyone with it’s playability. From start to finish, it’ll have players intrigued with unraveling the mystery of St Mystere and solving the many mysteries and puzzles that pop up throughout. Without any hesitation can this title be recommended to almost anyone – the puzzles are accessible and fun (most of the time) and the characters are intriguing and likeable. A definite gem.
