For a game i was really looking forward to playing, as my introduction to the series, it ended up pretty underwhelming, feeling like it missed more of a payoff, but still fun.

The brain teasing puzzles are mostly pretty fun, even though some of them are way too similar and some also give me war flashbacks from school. The game attempts to make the puzzles feel rewarding by feeding the player collectibles, such as the painting scraps and gizmos, and also the very flawed scoring system in the form of Picarats. The frustrating part about this is that most of the time the end result for collecting all the stuff and solving the most puzzles possible is very disappointing, even if it makes you feel like it would lead to something. Imagine if in Banjo Kazooie the reward for collecting all Jiggies was 3 extra puzzles and a still image, that's what it feels like.

The plot in particular is this game's biggest disappointment. First, it lacked focus, as it presented many interesting mysteries and characters, only to introduce others on a dim making the narrative a scrambled mess, which wouldn't be an issue if the game was able to untangle the web in a satisfying way, which it didn't even come close. Without spoiling too much, the final stretch is not only anticlimactic it also gives the wildest and most random explanations to the mysteries previously set up in a checklist expository manner, with little to no dramatic punch whatsoever. It honestly made me feel a little betrayed thinking all these plot points would be explained in a cool and clever way like in those classic detective stories, and instead we got...anyway, if you know you know.

Even if the game is just basically a puzzle box with a semi-coherent narrative attached to it, it is carried near solely by the strength of its charm and aesthetics. Narratively, as mentioned before, this game is a lot closer to Zac Power than Agatha Christie, yet the environments, the dialogue, the music and specially the characters evoke a whimsical old British literature feel, with great designs all around and some gorgeous animated cutscenes that are looking crisp in the HD remaster. Walking around town while talking to these weird and funny characters makes the constant barrage of puzzles more palpable and relaxing, while keeping your interest on what's going on in the village.

Overall, it's a decent start to what would become a very big franchise, to which i see a lot of pontential, perhaps these issues are ironed out in the later iterations.

As a sidenote, this is a perfect game for children, teaches basic logic and algebra concepts in a fun and intuitive way, and the plot being this dumb will hardly be a problem for them.

The characters, especially both Luke and Layton himself are such charming characters, I love how Layton is always one step ahead of everybody and is a master of solving shit yet he’s actual profession is an archaeologist, and St. Mystere is such charming little town with pretty charming characters, though I would say that’s kinda it, you don’t really get to know the villagers that much (for extremely weird yet logical reasons)
I definitely got stuck on a lot of puzzles, and sometimes I don’t want to solve any puzzles because what really intrigued me about the game is the story, probably the second best thing about this game.
That plot twist and ending was really really well built-up and amazing.
Overall, even though solving individual puzzles in order to progress the story is not really my thing, there is still enough in Professor Layton and the Curious Village to make me want to see more, and creates a cosy and relaxing atmosphere on top of it: Good Job Level 5!

(Because we watched a Nintendo Direct with my brother, he started bothering me about Professor Layton. I might have dropped the game not long into it but I would like to watch the movie because it holds promise at least aesthetically).

Looks like it could have a cute atmosphere with all that victorian flair and characther design that reminds me of a softer "Triplets of Belleville" but it presents itself as too childish. What child (because this is a children's game) wants to play a detective game and the first thing you investigate is going to look after a cat because of some dumb rich billionaire bitch as if it was a dumb cartoon? Not to mention this doesn't hold up as an adult who wants some interesting development about this troubled family asking for the professor's service instead of going into filler right away.

I also played for about an hour and was not hooked in with the story presentation but the segregation with how you play it is what simply sent me away. The gameplay consists of random riddles or puzzles which don't have anything to do with the story presented and are made to test a well versed detective yet are things you solve with simple math and common sense. They are also the kind of puzzle you would find in a Discovery Channel programme (I clearly remember seeing one similar to the "wolves and chicks in a raft" minigame). The visual novel aspect is flawed, I just want to go and inspect these beautifully painted backgrounds and talk to these charming looking people to have more information of the city, but Layton or these citizens can just throw you into a minigame without asking (and without the player's incentive to solve them resulting in you losing points for going at it without the interest) should you click in someone or something that catches your eye.

From what I've seen this game will be just a Wario Ware esque minigame centered title, just enveloped in a fancier package. And I hate WarioWare. These games are just things to occupy your time with when you are bored (so mental jerkoffs) instead of making the problem solving have relation with things that improve one's spirit and life philosophies with its mistery. I have more important things to figure out in life than moving matches to make a dog look like it's been ran over.

text by Brandon Parker

★★★☆

“A STRANGE AND RARE DESERT PLANT THAT ONLY COMES UP OUT OF THE GROUND EVERY 20 YEARS OR SO, AND SO ALIEN IS ITS SHAPE AND UNIQUE ITS BEAUTY THAT THE SNAKES, LIZARDS, AND OTHER DESERT ANIMALS ALL STOP FIGHTING AND KILLING EACH OTHER OUT THERE, AND THEY ALL CALL A TRUCE JUST FOR THE CHANCE TO GET A GOOD LOOK AND WONDER IF IT'S EDIBLE OR NOT.”

I recently played Sherlock Holmes vs. Arsène Lupin, and let me inform you how excited I got after I had started that game up: real excited. Right as you settle into the game proper, instead of your everyday, commonplace tutorial screen popping up to educate you on the controls for your intial playthrough or whathaveyou, this game’s tutorial just tells you to get a damned notepad and pencil. Being that this is a Sherlock Holmes game, you’ll be playing as Sherlock Holmes, of course, and they won’t be cutting corners to make it easy on your theoretically ignorant selves. Only the beginning of the game, though, lives up to that intial assurance, in my opinion. The rest is the usual adventure game ridiculousness. Oh, well, they tried. Good for them. The main thing is, there’s a part early on where you have to find a certain painting in an art gallery. You have to type in an answer to a question, the question being, “What is depicted in the painting?” After spending half an hour typing in as many ways as I could think of to say, “HMS Victory,” I quit the game to look up a walkthrough and found the answer. It was “boat.” So: Brandon Parker is smarter than Sherlock Holmes. This is a historic fact, now. You can even add it to Wikipedia and reference this review.



Now, I worry about the kids sometimes, and myself. Back in “the fair time,” as I call it, you used to have your King’s Quests or your Monkey Islands, but nowadays, if you want a game that doesn’t involve shooting small nations of foreign men over and over in dull grey and brown environments, you’re stuck with either licensed stuff based off of Pixar movies or boring platformers with stupid animal mascots. And that’s another thing. Current kid movies have the same problem as current adventure games. Compare those beautiful, hand painted Disney movies of old to this lifeless, 3D animated computer stuff. I think a link could be drawn between adventure games and Disney movies. I don’t feel like doing it at the moment, though. Forgive me – I am exaggerating, slightly. There are the Icos and Katamaris and whatnot, but do kids even know about those things? Do those games get commercials, or do kids even watch television anymore? For all I know, these days they come out of the womb with hand cupped to the side of their ear, room for a cellphone to be slid in there, and then it’s straight to 4chan boot camp. We might be lost already.

It’s not that I don’t think they can’t handle the violence, or anything. I’m sure most can, and those that can’t will just end up as republicans, or spree killers, or something. I know I used think, wouldn’t it be great if Inspector Gadget wasn’t a dumbass and had hands that could turn into machine guns, or something useful, at the least? You’re not fooling anybody, there. Kids know that that kind of crap is dumbed down for them. That’s not what I’m asking for, however. It doesn’t have to be dumbed down or made for kids in particular at all. It just doesn’t have to be nonstop violence. I guess that’s what I’m saying. Say there’s a kid who wants to play something other than Halo. He just doesn’t know it yet. I’m sure the peer pressure to play Halo and “pwn bitches” with his peers on Xbox Live is enormous, but let’s say this guy is going to strike out on his own. Good for him. Yet, after trying to make it on his own out the real world, Poor Little Ness finds he has so few options that he ends up taking the weak man’s road of used Spec-Ops games for PSX. And he was such a good, promising young lad. Now doesn’t that break your god-damned heart?

I’m only emphasizing the kids, here, since they don’t call them your formative years because you’re free to completey heck them up however you want and change your mind later. I know I wouldn’t be the man I am today if I didn’t have all these fond memories of walking around all those green environments in old adventure games, back when trees were in games, constructing tools out of pocket lint. And personally, I’m also sick as hell of shooting people myself, anyway. By the time I play MGS4 I think the line will be dangerously blurred between player and character. I already feel like a tired, old veteran, sick of battle and death, now, so I won’t be playing so much as method acting.

I’d simply like to see something that has room for your imagination to get in there. The modern videogame is an alkali desert when it really needs to be something more, uh, fertile. Man didn’t abandon painting when he learned to sculpt. Let’s get some colors in there, some majestic green trees and clear blue skies. The imagination can’t grow in the desert. Anything creative or weird doesn’t have to be an abstract handheld game with a clever game play hook anymore. More Balloon Fight and Kiwi Kraze is what I want, I think. Remember Kiwi Kraze? You were a bird in New Zealand rescuing your bird buddies. I don’t know if anyone would even think to make something like that anymore. If they did, they’d use satellite imagery to recreate New Zealand exactly, or some bullstuff. You can do all sorts of weird stuff in games that’d be a lot harder to pull off in a movie or book. Let’s see some of that.

Back in the Fair Time, a company called Electronic Arts (you might’ve heard of them) didn’t look at those games from Sierra and Lucas Arts and see all the happy childhoods, the greenary, the cherished memories born from those games. No, to people like them, they could and can only see “markets” that need “penetrating.” Every bit as horrible as it sounds. These are the kinds of people that invent their own doublespeak business language to say things without really saying anything. The kind of people that up and buy the NFL when too many people start to buy their competition’s NFL game. Well, back when they were wanting to make adventure games, being incapable of ever creating a Full Throttle or a Gabriel Knight themselves, they merely waved their money around and brought in Sherlock Holmes, who, at the time, was the greatest detective (I’m now the best). They were decent enough adventure games, but poor Sherlock Holmes games. They were also damn ugly and lacking in the use of the color green, though I guess it’s the same for London.

Anyway, someone finally made a good Sherlock Holmes game, and it’s not even a real Sherlock Holmes game. It’s about some dude named Layton. A couple of guys making up their own stuff made a better Sherlock Holmes game than EA did, with the actual Sherlock Holmes. Is there something other than spending money that they can handle doing properly? Yeah, we’re not supposed to hate them anymore, being that they apologized for the murders of Origin, Bullfrog, and all – a standup thing to do, I’ll admit, but I won’t fall for that. I know how these people operate. They’re not like you and me. They don’t have a conscience. They’re machines, programmed to simply want more money. They’ll only show a response to anyone other than themselves if their income is threatened. They look at their invented graphs and formulas and follow them to the letter. When something new and original that doesn’t fit in these formulas does well, it’s a “big suprise” that “exceeds all expectations,” and so they imitate the hell out of it, thinking that’s all there is to it. You know at the end of FernGully: The Last Rainforest, when that machine is possessed by a demon and is going through the forest cutting everything down? EA is that demon possessed machine, and they’re cutting down that forest to make room for a new alkali desert, where, as you know, imagination is unable to grow.





Usually what makes an adventure game a stuff one is that the puzzles are just plain hecking nonsense. And, often, I think that happens because the game is just too damn long. The designers aren’t smart enough come up with enough clever puzzles to fit in the entire game for every situation, so they get desperate, and when they get desperate this leads to madness, which leads to the bizarro moonside logic. All of us here know of the Gabriel Knight Moustache Massacre of ’99. This is something now told to small children as a warning. I even think it’s in the latest edition of Bullfinch’s Mythology, under “Tragedies.” I was there at ground zero. I remember it clearly: I finally had a computer all my own for the first time, and, to celebrate, the two latest entries in my favorite game series’ at time – the games being GK3 and Ultima IX. I tell you, it did something to me, something whose effect still lingers to this day. I’d also like to point out that Ultima IX was diddled with by Electronic Arts, known by their true name, “Hexxus“. Hexxus was voiced by Tim Curry, who also voiced Gabriel Knight in his third game, and is known for sounding like a child molester. I personally believe that when the universe is trying to tell you something, you should listen.

So maybe it’s just too hard to come up with enough sensible puzzles to cover an entire game. The Big Sleep didn’t make complete sense to Raymond Chandler, and he wrote the damn thing. And remember the Holmes story where the guy injected monkey blood or something and started climbing trees? What in the heck was that all about? And what a literal pushover Moriarty was. Holmes was too smart for Doyle’s own good, in my opinion. So you wonder what hope there is for there ever being a great detective game that makes sense. But then you remember something like Full Throttle, a game so good that I actually forget it’s an adventure game, and then you think, maybe everyone else is just lazy. Well, you think too much. Just take it easy. What they’ve done here for Professor Layton is side-step that problem by just getting together a bunch of good puzzles that don’t really have much to do with jack stuff. It’s just a series of puzzles that usually come from some guy coming up and saying, “Have you heard of this one?” But they can get away with it because they’re all good ones. It’s really a puzzle game disguised as an adventure game, and therefore actually ends up being a better Sherlock Holmes simulator game than what any adventure game could ever be. Also, it’s a real nice looking game. It doesn’t look like anything else out there. A cartoon, but more The Little Prince than some anime horsestuff. So that’s pretty good.

I guess Japan has only one videogame magazine, and it’s called Famitsu. If any others exist, I have no knowledge of them. If you’re a hip American, perhaps you know all about this magazine, already. But in an issue, there was an article about Professor Layton, and the title of the article was, “Level 5’s new game’s genre is unknown? New style game to train your brain,” except it said that in Japanese, rather than English. Yeah, it seems that in Japan they see an adventure game and, to them, it is some kind of crazy Brain Training knock-off. Ha, ha, those lovable, crazy Japanese. The closest thing those primitive deviants have for comparison is cartoon sex games and Phoenix Wright, so this is a bold new step for them. I hope it takes off.

Anyway, according to the opening cutscene, Layton and I are under some sort of non-disclosure agreement by the curious village, so I can’t exactly talk in specifics about the events of The Case. Sorry. I’ll just say you missed out. A great time was had by all.

Puzzles! There are a lot of them, ranging from math to sliding blocks. A few of them can be frustrating, like ones with a mountain of text that end up being a trick question, but they are overall very well designed. The difficulty curve is a bit strange though. There are easy puzzles mixed in with difficult ones throughout the whole game, instead of them getting progressively harder.

The way the puzzles are integrated into the story and how they are given out is also very jarring.
"Can I enter the village?" "Sure, solve this puzzle."
"Have you seen this person?" "Maybe, first solve this puzzle."
"Hello, I'm looking fo-" "HEY, SOLVE THIS PUZZLE."

I also wasn't a huge fan of the story and felt the pacing was off. You spend a lot of time just walking back and forth talking to people with little of interest happening to advance the story. It starts picking up towards the end and tries to shake things up with a plot twist but I had figured it out by then and thought there was too much exposition. Thins also tend to happen out of nowhere which is a strange contrast to the logical nature of the puzzles.

The presentation was definitely a stand out. The art and animation are wonderful and combined with the London setting make the game feel very charming.

Even with all its faults it’s still a solid puzzle game and I had fun solving puzzles in short bursts throughout the day.

No me gusta su narrativa.
El juego va de ir resolviendo rompecabezas que te piden distintas cosas, a la vez que la historia principal es resolver un misterio, el problema es que la mayoría de puzzles no tienen que ver con lo que resolvemos. Hay gente a las que le queremos preguntar algo y nos dicen, no sé y resuelveme este puzzle, o, si se pero primero resuelve este puzzle, o que layton mira un objeto random y dice que le recuerda a un puzzle, lo que es una manera muy artificial y disonante de involucrar la jugabilidad de puzzles con la historia. Si bien hay algunas misiones que si forman parte de la narrativa, como cuando un señor tiene un problema donde no quiere encontrarse con ciertos tipos de su ciudad al ir al empleo, tenemos que ayudarle marcando una línea de trayecto para cada uno, evitando que se choquen, pero puzzles que involucran una trama son pocos, la mayoría son cosas que nada que ver y más parecen relleno en la historia. Respecto a los puzzles, es ciertos que estos son complejos que te hacen pensar, y tratan de una variedad de acertijos, y si tienes problemas, puedes usar monedas para tener una ayuda, solo que estas son de un solo uso, y se consiguen tocando ítems específicos en el mapa en lo que te mueves en la ciudad, además que si no aciertas con la respuesta del puzzle, te iran bajando puntos hasta un límite donde ya no baja más.
Otro problema que tengo es que el juego es solo, moverte en el mapa, leer historia y resolver puzzles, y si bien los puzzles son muy buenos al menos solo por su gameplay, resulta pesado que a la larga sea la única manera real de jugar, perfectamente podrían haber ciertos minijuegos más relajantes e interactivos entre los puzzles complejos, algo así como minijuegos tipo mario party pero pegados a la temática narrativa de lo que ocurre, porque terminar un puzzle complejo para pasar a otro y otro sin descanso es muy agotador al menos para mi, además que hace al juego más limitado de lo que podría ser.

La música es buena, es intrigante concordando con la atmosfera de misterio, y tienen una identidad que hace que las reconozcas al escuchar una, que sabes que es de esta franquicia.

A nivel gráfico esta decente, mayormente son ilustraciones en 2D, y los personajes tienen un diseño algo caricaturesco, pero sin serlo tanto para hacer sentir infantil la trama de misterio, además al menos en mi criterio, son originales porque no he visto otros juegos con este diseño de personajes.
Aclaro que no lo llegue a terminar porque no me gusto su narrativa mediocre por lo disonante entre juego e historia, y los puzzles aunque excelentes, resultan muy cansados por no haber algo de relajación entre uno y otro, tómalo como un show donde cada arco es algo explosivo lleno de mucha tensión y desafíos, sin haber alguna parte de relajación entre un evento y otro en los personajes, porque en layton terminas de resolver un puzzle de un npc, para caminar hasta llegar a otro lado donde hay más npc que te piden puzzles. Con un buen apartado sonoro y unos gráficos decentes. Principalmente el mayor problema es la narrativa, si tuviera una mejor narrativa entre gameplay e historia le hubiera puesto un bueno, porque tampoco es que los puntos fuertes me parezcan la gran cosa frente a otros titulos que podrían escalar un muy bueno, y si tuviera más gameplay fuera de los puzzles que no sean caminar, le daría el muy bueno.

Valoración: Decente

O primeiro jogo da franquia traz uma ideia nova e muito interessante: misturar problemas de lógica e matemática espacial com um adventure point'n'click, contando uma trilha sonora e uma arte simplesmente maravilhosas, em torno de um mistério que move a trama.

A fórmula dessa mistura resulta em um jogo engajador e mentalmente estimulante, apesar de ser inevitável se frustrar com os quebra-cabeças muitas vezes sem nenhum contexto relacionado à história.

O roteiro desenvolve de maneira similar a desenhos infantis e o resultado soa exatamente como um desenho infantil da década de 90, mas jogável e com constantes interrupções para resolver um problema lógico. Tem hora que fica cansativo esse ritmo, mas num geral o saldo é MTO positivo.

I really love Professor Layton. I'm really glad that they've released so many games since this one (Curious Village). This is the first game I've beat. I remember trying to play this game as a pre-teen because I saw my uncle and his ex girlfriend playing it and I thought the puzzles were too hard for me.

Now that I'm an adult, I have a new found appreciation for this game. It is not mechanically demanding, has 0 skill gap, and is made to play at leisure with a fun, little challenge. I found myself playing this game for an hour or two before bed whenever I got the chance.

I do not recommend this game for people that give up easily as some of the puzzles can be quite challenging, and some near impossible without the use of hint tokens. Eventually if you keep at it you can solve any puzzle this game has to give, but for the sake of efficiency I found myself looking up the answers on YouTube when a puzzle would take me over 40+ minutes to solve hahahaha.. I know. I'm weak. I do recommend this game for people that like to challenge their brain muscles but not at the expense of an important grade in school hahaha. There are logic puzzles, brute force puzzles, visual puzzles, and lots of trick wording puzzles. Once you are aware of the types of tricks, some puzzles become extremely easy, while others put your thinking in a box and past solutions dissolve the current ones.

Puzzles aside, let's appreciate the art and the world building. I thought the graphics were superb. The art style is charming and mixed with the different music, I found myself anxious, scared, excited, annoyed, and delighted whenever I would discover something new in this world.

All of the overarching mysteries get solved relatively quickly near the end of the game, but leading up to this point you're found confused and wondering if your hypotheses are correct. Kind of like watching a tv show and predicting what happens next whenever you see some slight foreshadow.

Overall, I adored this game. I would probably introduce it to a friend that loves riddles and a good brain teaser. I'm tempted to buy a physical copy just to have it in my collection.

Pros: great game to play after a long day, challenging puzzles/riddles, catchy music, beautiful art & cutscenes, eerie/charming settings
Cons: Some riddles become are repetitive.
P.S: You find yourself listening to the same song on repeat when you consistently fail to get the solution, was kind of frustrating. PATIENCE!

The game that started one of my favorite series is an enjoyable experience, despite having a terrible pace and some "curious" level curve in the last half of the game.
Some puzzles are way too tricky to find, making the completion of the game way longer than It should be (why the heck would I click on that random pixel in that random street to find a puzzle, without any suggestion or interesting point?).
The plot is predictable and it randomly descend into fantasy into the last chapter despite not showing any sign of a fantasy setting before, but that's fine. Those who were looking for a serious plot would be disappointed, but luckily, it wasn't my case.

Loved the soundtrack and the characters.
St. Mystere and its abitants really feel like an european country village, reminds me of the little town where I grew up.