This review contains spoilers
This might be the first of these games where I actually think the story was better than just mildly entertaining set dressing around the puzzles. It actually explores into Layton's past, gives recurring characters more roles (except for poor Flora who is still useless, but luckily actually gets to hang around this time) and it ends on a real emotional moment that doesn't try to soften itself. Professor Layton has been an enjoyable character throughout these games, but depth hasn't really been his strong suit. His rarely shows his emotions, he never seems to let anything get him down, he has the answer for everything, and even when things are bad he sums it up with something like "oh dear". So to see this game end with him genuinely shedding tears was really impactful.
The story isn't without flaws though. It's a mystery story where there aren't enough pieces for the player to put together themselves beforehand, which could bother a lot of people. Personally I'm just happy to be along for the ride in this kind of game, but even then the game does do some fun subversions with its own formula, like having some of the 10 core mysteries that each game revolve around have secondary plot twists within them.
The climax in particular is far removed from anything else in the series thus far. It doesn't feel like that fairy tale-esque whimsical atmosphere, but instead turns into straight up cinematic action movie tension. This can make those final string of puzzles feel way more out of place than they used to, because what's more immersion breaking than watching the gang desperately trying to drive through a crumbling fortress in immediate danger, only to be stopped and asked to do a block puzzle?
I think the puzzles themselves were better here than the last 2 games. I noticed less reusing the same ideas. There's also some tiny changes to the memo function, namely the ability to change the size of your pen and change the colour of the ink, allowing more versatile note-taking. It still feels too messy whenever you have to draw lots of overlapping lines or tracing multiple paths, but it's still an improvement.
The game also now has "super hints", a 4th hint that costs 2 coins instead of one. Very nice for people who don't want to look up puzzle answers, but still want to finish them all. There did seem to be more coins in the overworld to compensate for that too.
The overall game feel is exactly the same as before, for better or worse. You can jump right in to this from the previous game with zero learning curve, but it can also feel too stagnant in design, like you're just playing one long game rather than the second sequel in a series.
The story isn't without flaws though. It's a mystery story where there aren't enough pieces for the player to put together themselves beforehand, which could bother a lot of people. Personally I'm just happy to be along for the ride in this kind of game, but even then the game does do some fun subversions with its own formula, like having some of the 10 core mysteries that each game revolve around have secondary plot twists within them.
The climax in particular is far removed from anything else in the series thus far. It doesn't feel like that fairy tale-esque whimsical atmosphere, but instead turns into straight up cinematic action movie tension. This can make those final string of puzzles feel way more out of place than they used to, because what's more immersion breaking than watching the gang desperately trying to drive through a crumbling fortress in immediate danger, only to be stopped and asked to do a block puzzle?
I think the puzzles themselves were better here than the last 2 games. I noticed less reusing the same ideas. There's also some tiny changes to the memo function, namely the ability to change the size of your pen and change the colour of the ink, allowing more versatile note-taking. It still feels too messy whenever you have to draw lots of overlapping lines or tracing multiple paths, but it's still an improvement.
The game also now has "super hints", a 4th hint that costs 2 coins instead of one. Very nice for people who don't want to look up puzzle answers, but still want to finish them all. There did seem to be more coins in the overworld to compensate for that too.
The overall game feel is exactly the same as before, for better or worse. You can jump right in to this from the previous game with zero learning curve, but it can also feel too stagnant in design, like you're just playing one long game rather than the second sequel in a series.