Pretty fun game!
It's very much a Professor Layton game, but instead of brain teaser puzzles, it's sorta Rhythm Heaven style minigames. The concept works well, and the charm this game has is great.
Unfortunately this game kinda falters with the minigames, which sucks when that's the main appeal of the game. They're a real mixed bag. Some of them are great, fun, goofy, well designed, and feel good to play. And then some of them require motion controls, so you're stuck trying to awkwardly time moving the 3DS to a prompt while also having to look at the screen to see whats coming up. That doesn't mesh well.
A lot of the minigames also just have some really unfair prompts. Like they come too fast for you to really react properly. The minigames also aren't tutorialized at all except with a tiny bit of text at the start, so you really just have to try and figure it out as you go. It's usually fine, but there were some that weren't.
I also wasn't a fan of how they did their letter grading. I had one game where I was doing really well, had maybe only missed one or two beats. The bar said I had an A rank, I missed the last beat, and it instantly threw me down to a D. Most other minigames also felt really punishing like that, which didn't feel great given the lack of tutorialization and occasional unfair pattern.
But anyways, everything else about this game was solid. Story was decent, the graphics are fun, the vibe is great, the writing was fun. The rest of this game is really what makes it shine in my eyes, and kinda makes the game still worth it despite my issues with some of the rhythm games.
And of course the music is great. It's a mix between big band jazz and your typical noir detective soundtrack, and it works really well.
Overall, I still think this game is definitely worth playing. Most of the minigames are largely fine, and I think there was only one or two required minigames that were really bad. It's a fun and charming game, and if you like Professor Layton and Rhythm Games, you'll probably get some fun out of this.
It's very much a Professor Layton game, but instead of brain teaser puzzles, it's sorta Rhythm Heaven style minigames. The concept works well, and the charm this game has is great.
Unfortunately this game kinda falters with the minigames, which sucks when that's the main appeal of the game. They're a real mixed bag. Some of them are great, fun, goofy, well designed, and feel good to play. And then some of them require motion controls, so you're stuck trying to awkwardly time moving the 3DS to a prompt while also having to look at the screen to see whats coming up. That doesn't mesh well.
A lot of the minigames also just have some really unfair prompts. Like they come too fast for you to really react properly. The minigames also aren't tutorialized at all except with a tiny bit of text at the start, so you really just have to try and figure it out as you go. It's usually fine, but there were some that weren't.
I also wasn't a fan of how they did their letter grading. I had one game where I was doing really well, had maybe only missed one or two beats. The bar said I had an A rank, I missed the last beat, and it instantly threw me down to a D. Most other minigames also felt really punishing like that, which didn't feel great given the lack of tutorialization and occasional unfair pattern.
But anyways, everything else about this game was solid. Story was decent, the graphics are fun, the vibe is great, the writing was fun. The rest of this game is really what makes it shine in my eyes, and kinda makes the game still worth it despite my issues with some of the rhythm games.
And of course the music is great. It's a mix between big band jazz and your typical noir detective soundtrack, and it works really well.
Overall, I still think this game is definitely worth playing. Most of the minigames are largely fine, and I think there was only one or two required minigames that were really bad. It's a fun and charming game, and if you like Professor Layton and Rhythm Games, you'll probably get some fun out of this.