An odd marriage of Rhythm Heaven and the Professor Layton games, Rhythm Thief certainly matches Layton's infinite sincerity in regards to its story. It's as cookie-cutter as they come, and yet it's presented to the player as epic, awe-inspiring, earth-shaking, in a way that's hard not to respect. But there's more than earnest storytelling underneath the professor's hat- his games are more accurately characterized by a burning passion for puzzles, one that Phantom R doesn't share for rhythm gameplay. Rhythm Thief pads out the space in between its sparse rhythm sections with one-note sidequests, one-note minigames, and one-note overworld traversal. Layton pads out the space in between his puzzles with more puzzles... and that's it. Phantom R doesn't care that the only real sense of difficulty in his rhythm sections comes from initial unintuitiveness, he considers a D a passing grade, and he makes you use the gyro controls. Professor Layton has more respect for his players. You want a rhythm game that uses both screens brilliantly, that not only embraces but elevates the inherent cheesiness that comes packaged with the genre, and that actually feels worth mastering? Hack your 3DS and download Elite Beat Agents.