bit-tech Shopping: Nintendo Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Rating: 8

Time with product: 5 Months

Strengths: Great puzzles tying a mystery together

Weaknesses: Some puzzles are near impossible

Summary: Professor Layton is a fantastic new series from RPG experts Level 5 (Dragon Quest VIII, Rogue Galaxy) that Nintendo was kind enough to bring over to the US this year. With two more games to follow in the trilogy (already confirmed for release here), puzzle fans will be more than satisfied with the challenge provided hour after hour by the Professor and his pupil.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2 Weeks

Strengths: Lots of puzzles. Most not too hard but can stump you for a minute or two.

Weaknesses: Some of the puzzles are repetative or common.

Summary: Prof. layton is a good game at what it does. It presents a series of brainteasers, riddles, logic equations, misdirection, and just plain puzzlers to do, well anything. Wnat to crossa door? Puzzle. Want to ask for directions? Puzzle. Waht to buy a glazed ham? Puzzle. While some of the puzzles are old, and others repetative, in generall they're fairly balanced and not two hard. I can complese most puzzles in a minute or tow and so far have only been stumped on 4 out of 70. One nice thing is when the puzzles run out, you can download more via the internet.

Rating: 10

Time with product:

Strengths: Great set of puzzles wrapped up in a stylish presentation and story

Weaknesses: N/A

Summary: Professor Layton and the Curious Village is basically a puzzle game. However, it is encased in a point and click adventure with an excellent story. To progress in the story you must solve various puzzles (some required and some optional). The puzzles themselves are found using the stylus in a point-and-click adventure fashion. You can also find hint tokens that you can use to unlock clues about particularly tough puzzles. The main game will not have much in the way of replayability because once you solve the puzzles it will be easy (and less interesting) to go through it again. However, Nintendo provides new puzzles fairly frequently for download which extends the gameplay quite a bit.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 3

Strengths: Challenging puzzles, great storyline, impressive graphics

Weaknesses: None apparent

Summary: Professor Layton and the Curious Village is the story of Professor Layton, who visits a village that is brimming to the top with puzzles of all types and sizes. The puzzles range in challenge from easy to extremely hard, and with each puzzle solved opens up more of the storyline of the village. The game looks great and is challenging from beginning to end, and it a fantastic and unique game for the DS.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 3

Strengths: Strong story and characters, lots of great puzzles

Weaknesses: A few lame puzzles

Summary: Professor Layton and the Curious Village is an excellent game that combines two genres flawlessly. At once both a brain trainer type of game and text-adventure style game, Layton succeeds with charming graphics and music, likable characters, and dozens of great puzzles. The only flaw is that some of the puzzles are lame, though they make up a small fraction of the 120 included. Highly recommended.