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Surprisingly great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 73 / 77
Date: February 16, 2008
Author: Amazon User

No matter how the game's cover may look to you, make no mistake that Professor Layton and the Curious Village is one of the best original puzzle games you'll play on the DS yet. A combination of adventure storytelling and traditional puzzle gaming, Professor Layton never fails to entertain while providing some challenging puzzles. The game revolves around said Professor Layton traveling to a small village with his young assistant Luke. Both of whom are on a search for something called The Golden Apple. To search the town, you move from one area to another by tapping the touch screen, and along the way, you can discover hidden puzzles, hint coins, and secrets, as well as interacting with the townspeople and solving more puzzles. The game's graphics are incredibly charming, and the FMV sequences are very well done to boot. The best part about Professor Layton and the Curious Village is that once you do beat the game and unlock the game's 120 plus puzzles, you can download weekly puzzles for absolutely free! The only real flaw of Professor Layton and the Curious Village is that the game's music is repetitive and even kind of annoying, but you can always turn the volume of the DS down, which you might want to do. That aside, don't let the box art fool you into thinking that this is a game just for kids. Professor Layton and the Curious Village is an absolute must own for every puzzle loving DS owner.

A challenging collection of logic puzzles - not to be missed

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 47 / 50
Date: February 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Professor Layton and the Mysterious Village is basically a series of logic puzzles wrapped around a lighthearted mystery. The story portions and basic point-and-click adventure aspects keep things moving along, but the real meat here is the puzzle selection (there are 130 in total, although not all are necessary to finish the game).

Many of the puzzles are difficult, but none are "cheap" - like a great Zelda dungeon, you always know the solution to your problem is in reach. No time limits are imposed, so you can play around and try to tease out the answer for as long as you like. I'm keeping a pad and paper next to me at all times to sketch out ideas and diagrams (and occasionally some light math). If you love that sort of thing, grab this game as soon as you can.

The Professor has a nice pedigree - the game was developed by Level 5, who have been behind some great epic RPGs: Dragon Quest VII (and the upcoming IX), Rogue Galaxy, the Dark Cloud series, and the upcoming PS3 title White Knight Story. They're one of my favorite developers, and it's great to see them branching out into something like this.

Between the constant and varied "quest" puzzles, the larger meta-puzzles, and some nice surprises thrown in along the way, there's plenty here to keep you occupied. Even better, new downloadable puzzles will be made available regularly. Add a charming art style and a great soundtrack (think whimsical French street music), and you've got an early contender for the DS game of the year.

Great game, love the brainteasers/riddles

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 35 / 38
Date: February 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is challenging and a lot of fun. The storyline is interesting and easy to follow, but for me it's all about the puzzles. The brainteasers in the game are form Puzzle Master Akira Tago, a retired professor from Chiba University, who wrote "Head Gymnastics." Many of them are classics and they will bring back instant memories of your early education. Some puzzles are pretty tough and hint coins can be found to help with these. Remember, many of the puzzles need to be solved before you can advance to the next part of the story; use your hint coins wisely.

(Small Spoiler: The hint coins are scattered throughout the village. Click everywhere, you'll uncover them.)

Pros:

- The touch screen/stylus controls are simple and easy to learn.
- You can save your progress at any time.
- Animated scenes and voice acting are very good.
- Your "Puzzle Index" keeps track of all the puzzles you've solved. You can even tag your favorites in your "Picks" section.
- You can download more puzzles from WFC every week.

Cons:

- I've needed a pen and paper a few times when the puzzles were a bit more challenging and there wasn't enough room on the DS screen for notes.
- Only the animated scenes are "fully voiced". During game-play, all the conversations are text/subtitles. No biggie really as it doesn't detract from the experience.

More to come later; I gotta get back to playing. :)

Great game for pre-teen (under 13) and younger children

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 21 / 31
Date: February 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

We purchased this as a gift for a friend's son who is 9 and in the 4th grade. He had a great time working through the puzzles and seemed to enjoy it immensely. This game was chosen as it was a new release and it is educational as it requires problem solving skills rather than just eye and hand coordination. On one puzzle, our friend's son could not easily solve the puzzle, so he went to pen and paper to diagram it out and solve it so he could move to the next level. It was a puzzle that even required an adult to think about how it should be solved (but not beyond a child's skill level).

It was not easy to find a young smart child a gift that was educational and fun (I reviewed a lot of toys and games on the Amazon site and nearly gave up with as most of them were silly and did not seem that they would hold any child's attention once they completed the game or engage an adult who would play with the child). When I learned he had a Nintendo and I read the reviews for this game, as well as the description, I thought it would make a great gift and not annoy his parents as it would be too silly.

I think Nintendo has a winner in the DS games like Brain Age, Clubhouse Games and Professor Layton as they engage the children, and make it interesting for parents and other adults to play with them.

Tough, but Addicting!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: February 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

A wonderful game! I agree with those who say this would be too hard for younger kids. The puzzles are quite tough. (But then I'm an old fart of 40 who wasn't all that great with logic puzzles as a kid) Hint coins? I need them desperately. Scrap paper? I use a lot. But the story is told with such charm that I keep going. It's a true "just one more before I turn it off" game. The art direction, with its old-timey look is wonderful. (It reminds me of the Tintin books, and I suspect Luke's blue sweater is a direct homage.)

Professor Layton and the Occasionally Frustrating Village

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: February 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I won't summarize the plot here as it's been presented in both the publisher's review. This review recounts my personal experience with the game although your mileage may vary.

As others have mentioned, Professor Layton is beautifully done. The graphics, voice acting, and cut scenes are all pretty top notch. The controls are also easy to use and not clumsy at all. The story captivates - lots of weird happenings that border on the uncanny (Hoffmann would eat his heart out) - and the puzzles are challenging.

Well, problem is, some of the puzzles are way too bloody obnoxious, and I feel like that that's saying a lot given how I eat and breathe puzzle games. I seriously felt that I was teleported to my middle school and high school years where I'm forced to solve those damned train problems (train A goes 45 mph at 10am from the west, and train B goes 30 mph at 12:00pm; what time do they meet?).

I really enjoyed the puzzles that required you to play around -- like moving around pieces of your puzzle (both literally and figuratively), using your stylus to map out different paths, or turning your DS around to figure out some of the puzzles. The algebra/trig -- no thanks; to me, it ceased being a puzzle game when it recounted memories of the SAT and other standardized tests. Penny Arcade did a strip that perfectly illustrated my feelings on this.

I like the integration of puzzles with the games, but it seems like the storyline and the puzzle factor constantly compete with each other. Yes, I know that this is a puzzle game, but the flow between story and puzzle is far from fluent; at times, it's down right awkward. I wonder how conducive the puzzles are to the storyline because on more than one occasion, they seem like an incessant filler. When you talk to someone, he/she always always proffers, "HO HO HO, I gots a puzzle fer ya! Are ya as fancy and smart as you look??" I mean, I'm asking if you saw someone or if you will get out of my way; WHY are you giving me another puzzle to solve?

Scattered throughout the village are hint coins. If you're stumped on a puzzle, you can pay a coin per hint, up to three per puzzle. Contrary to what the villager told you and his warning, hint coins aren't located in just suspicious looking areas and aren't as limited as he'd like you to believe. Click around on your screen (somewhat along the lines of button mashing), they're located EVERYWHERE, and you'll find a plethora of them.

I do like the game. It's extremely enjoyable for puzzle lovers or for those who want to play something new and innovative!

fun and challenging game, beautifully presented

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: March 14, 2008
Author: Amazon User

How is it that the graphical presentation in a game on the Nintendo DS can be better than the graphical presentation on a high powered console? The answer is given by this game which artfully depicts the inhabitants and locale of St. Mystere, a fictitious city in Europe. Clearly, there are two parts to creating great graphics. Part one is simply the horsepower behind the graphics. Part two is best described by terms from the art world such as quality of composition and the overall attention to the feel of the presentation. As the DS is not known for being the most powerful of hand held consoles, and the graphics in Professor Layton and the Curious Village are clearly superior to most games I have played, I argue that the second part is the most important. The graphics for this game are simple but artfully done. Nowhere does the presentation veer from the feel established for the game by the opening animation. Also, the arrangement of characters, objects, and houses on the screen is flawless. I wish that, instead focusing on the rendering of yet more polygons per frame, game designers would pay more attention to aspects of composition and the creation of a feel for their subject matter. That said, the game play and story are a lot of fun too. The game play revolves around simple exploration and a lot of puzzle solving. Although there is a hint system, the puzzles are sometimes quite challenging. Solving them definitely requires some thinking and herein lies the fun of the game. If you don't like puzzles you will probably not like this game. The story is also very interesting. I was drawn in from the beginning and found myself motivated to solve puzzles as fast as I could just to see what would happen next. I said above that if you don't like puzzles you will not like this game, but if you have never tried a puzzle game before and want to try one for yourself, I highly recommend giving this one a try. The quality of the story and graphical presentation will motivate you to give even the most difficult of puzzles that extra spurt of effort needed to them.

Great for kids and adults!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: February 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is a blast to play. The story involves solving some "mysteries" by doing puzzles. The puzzles are very fun and challenging and this is one of the most engaging DS games available. I love the animation style and there is a surprising amount of voice work in the game. Very impressive. This game is great for both adults and kids. The addition of new puzzles you can download for free every week is just icing on the cake. I highly recommend this game.

Possibly not for everyone!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Don't get me wrong! I love this game but I don't know how younger kids will respond to it. A lot of the puzzles are very challenging even for me and I'm 28 :) I just wanted to let parents know that they might expect complaining from kids because the puzzles may be just too difficult for them. One thing that is great about this game is that it has all of the completed puzzles in a list for you to go back and replay. After I'm done with a few of them I have my husband try his hand at them. It's very cool to see how differently our brains work. Some puzzles that I find are difficult for me are really easy for him and vice versa. I have also absolutely needed some paper to write out some of the puzzles. Definitely a fun game but not really "E" for everyone.

Fantastic Game for Adults (and Kids)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

My ten year old son couldn't stop looking over my shoulder while I played this game (non-stop for over a week, now). It's more challenging for him, but his math program at school has a brain-teaser assignment for every Friday and and least two of the puzzles in the game were ones that he had already done as homework.

One good thing to know is that you don't have to solve ALL the problems in order to progress through the game, so in most cases you can bypass one you are really stuck on, and come back to resolve them later.

I "finished" the game and will let my son start from the beginning, but one of the things that will keep me from trading this one in now that I'm done is that every week I can download a new puzzle via wi-fi from Nintendo, so we'll be doing puzzles for quite a while. Excellent game, highly recommended.

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