Professor Layton and the Curious Village

In a word: disappointed. I went to Professor Layton expecting brain-bending puzzles, and a mystery to unravel - but the box says "brainteasers," and in the end, that's all he gave me.

The game's puzzles are not what a veteran puzzle gamer will be anticipating. They are more the stuff of newsprint, or Highlights magazine. They tease the brain; that's all. Of the game's 150 puzzles, a substantial amount are trick questions. They may encourage thinking outside the box, but, by the nature of their answers, are still contained within an only slightly larger box. There are some puzzles that must be worked through methodically, some logical questions, and some math puzzles, even. But on the whole there is a depressing amount of "riddles" in the game.

The story, too, is something of a let-down. It's a mystery, but the player has no part in solving it: progression is strictly linear. Said mystery is ... interesting, at least, but not terribly compelling.

The presentation is very good, especially the magnificent animated sequences, with fairly nice voice-overs.

Maybe I'm being too hard on it. This is not a game "for me" - if I had to guess its intended audience, I would say it's a younger crowd, the kind who doesn't mind losing some "picarats" (points) for stumbling with a puzzle, the kind who enjoys thinking about a question without necessarily arriving at the answer on his own.

Though I intend to finish the rest of the game's puzzles, since I have most of them already; for me, this game is just a tease. Which is not to say it's all bad. I had no trouble tolerating the game, or enjoying its finer moments - but my appreciation for it is leagues away from Picross or Phoenix Wright.

Progress: Finished story, 114 puzzles compete