Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (handheld video game, ESRB Rated E for Everyone)
Nintendo, 2008

Genre: Brain Teaser, Puzzle, Mystery, Adventure


Honors:

• Spike Video Games, best handheld game, 2008
• Gamespy, best Nintendo DS game 2008
• British Academy Video Games Awards, best handheld award, 2009
• Nominated for best puzzle game for Nintendo DS, IGN video game awards, 2008
• Children's BAFTA Best Video Game Award, 2008
• GiantBomb, best DS game, 2008
• Nintendo Power Magazine, best puzzle game of the year
• AdventureGamers, "Aggie," best console/handheld adventure, 2009
• Nominated for best handheld game, G4's G-phoria, 2008

Review: One in a highly popular handheld mystery game series, Professor Layton and his apprentice, Luke, are much like Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, Dr. Watson, piecing together unusual clues in order to solve a mystery that no one else can fathom. In this installment, the professor and his apprentice receive a letter from a recently widowed baron, claiming that the amazing fortune of the late baron will be awarded to the person who can solve a mystery: where is the Golden Apple? As the two enter Mystere, the curious village of the game's title, they encounter puzzles and brain teasers, which are worth points to solve. The game advancement is based on solving the brain teasers, which range in difficulty, and gaining information from the townsfolk of Mystere.

Opinion: The rating and design of this game are very deceptive. While gameplay in Professor Layton appears to be very simple and cute, the puzzles are extremely challenging and require some deep thought. I found myself jumping to the most logical answer many times and then failing to correctly solve many puzzles, and having to retry a puzzle means winning fewer than the max points originally offered for solving it. There are some that appear to be easy (such as, name the number of times in a 24-hour period three or more of the same number appear in a row on a digital clock), some are optical illusions, and some require specific knowledge (such as knowing in which direction the sun rises) in order to solve. As a grown adult who enjoyed being stumped by the puzzles in this game, I would say it is great for any age, really!

Ideas: One thought I had was to put on a mystery event and reenact some of the puzzles in Professor Layton, making useful reference materials available in the general area of the puzzles to assist the guest "detectives" in solving them. There are 120 in all, plenty to work with!