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(www.plasticpals.com) Professor Layton & The Curious Village is the first chapter in Level 5's popular game franchise starring the titular professor and his plucky side kick, Luke. It combines elements of point and click adventure games with brain teasers to great effect.

The brain teasers originally appeared in a series of puzzle books called Head Gymnastics by Akira Tago (who also supervised development of the game), which Level 5 president Akihiro Hino enjoyed in his youth. The genius was combining these puzzles with a fun mystery and an interesting cast of characters.

In this installment, Professor Layton has been summoned to the strange village of St. Mystere by Lady Dahlia, widow to Baron Reinhold. The late Baron has willed his life's fortune to anyone who can solve the mystery of the Golden Apple. Unfortunately, the apple is hidden somewhere in St. Mystere and no one knows where it is. It's up to the Professor to solve this and many other riddles along the way, with the help of his trusty assistant Luke and the citizens of St. Mystere.

Professor Layton uses the touch screen almost exclusively for everything from talking to villagers to moving about town, to writing answers to solve a puzzle. Just about anyone, regardless of gaming experience, should be able to pick it up and play it immediately, assuming they can read. Don't take that to mean the game is easy. There's plenty of text in the game, and key to solving many puzzles is paying special attention to the wording of a question. Slight hiccoughs may occur with the game's hand writing recognition, but it's nothing a quick do-over won't fix.

There are over 120 puzzles to be solved, in a wide variety of styles. Very few puzzles boil down to trial and error, with most having specific, logic-based solutions. The difficulty also varies greatly from puzzle to puzzle, so it's probably not suitable for very young players. Puzzles are presented both with text and often some kind of visual diagram which you may write on, if the need for simple calculations or notes should arise (and it will).Should you get stumped, you may buy up to three hints using "hint coins", which you find littered throughout the village in suspicious places. Simply tapping around on objects of interest in the background will yield enough coins (and hints) to get you out of a tight spot – though without a time limit, there's really no reason to hurry. Meanwhile, players keep score with Picarats they earn for successfully solving puzzles. The more Picarats you score by the end of the game, the more unlock-able stuff you get.

Certain puzzles are exclusive to a specific chapter, but players may tackle these in later chapters by visiting Mrs. Riddleton's shack, where any missed puzzles are stored. Players can also access the puzzles they've already solved through the menu, which is great for puzzling friends and relatives.

Aside from the puzzles, Professor Layton's primary strength lies in its lavish production values. Beautifully drawn characters and backgrounds in a distinctive style similar to "The Triplettes of Belville", and music evocative of a Paris café, transport you to a wonderfully idealized vision of early 20th century Europe.

The colour palette is slightly subdued, almost as if the entire game has been tinted with a light sepia tone, further adding to its flavor. As a nice treat the presentation is rounded out by dazzling cinematics from time to time, easily matching the quality of big budget animated films through stunning use of computer graphics and some voice acting. Thankfully, players can enjoy these scenes again and again through the options' movie viewer.

Professor Layton & The Curious Village is a win-win combination of classic brain teasers with a storybook animated film. For my money, Professor Layton is a better game than its competition (Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Hotel Dusk, etc), because unlike many point and click adventure games, where the puzzles often require a specific item or have illogical solutions, Professor Layton deviates from the norm to create a much more user-friendly experience. At the same time, with its unusual cast of characters and setting, Professor Layton is much more engaging than standard edutainment titles, such as Brain Training or Big Brain Academy.

It took me about 15 hours to complete the main game, being very thorough not to miss any puzzles or hint coins, which is a perfectly acceptable length for this sort of game (and its low price). Players can also unlock extra puzzles via wi-fi for a fresh challenge. From what I've gathered, the Layton games will likely become one of the DS's most treasured series. Don't pass it up!

Yes, for the most part all this game consists of is you going up to a person and them giving you a random brain teaser. Nothing all that special about it, the teasers range from rather easy to insanely difficult. So you feel really smart and accomplished one moment and the next you feel like a moron. To much of the game is just a repeat of this process with the brain teasers just coming out of no where not really having a bearing on what you are doing to solve the case. You are just handed a random puzzle out of the blue, I was thinking they would be incorporated more in solving the case and be relevant to what you were doing. So what is the story? Professor Layton is summoned to a mysterious village to sort the details of the passing of a wealthy man there. Apparently, the man who passed left something of extreme value in the town and some of his family wishes for him to find it as it seems to be only findable when you figure out random clues scattered through the town. So there you have it, actually the story is a highpoint as I wanted to know the secret of the town and the mysterious tower in the middle of town. I kind of suspected something was up with the townsfolk, however the end of the game was a bit of a surprise. This game would have been more fun though had they incorporated brain teasers into the town where they were relevant to what you were doing.

I enjoyed this video game so much. The story keep us engaged and we want to know the end of the story. So just for that, we have an other motivation to resolve the riddles and know the truth about the village. The characters are pretty well made and are interesting. The dialogues too and make the interactions pleasant and make us want to discover the game deeply. The Riddles are pretty well made and some of them will need to think more. Very different video game and its a pleasure to see that.

Professor Layton and the Curios Village is the first in a range of challenging puzzle games for the Nintendo DS. It follows the adventures of the puzzle master/archaeologist Professor Layton and his young assistant Luke. The duo are invited the mysterious village of St. Mystere where they have been asked to solve the riddle of the Golden Apple and to possibly uncover a rumored treasure. The game play itself is quite simple. You guide the Professor and Luke around the village with the touchscreen through beautiful hand drawn backgrounds, all the while trying to solve the mystery. While you do this countless puzzles are offered to you to solve which start out as simple brain teasers and gradually get very challenging. The exploring of the village is broken up by anime cut scenes which are defiantly a highlight for me. The plot twists and turns throughout the game keeping me tapping on that touch screen to find out what happens next. The music is another great feature of this game; it made the many hours spent in this game greatly enjoyable. Some may be put off by length (it took me 20+ hours to finish) and difficulty but if you push through those harder puzzles I guarantee you will love this game in the end. Try not to use a walk through because it's one of the most rewarding games ever if you don't. I loved it 8/10