Critical thinking is the key to success!
Our story begins with the death of Baron Reinhold. The late Baron didn't leave his vast riches to anyone in particular, but instead offered a challenge to anyone who dares to do so. That challenge is to find the Golden Apple, whoever so finds the Golden Apple will be the rightful inheritance of the fortune. A person interested in getting the Golden Apple is one Lady Dahlia, but she can't do it alone so she asks for the help of the gentleman Professor Layton. Professor Layton is world renowned for his unique puzzle solving abilities and being the gentleman he is he couldn't refuse a humble request from a fine lady. So Professor Layton along with his apprentice Luke head to St. Mystere to unravel its secrets and find the Golden Apple.
Professor Layton is a point and click game. You move around St. Mystere by taping on people to talk to them and interact with objects. You can move using on screen arrows to automatically walk to another area. The bulk of the story is told through normal cutouts and text. But they throw in some very well done cut-scenes here and there. The cut-scenes are well animated, sound great, and fit with the game perfectly. And with the great story that has surprises at every twist and turn it's a worthwhile experience to play through.
The main gameplay in Professor Layton isn't walking around the village though, it's the puzzles. You can find puzzles everywhere, the villagers will give you puzzles, taping on objects will give you hidden puzzles, etc. Now let's get one thing straight, theses are actual puzzles, ones you are likely to find in your typical puzzle book. Most of the puzzles are very tricky as well and you might spend half and hour on just one puzzle. Luckily they give you a hint system. You will find coins throughout St. Mystere, these coins you can spend towards hints, although use them wisely as you only have so many coins.
The sheer variety of puzzles is astonishing. You have puzzles that will require all parts of your brain. There are math problems, logic, trial and error, and numerous different types of puzzles. All of the puzzles are well made and are going to push your critical and creative thinking to its limits. This game is definitely not for someone who doesn't like puzzles or doesn't want to think too hard.
As you should have come to expect being a puzzle game Professor Layton isn't exactly a system pusher graphics wise. But what the graphics do is give the game the feel you are in an old detective show that compliments the story quite nicely. Everything has an antique feel to it and the cut-scenes really feel like you are watching an old detective cartoon, which is awesome! And they added a lot of detail to the characters; each one has their own look and feel to go along with the wide variety of personalities in the game.
Now we can get to the worst part of Professor Layton, the sound. The game only has a few musical selections to choose from and they are repeated over and over again. Some of the music is catchy but others are average and forgetful. There is only one background music while solving puzzles, and since the majority of the game is solving the puzzles it will become very annoying after a while and the mute button will become your friend in no time. But that's not to say there isn't good music to be found. The music the game has is for the most part fitting with the game but it just too repetitive. And the music, sounds, and voiceovers in the cut-scenes are done well too.
Professor Layton also has a bit of replay value as well. You are only required to get around 80-90 of the puzzles solved to beat the game. St. Mystere holds a total of 120 puzzles in all. And you can unlock even more puzzles by doing some choice things in the game I won't spoil here. And last but not least there are weekly puzzles you download. So far there have been three, each ranging in difficulty. But it seems some of them are going to be very hard to say the least, not that that is a bad thing.
Overall Professor Layton is a puzzle fan's greatest game. With the wide variety and difficulty of the puzzles it will keep even the most avid puzzle player entertained. Put that together with tons of replay content and a story worth playing through and you got yourself one heck of a good game. In fact I would dare say it beats out many games for the title my favorite DS game in quite a while, including games like Phantom Hourglass and Advance Wars Days of Ruin. But then again that's just me. Either way Professor Layton is a great game that deserves a spot on any puzzle fan's library of games.