An interesting spin on a typical Brain Game
I'm writing this after having finished the game and completing the 120 puzzles within normal gameplay. I've also finished most of the bonus puzzles at this point, but not all yet. I would say that 95% of the puzzles are great. That leaves approximately 7 or eight puzzles in the whole game that stink. It's well worth playing these bad ones to get through the rest.
Professor Layton himself is an interesting character, but his ability to figure things out far exceeds mine. The ending was a total surprise to me, but Layton was a few steps ahead. In any case, he's a great character and it was a blast playing as logical professor Layton. His young sidekick however I found a little annoying, but the character definitely added to the storyline.
The game is presented very well visually with neat little animations after each puzzle. Also there are cut scenes with excellent artwork. The game had many voice clips that added a great deal to the games audio (especially since the music could get a little tedious). I would often turn off the sound when working on a particularly difficult puzzle.
My final comment refers to the puzzles themselves. Almost none of them are easy. You'll get them eventually, but if you think you've got the answer in five seconds I can guarantee you're wrong. After finishing a number of puzzles I realized that when I thought I knew the answer for sure, unless I took my time and thought it through a number of different ways, I was going to be incorrect. Once you understand this though, the game becomes even more fun as you try and determine what the REAL answer is even though you've got one in your head.
All in all, this was an excellent game and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys puzzles and mysteries. Some of the puzzles might be difficult for a younger audience though.