It takes the series to new emotional heights that had never been touched before
Some time after getting to the bottom of the secrets of a quirky village and solving the mystery of a legendary box that has been killing people who open it for a bunch of decades, Professor Layton and Luke – his young and energetic apprentice – are summoned by Dr. Alain Stahngun to witness the public demonstration of his working time machine. During the event, the doctor invites the Prime Minister, Bill Hawks, to serve as his test subject for the machine's first trial. After an encouraging speech from the doctor, the minister, who seemed flustered by the proposal, decides to accept the invitation and step into the machine. The demonstration starts and everything seems to be working fine until the machine is blown to pieces and in the aftermath of the explosion Dr. Alain Stahngun, his assistants, and the Prime Minister vanish, leaving no remains whatsoever behind. During the next weeks reports of missing important scientists start popping up on newspapers all around London, and when Luke and Layton receive a letter whose origins are dated to 10 years in the future, written by a future Luke, the Professor is convinced that all those happenings are somehow connected, and the investigation begins as the head to the Clock Shop mentioned in the letter.
If the story already sounds convoluted, in a good way, it is bound to get even more coiled as you progress through the game's fifteen hours of engaging and addictive gameplay. The script has more twists than one can count, and they are nicely spread over all those hours of gameplay, always prompting players to dive deeper into the story to discover the schemes hidden below the superficial introduction to the tale, and never allowing gamers to become even slightly bored due to lack of story development over long periods of time. The game brings back the core group of fantastic characters that have been developed through the first two games: Layton, Flora, Inspector Chelmey, Barton, and Doctor Andrew Schrader all making comebacks in this adventure, and instead of leaving those characters untouched the writers made sure to involve all of them in Unwound Future's main plot, which stretches to the past and to the future, adding even more depth to already lovable characters. The new set of recognizable figures is equally charming and vital to the game, as not only do they play major roles in this enormous riddle, but their personality and intentions are revealed through nicely-written dialogue.
As usual the plot is either unveiled through boxed dialogues – that are sometimes voice acted - with the characters sprites appearing static on screen, or via marvelous cutscenes that seem to have been taken out of a very well produced morning cartoon with some mesmerizing CGI effects incorporated into the most epic scenes and voice acting that is done by a stellar cast that by now is totally comfortable within their roles. Due to storage problems the cutscenes are limited in their length, totaling something around thirty-minutes by the end of the game. Therefore, they end up restricted to key moments in the game. However, this time around, some of those scenes were poorly used in not so climatic scenarios, leaving some moments that deserved a better treatment uncovered and left to be handled by dialogue boxes. It is a minor flaw that doesn't take way anything from the game, but that exists nevertheless.
If you have already played one of the games of the series, you already know how this one works. Professor Layton boasts a point-and-click gameplay that is very similar to many old-school PC adventure games. All you need to do is use the DS' stylus and point at the screen to proceed to another location within London, enter a building or interact with a character that is showing on the screen. At all times during the game you will be investigating a newly discovered fact or finding out whether or not one of the Professor's assumptions is correct, and most of the time the game will make it clear to players the direction in which to head next, making the exploration much more streamlined in the game's huge overworld. The game features many different scenarios, and all of them are wonderfully hand-drawn, sporting a unique European flavor that is coupled with a low-key, but very distinct soundtrack.
Aside from the story, the real substance in Professor Layton comes from the puzzles you will come across during the adventure. Some of them are mandatory in order to move forward with the exploration, others are hidden either in the scenario or with the characters scattered all over town, finding all of them is quite a challenge that will keep real gentleman going for hours. After all, they leave no puzzle unsolved. The game features over 150 puzzles that differ in theme, difficulty and line of reasoning. Some puzzles deal with plays on words, others with mathematical problems, some with sheer logic, another bunch with geometrical vision and etc. All interactions are done with the stylus, turning the game into a totally intuitive experience that is easy to be grasped by newcomers, but still challenging enough due to the tough nature of most of its last puzzles. For those who may have problems cracking the hardest head-scratchers, the game once again has a hint coin system. Hint coins are found hidden throughout the scenarios and can be used to unlock hints on how to solve the puzzles, their quantity is limited, however, and they must be used with extreme care, only when they are absolutely necessary.
When it is all said and done, the Unwound Future is – in the least – as good as its two predecessors. This installment takes the series to new emotional and personal heights that had never been touched before, and its tale is filled with mind-blowing moments that are inevitably rock gamers to their core, and make them fall in love even more intensely with these fantastic characters. As if 150 puzzles in the main adventure were not enough, the game also has – much like The Diabolical Box – three amazing creative logical mini-games that when completely cleared unlock new sets of brutal riddles that shall take some extra hours to complete. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is another stellar addition to this remarkable series.