IMO Gamers.Com

Some games are just made for every system.  But that occassional rare gem is made for a specific system and shines on that system.  Professor Layton and the Curious Village falls in the latter. 

Professor Layton and the Curious Village tells the story of Professor Layton, a Sherlock Holmesesqe character and his assistant Luke as they try to solve the mystery of the Golden Apple and the unusual town of St. Mystere.  The story is told through incredibly beautiful animated cutscenes, probably the best I have seen on the DS.  Even the gameplay graphics are incredibly stylized and look absolutely amazing.  The story is also a wonderful tale that takes multiple twist throughout the story.  The sound design is also incredible for this game and the voiceover work is suprisingly good for a DS title.

However, the reason everybody should pick up Professor Layton and the Curious Village is the puzzles.  This game has a huge collection of brain teasers.  None of the brain teasers are incredibly difficult, but all require some thought to be able to answer them.  For the most part, the DS is excellant in using the touch screen to be able to solve the puzzles although some of the puzzles are frustrating when exact movements are required. (e.g. moving matchsticks, putting a painting back together).  Also, some of the puzzles require you to input letters or numbers as answers by writing.  While this likely won’t be a problem for most gamers, I found myself erasing answers due to my sloppy handwriting.  Even with these few small criticisms of the game, this game is as an absolutely incredible puzzle solver.

You find these puzzles and play through the story in what is essentially a point and click adventure.  You usually either find the puzzle or hint coins.  However, this also means that you spend a good amount of game time clicking on screen trying to find that one thing you can interact with.  This is especially frustrating if you are trying to solve all the puzzles in the game, 120 in the story plus an additional 15 in the bonuses, since you will spend a good part of the time walking around and clicking trying to find the hidden puzzles unless you refer to a FAQ for the game.  I got to 116 in the story without a FAQ before I decided not to worry about the last 4 and just finish the game. 

Overall, I would highly recommend this game.  It is charming, fun, and challenging, a combination that you do not see a lot of in modern videogames.  I’m glad to see the sequel is already out and am looking forward to playing that one as well.