You don’t need to have played a “Professor Layton” game to understand its appeal. Anybody who’s ever sought out a brainteaser, logic puzzle or math problem knows the pleasure of a correct solution, and will feel right at home astride the good professor. “Professor Layton” is one of those puzzle books they sell at airports, shrunk into video game form. With one crucial difference: The puzzles don’t stand alone, but are the pegs on which a larger mystery is hung.
“Professor Layton and the Last Specter” involves a town under siege by a fog-wrapped giant who appears at night and levels houses. After receiving an SOS letter from a friend living in the town, Professor Layton swings into action, entering a charming Victorian world any series fan will recognize: lilting squeezebox music, ligne claire artwork truer to Tintin than the forthcoming movie, eccentric townsfolk who have a laughable tendency to end conversations with “This reminds me of a puzzle!”
‘Professor Layton and the Last Specter’
» Price: $29.99
| » System: DS |
| » Rating: 4 out of 5 stars |
“The Last Specter’s” brainteasers, solved with the touchscreen, are more balanced in difficulty than those in previous series entries, but the game still makes you feel dumb sometimes. (Darn those cube-face puzzles!).
Any damage to your ego, though, is soon forgotten with the assistance of “The Last Specter’s” several sidegames, including a model train game that is the definition of a simple pleasure.
Another sidegame, included as a bonus on North American copies of “The Last Specter,” is so sophisticated, it threatens to overshadow the main adventure. This is “Professor Layton’s London Life,” itself a grab bag of traditional sidegames, from fishing to cooking to interior decorating. This 100-hour (!) role-playing game involves creating a character and walking around London talking to people and doing jobs for them. There’s no combat, so the game’s appeal relies heavily on the script. Good thing it’s one of the best in years. A sample, when looking around a department store: “You know, this sofa reminds me of a puzzle! Hmm … Nope. False alarm.”
“The Last Specter” may not have the most exciting story in the “Layton” series, but it packs one of the best values in all of hand-held gaming. And it’s hard to imagine a more amiable companion on the DS’ voyage into the sunset.
