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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.
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Professor Layton and the Curious Village |
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(Also known as "Layton Kyouju no Fushigi na Machi" and "Professor Layton and the Mysterious Village") Marking Level 5's first foray onto the DS, Professor Layton is an old-fashioned point-and-click adventure which requires your use of skills such as reasoning, knowledge and creativity to solve various puzzles.
PUBLISHER: |
Nintendo |
DEVELOPER: |
Level 5 |
GENRE(S): |
Adventure, Edutainment |
PLAYERS: |
1 |
ESRB RATING: |
E (Everyone) |
RELEASE DATE: |
February 11, 2008 |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
90
Cubed3
Marrying the current craze for brain teasing puzzles with a delightfully mysterious tale that entertains throughout works brilliantly and everything just smacks of pure quality.
90
GameSpy
Incredibly original and thoroughly entertaining.
90
GameSpot
Professor Layton and the Curious Village mixes an interesting story, challenging logic puzzles, and exploration into an extremely entertaining package that you won't want to put down.
90
Video Game Talk
An absolute joy to play and the variety of puzzles throughout the game keeps the experience fresh.
88
Cheat Code Central
Ultimately, if you're willing to take some time to solve the puzzles and enjoy this kind of gameplay, Professor Layton and The Curious Village will become one of your favorite games. If you're not a thinker and what you like is action, you're better off ignoring it; you'll save yourself a headache.
88
GameBrink
The short animated letter boxed movies spread out throughout the story are smooth and look crisp for the DS but, performances were varied for the two actors who were taking on voice acting for the very first time.
87
Destructoid
But for those gamers who love the idea of a rigorous workout of the ol' noggin, Layton delivers an exemplary experience wrapped in one of the most stunning aesthetics yet seen on the DS, or any system.
85
Nintendo Power
On top of a great adventure mode, Professor layton offers additional downloadable content, which should keep players plenty busy until the promised sequel arrives. [Feb 2008, p.88]
85
Da Gameboyz
With solid graphics, sound and story, and some darn addicting but tough puzzles, this adventure style game is great title add to your DS collection.
85
1UP
And with a game this entertaining, that transcends demographics so stylishly, that offers such addictive just-one-more challenge -- well, the only real puzzle here is why anyone wouldn't want to give it a go.
83
Gaming Age
The game constantly rewards players with secret items to find and an intriguing story that captivates from beginning to end. Nintendo is promising new weekly puzzles that can be downloaded through its Wi-Fi Connection right to the DS, so even after you're done with the game there should be new content available. It's a no-brainer.
80
GameTap
A solidly constructed game that truly anyone of any skill level can play. There's no multiplayer mode here per se, but that doesn't actually prevent Curious Village from being a party game--you can just read the puzzles out loud and any number of people can tackle them anywhere at any time.
80
GameDaily
It's the desire to solve the next challenge, and not the ho-hum story, that makes Professor Layton interesting.
80
IGN
It’s not quite as powerful a game as some diehards might lead you to believe it is, and the cheating exploits are a little to obvious to ignore. But even so, Professor Layton is undeniably fun with a great style, and if the next game in the series is as challenging and addictive as his debut, bring it on.
80
Gamer 2.0
With the sheer quality of these puzzles alone, Level 5 could've just released the game as another brain teaser compilation, but they went the extra mile by relating every single puzzle to an event during the adventure which makes the game that much more interesting.
80
NGamer UK
Unlike "Brain Training" and its ilk, the puzzles can't be repeated. You simply go through the story, solving them at your own pace and enjoying the Ghibli-style artwork and high production values. We demand a UK version! [JPN Import; May 2007, p.70]
80
Play Magazine
As good as the puzzles are, the presentation is almost better. [JPN Import; May 2007, p.77]
80
Hardcore Gamer Magazine
This is a sweet, gentle, silly game for people who are still in touch with their inner nerdy child. [JPN Import; July 2007, p.71]
75
GamePro
For all its frustrations, Professor Layton does have its merits. The overall vibe of the game is charming and immensely likeable and the basic game mechanic is solid. There is also a ton of things to do: aside from the puzzles, there are other neat extras that I'll let you discover on your own.
75
Game Informer
What’s really frustrating about this game is that although the puzzles themselves are fun to figure out, all the big mysteries presented by the story are solved for you via cutscenes. The fact that you aren’t allowed to actually solve the questions that have been on your mind all game long is simply a mistake.
70
games(TM)
Taken as a purely forward-looking puzzle game (with a well-told story, to boot), Layton provides DS entertainment in a unique fashion. [JPN Import; May 2007, p.112]
The average user rating for this game is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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