Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Ah, Professor Layton, one of the few video games out there that has an actual ad campaign. For those who don't know (only Stan will read this), the Professor Layton series is at its heart a collection of mini puzzles. This time around, there's about 150 puzzles, which I believe is about on par with the last game. This game won't take up much of your time, but it's nice that there's a bit of replay value- after the initial story mode, downloadable puzzles are released for free once a week. I've found that it's nice to go back to Professor Layton after a few months and have a bevy of new ones waiting for you. Anyway, the puzzles this time are about the same quality as the ones in the previous installment, Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Some will be a breeze, some will be tough but possible with a little thought, some will require all the hints you can get, and a small number will make you say "that was the worst puzzle I've ever tried, why did they think that was a good idea?" Luckily, there aren't many like that, and with 150 puzzles, there's bound to be a few that just aren't good. The game did introduce a few new styles of puzzles, all of which I enjoyed. First, the flower puzzles. Given a grid with some walls, and an unlimited supply of flowers, you must make sure that flowers can be smelt from every spot on the grid, all the while keeping the scent from being overpowering. Another new style of puzzle is the sliding ice block puzzle- Legend of Zelda veterans know these well and I was always a big fan of them. These puzzles were great, and I wish there were more in these styles, and much bigger ones too- puzzles that would take more than a minute or two to solve.

One thing the first Professor Layton game struggled with was a decent plot. The game play, animation, and voice work were all top notch, but for a game so heavy on dialog I just couldn't stay interested. The twist at the end was horrible and just didn't seem to fit at all with the story as a whole. I'm sorry to say, that this problem really hasn't been fixed in the new game, but the twist was at least a little less jarring. I guess it would be nice to see the protagonists, Luke and Layton, actually solve a mystery in some brilliant way that ties together all of the loose ends. The conclusions to both Curious Village and Diabolical Box are on par with "aliens did it." To me, that has always been the thrill of a mystery- seeing things that can only be described as supernatural, finally explained as something that could happen naturally under the right circumstances. Even with this letdown, I can't complain much. The puzzles themselves are what I got the game for, and Professor Layton delivered in the area that mattered most.