Professor Layton and the Curious Village

The DS is getting some pretty good games these days, if you’re an aficionado of quirky, original titles. Hotel Dusk, while not perfect, is a good example – and now there’s another title that looks like a must-have for those who like puzzles, adventures, and problem solving.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village looks pretty…well, curious…at first glance. Its graphics look like they were taken straight out of a children’s book, and its blend of mini-games and story elements doesn’t sound too promising to those burnt by too many average mini-game collections. But if you look for longer than a second, you’ll find a game that is charming, original, and remarkably cohesive – or at least, that’s what we’re hearing from initial reports.

You play as the titular professor and his young assistant Luke, who seem to have a thing or two in common with Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Summoned to an intriguing village by the contents of a will, the pair must solve all manner of puzzles to uncover a mystery that has been plaguing the inhabitants of the town.

So what will you do exactly? Well, to pluck examples out of the air, you’ll be lining up matchsticks, ferrying animals across rivers, and much, much more. The puzzles are all logic-based, and appear to make great use of the DS’s unique abilities. There are well over 100 of them all up, with the main story apparently last for a good 12 or so hours, so there’s a lot of value to be found here.

What with Nintendo’s wonderful policy of releasing games much later here, we’ve had to wait while the US and Japan got their hands on this title. Luckily, that wait is almost over – on the 10th April, expect to see this unique little game on store shelves, and a full review up on NZGamer.