Developed by
Level-5
Published
by Nintendo
Professor
Layton is one of those series that just keeps going on, not reinventing itself,
just adding new puzzles, and continues to be a joy each time a new installment
comes out. With the 5th
installment, and the first 3DS installment, Layton still shows no signs of
slowing down, even if some of the new features don’t work out.
Layton
(Christopher Robin Miller) along with his apprentice, Luke, and assistant, Emmy
(both voiced by Lani Minella), have come to the desert town of Monte d’Or,
which, in a fairly small amount of time, has gone from nothing to a thriving
tourist city. Unfortunately, a
mysterious figure known as the Masked Gentleman has appeared, and is performing
“miracles” that involve things such as turning people to stone. Naturally, Layton has to solve the mystery—and
it all connects back to a tragic event from his past.
The
story continues to be one of the strong points of the Layton series. It’s intriguing, making you want to find out the
answers to the mysteries, and full of good characters who you like to see pop
up. Even the characters who you talk to
just to get a puzzle to solve are interesting characters. The story’s real twist here, as opposed to
other Layton games, is the flashbacks to Layton from 18 years ago. Layton’s past has been touched on before, but
we get to see more of him and his childhood here, at a time when he didn’t even
like puzzles. And, just like in Unwound
Future, bringing the plot to something that personally affects Layton gives it
more of a human touch that the Professor can sometimes be missing. Also, don’t worry if you haven’t played any
Layton games before: even as the second game of the second trilogy, the plot
stands well on its own.
As
always, puzzles are the currency of the day in the Layton world. From sliding puzzles and a variation on the
block-jumping solitaire to brainteasers and logic problems, Miracle Mask is
filled with plenty of the usual suspects, but they are enjoyable as usual. There’s some of the old hat that should
surprise nobody, but there’s also some new tricks, like dividing a chessboard
of pawns, that haven’t been seen before.
The game does try a few new things along the way, and, well, it’s a bit
mixed. For one, there’s some puzzles
that seem too focused on the new 3D graphics rather than actual difficulty. Guiding a ladybug through a maze is
hilariously easy, and its variation doesn’t get any harder. But there’s also new gameplay entirely. An early part has you riding through the city
on a horse, and an action-oriented scene like that doesn’t have any place in
the calming Layton universe. Some of the
other puzzles also rely on things that are moving while you’re trying to think,
which generally just makes things unnecessarily difficult. There’s also a chapter that focuses entirely
on dungeon-crawling, with the puzzles involving defeating mummies and pushing
blocks around. It’s entertaining for a
while, but starts to wear out its welcome by the end of the chapter. When the characters wonder if there could be
100 floors, you’ll probably reel in terror.
Still,
Layton with a couple problems is still Layton, even with its problems. Longtime Layton fans can mark this as a
must-buy, and those new to the series can consider this a good place to start.
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