Professor Layton And The Lost Future (Nintendo DS)

**Introduction**

Having already played the other games in the Professor Layton series of mysteries for the Nintendo DS I was eager to get my hands on the latest instalment; "The Lost Future" and duly added the game to my Christmas list last year. Christmas Day arrived and amongst my presents from my wife the game was included so eagerly I set upon another journey with the Top-Hatted gentlemanly professor and his trusty side kick Luke and attempted to discover the secrets the game had to offer and what the future would be like in the remarkable games inimitable style...

**Basics**

The familiar trademarks established in the earlier games are all still here, the animation is beautifully presented with clear graphics and sound along with some wonderfully animated cut sequences which serve as a plot narration. As is the case with every Professor Layton release you follow him, Luke and the people they meet on their way as they try to unearth the secrets established in the story. In this case the action surrounds the disappearance of the British Prime Minister and an apparent link to an invention of what appears to be a time travelling machine, you are set various missions which you have to complete to progress through the game and at every step of the way you are presented with puzzles from characters that you meet. As usual you have to solve the puzzles to gain access to information and by piecing together the information you learn you end up discovering all the secrets the game has in store.

The game is a point and tap adventure game and you control the characters by means of your DS stylus. You are presented with various maps along the way with directions of where you must go to complete the chapters which make up the game as a whole and at the end of each segment you are able to save your progress. There is always the risk with games of this nature that they become too focused on creating a style rather than concentrating on the substance of the game but happily "The Lost Future" is another strong example of just how good these games can be if that balance is got right. That doesn't mean the game is perfect though and as I will cover later in this review I didn't get the usual sense of urgency to complete the chapters as I have done with other instalments in the Professor Layton series, I don't know if that was because I had become used to how these games play out or whether something was missing this time round but for me I did get the feeling that perhaps the game was a little bit *too* epic and overly convoluted, even so though I'm glad I played it and will look forward to the next instalment whenever that becomes available to buy.

**Puzzles**

Bigger this time around, The Lost Future has over 165 puzzles contained in its game play which are a good selection of mathematical and lateral thinking challenges. Thankfully there isn't an over reliance on sliding-block puzzles which bogged down earlier instalments in the series and overall I thought there was a good mix of things to do. The puzzles range from quite easy through to almost impossible and I admit to cheating on a number of occasions and resorting to consulting a walkthrough on the internet for some of the answers. I did find the wording on a few of the puzzles to be slightly confusing and perhaps this jaded my opinion slightly as there were occasions when I couldn't really understand what was being asked of me. As usual you are given access to 'hints' which you must purchase with the in-game currency and this time round have the option to purchase a super-hint which practically gives the solution to you. This I found did speed up the progression and flow of the game but even still there were times when I wanted to figure out the answers to some puzzles myself without help from hints or walkthroughs. If you have ever played any of the other Professor Layton games before you will know what to expect really and newcomers to the world of Layton will find the game to be self-explanatory although personally I would recommend that you play the games in order of release as there are some back-stories which continue on in this game and you may not understand some references to the past games.

**Thoughts**

I do think that perhaps there were too many puzzles in this game along with various other new mini-games which are presented to you as you go on but in terms of value for money you do get plenty for your cash. Maybe I'm just impatient but at well over 18 hours of game playing without including the time spent on the mini games I did get slightly bored towards the end and really wanted to just get to the finish line with this one. Whilst the cut sequences are undeniably lovely to watch I do think some of their inclusions slowed down the flow of the game and as far as pacing is concerned I wished the game would have been quicker, some sections of long spoken dialogue became tedious and I found myself tapping the DS screen just to enable me to get on with the game during the latter stages. Like I say, this is probably down to me more than being a fault with the game itself for those who like to immerse themselves into a long, thoughtful gaming session then this will definitely appeal.

The age guidance on the game states that it is suitable for 7 and above; personally I think that a 7 year old would find the game to be very tricky and perhaps not be engaging enough for them to want to play. The puzzles can become frustrating, the slow pacing tedious and I would suggest that the game is better suited to the older game-player, there's certainly plenty enough to admire with this release but it is along the same lines as the other games in the series it isn't really anything new anymore. I still consider all of the Professor Layton games to be the best releases ever on the Nintendo DS though and whilst I may have been critical of this one in this review it is still a game worth playing and experiencing, just be prepared to devote a lot of time to it if you are someone who likes to fully complete a game.

For £22.99 as the game currently retails for on Amazon you do get excellent value for money and I would recommend this to anyone familiar with the other Professor Layton releases. I can't say that I would want to start the journey again with the Professor and I'm relieved to have completed the game but at least I know that should I want to spend a little time re-doing the puzzles I can easily gain access to them thanks to the well thought out game-menu options.

I'm going to award a 4 star rating for the game itself which is still excellent in my opinion and overall I would recommend this to other people. I had very high expectations with this game and whilst I did have a few niggles with some aspects of the game play and the trickiness of the puzzles it still is a fantastic release for the Nintendo DS.

Thanks for reading, please note that this review is also on dooyoo under my username.