Professor Layton and the Lost Future

Professor Hershel Layton ranks as my favourite fictional character ever. He's stylish, sophisticated, and he wears a big hat. He's also excellent at solving riddles and a pretty decent detective as well. I also hold Sherlock Holmes dear, but Professor Layton wins out thanks to his charming personality. Therefore I dove head first into Professor Layton and the Lost Future with high expectations.

After completing the first Professor Layton title I know that I had stumbled upon a new favourite genre - the puzzle adventure. I've been longing for each of the subsequent sequels Level-5 have delivered, but this is also when the alarms started going off. Two new games in the series were quickly announced, and I got nervous when they started talking about the fourth game before number two or three were even released. Of course this had to do with the fact that both the second and third games were already out in Japan, and we were lagging behind in Europe. But even so a lot of franchises start to loose their spark when they hit number four, thankfully that is not the case with Professor Layton.

Professor Layton is a bit of a genius when it comes to solving riddles. He's often called upon to solve weird and difficult problems, and he has a tendency to stumble upon various mysteries. The game sees you searching for clues, talking to people you meet, and then you go about solving the puzzles. Every character in the game will give you a puzzle to see in they can trust you, or perhaps in order to confuse you. It's simply put a small universe in which everyone is obsessed with puzzles.

It may sound like a bit of a soundbite, but Professor Layton and the Lost Future is the best game in the series thus far. Level-5 have perfected the pace through use of dialogue, animated cut scenes and puzzles. The game has a natural flow to it, and it's easy to lose track of time while you play it. And the different elements that make up the game are better integrated with each other than before. One example is when we are treated to an animated scene where Layton is attacked by mobsters in a casino, and you have to solve a simple puzzle before the scene continues. It feels much more natural than before, and Level-5 should be commended for taking the trademark features of the series even further.

The story is captivating, you are constantly fed new clues to a mystery only Professor Layton can solve. There were two things that I felt the first games in the series lacked. Firstly, the animated scenes were too few and too short. They looked stunning, but they were mostly just used to drag the player into the story. Secondly, I felt the mystery was too complicated and static. There were so many different threads to follow, and they were only tied together during the last half hour or so of the game. The story is much better structured in Professor Layton and the Lost Future as new parts of the mystery is revealed as you solve one part of it. The increased number of animated cutscenes creates an even better atmosphere in the game, and we're treated to more of Level-5's wonderful blend of French and Japanese animation. It's a pleasure to lean back and enjoy the story unfold. There is even an action scene or two despite the gentle pace of the game. The game is as much a joy to the ears as before, and the voices are delivered with passion. I can listen to the theme music for hours and hours without growing weary.

The story revolves around an attempt to create a time machine and as a result the British prime minister disappears without a trace. One week later the story takes a different twist as Layton gets a letter from his companion Luke Triton dated ten years into the future. The rest of story tackles concepts such as time travel and alternative time lines, and it's a cleverly constructed as it is exciting.

Even if Professor Layton and the Lost Future delivers everything fans would expect in terms of puzzles and riddles, there is little innovation to be found. It follows the same principles as previous titles, and some of the puzzles are very familiar. You can't really blame Level-5 for copying their own successful formula, but it's still slightly disappointing that a bigger effort to innovate hasn't been made. The one new ingredient are mini-games you can spend your time on in between solving puzzles and following the plot. There is one with a toy car that you drive across different tiles, one where you train a parrot to fetch things and one where you put stickers in a book to make sense of the story. By completing these mini-games that you can access at any time, you will unlock new and more difficult puzzles.

As all the games are all very similar, with stories that are seldom intertwined, you can basically pick up any of the Professor Layton and enjoy them equally. Professor Layton and the Lost Future is a game for players who enjoy sitting down in their favourite armchair with a cup of tea, and solve riddles at their own pace while enjoying an entertaining story or two.