Review by: Brandon "Mouse Badge" Cackowski-Schnell

After three games with Professor Hershel Layton and his dimunitive sidekick Luke, we know plenty about our intrepid, puzzle solving duo except for how they got together in the first place. Professor Layton and the Last Specter is the first of three games meant to illuminate this last mystery and while it shares the same great puzzle foundation as the earlier games in the series, the weak story prevents it from reaching the same heights as its predecessors.

Unlike other adventure games in which puzzles are a means of escaping locked rooms, or getting help from local natives, puzzles in the Professor Layton games are there mostly because Professor Layton, and everyone he comes across, really, really likes puzzles. Oh sure, there are still puzzles that are integrated in to the task at hand, such as figuring out which key opens the locked door barring progress, or determining the best way for a group of people to evacuate a section of the city, but you’re just as likely to find a puzzle because the candy vendor has one or you tapped on a bush.

The Layton games have always been about the puzzles but the overarching mysteries solved by finding and conquering all of these puzzles have provided some truly touching character moments and whacked out, fantastical situations. As a result, by the time you get to the Last Specter, you’re expecting to come for the story but stay for the puzzles only to find yourself disappointed by what is the weakest story of all of the games. In this flashback story, Professor Layton is an unknown professor of archaeology, newly introduced to his assistant Emmy when he receives a letter from an old friend who is currently serving as the Mayor of Misthallery. Misthallery has been undergoing some unplanned renovations as a mysterious, towering specter visits regularly, always enshrouded in fog, always accompanied by the playing of a flute and always leaving a wake of destroyed buildings behind it.

It’s interesting to see Layton before he was the world famous Hershel Layton, even if some things like his love of hats and his gentlemanly ways, are present from the beginning, and Emmy is an excellent character with a charming mix of intellectual ebullience and martial arts skills, but once all of the mysteries are solved the same feeling of satisfaction as in the other games is strangely missing. Part of the problem is that this is the beginning of the trilogy so while Luke and Layton meet each other for the first time in this game, by the time the game ends you still don’t know how Luke came to be Layton’s apprentice or where Emmy ended up going. The other part of the problem is that the solution to the mysteries weren’t all that interesting. The Layton games have always solved strange mysteries with even stranger solutions and this solution was kind of hum-drum by Layton standards. A new villain was introduced, and I’m sure he’ll cause problems in upcoming games, but once all of the mystery placards were crossed off with a jaunty “Solved!” written across them, I felt unsatisfied.

Luckily, this is the only place the game falters, even if it’s a pretty important place. The puzzles are still top notch, providing a range in difficulty from “staring at the DS screen for 30 seconds” to crying yourself to sleep over feelings of intellectual inadequacy. The same hint coin system returns, allowing you to purchase solutions through coins found as a result of fervent environmental tapping. The same beautiful animation and quality voice work returns making the game feel at times like a classic animated tale. Finally, the same interesting selection of mini-games return asking you to map out a train’s route in various train set maps, find the best way for a fish to pop all of the bubbles in a fish tank or act out a play given a selection of verbs. Your reward for completing all of these games is more puzzles, and the ability to download new puzzles over Wi-Fi is still present, making the game a serious time investment for even the most grizzled puzzle veteran.

New to the series is the addition of Layton’s London Life, an Animal Crossing-esque RPG set in a tiny version of Professor Layton’s home town of London, England. In it, you take on quests to help out your fellow Londoners by doing odd jobs for them and using your innate helpfulness to build up amounts of wealth and happiness. Helping people earns you money, money lets you buy things, buying things makes you happy. Blatant consumerism aside, it’s a pretty casual affair and one that’s easy to drop in and out of when you need a break from all of the puzzle induced teeth gnashing.

Despite the story in this outing leaving me lukewarm, I’m still interested in seeing where the story takes Layton, Luke and Emmy. Level 5 has done such a great job making the characters so delightful to hang out with, that even a subpar addition by Layton standards still makes for a good puzzle game.