Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box hit store shelves in Japan almost 2 years ago. After years of waiting, the sequel to the Curious Village is finally here - Professor Layton is back with his apprentice Luke to uncover the mystery surrounding the Elysian Box. To do so, they must solve an array of puzzles and riddles thrown at them by the eccentric townsfolk of Folsense. Will you be able to guide the pair on their latest adventure and figure out the dark secret hidden deep inside the phantom town?
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Level-5
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+
Professor Layton and Luke are in the heart of London, visiting the professor's mentor, Dr. Schrader. The doctor says that he has stumbled upon a box, it is said that the box brings death upon any who dare open it. Could those rumours be true? As Layton and Luke enter his apartment, they find him lying on the floor…dead! Furthermore, the mysterious box has gone! They are left with one clue, a train ticket for the Molentary Express. Where will this ticket take them? Could it lead them to the box?
Gameplay:
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box retains pretty much the same gameplay as its prequel, but they’ve taken it a step further by including even more minigames to entertain you while you’re on your quest. Just like before, you are in control of Layton and Luke, moving them around the town in search for the Elysian Box.
After playing the first game, I immediately discovered that the townsfolk had some sort of obsession with puzzles. I assumed that they lived in one unusual town. I can now safely say that the people living in the world that Professor Layton resides in all have one common interest, puzzles and riddles. This is a puzzle game after all, what can you expect? There’s a high probability that as soon as you interact with them, they’ll ask you to solve a puzzle. Being a gentleman, Layton will not mind at all. If you’re not too keen on puzzle games, however, this definitely is
not the game for you. Just like its prequel the puzzles get harder early in the game and I was surprised to see that this has still not been fixed.
Can you solve it?
You are not forced to finish puzzles to advance in most cases, but that doesn’t mean that you should skip every puzzle you find. You have the option to solve them later. Puzzles can be found by talking to the townsfolk and tapping on peculiar things on the map as well as the downloadable puzzle every week. This is where hint coins come in, making a return from Professor Layton and the Curious Village. If you’re stuck on a puzzle, you have the option to spend a hint coin to unlock a clue. Use them wisely though, as they are limited. You can find more by examining various things on the bottom screen but you'll have to look carefully. For example, you might find a hint coin in a bin. Each puzzle will have a set number of Picarats, a point system within the game. Getting the puzzle incorrect will result in this number going down. At the end of the game, you will unlock bonus puzzles depending on how many you have collected. You can’t go back to change this number, so be careful.
What? Making.. tea?
The controls work well for this game as everything is done on the touch screen. Tapping the shoe icon in the top right corner will bring up a few yellow arrows pointing in each direction that you can move to. The briefcase will bring up a menu with a variety of options, one of which is for saving the game. Here you can also find the game’s additional minigames to play alongside your adventure.
These include things such as playing with your hamster and brewing tea, unfortunately something you’d probably find in a shovelware game. They all involve various items you'll come across on your adventure, and by this I mean solving puzzles. For example, you may find peculiar ingredients for your tea-brewing or amusing toys for your Hamster to play with. To put your hamster through his paces, you must set a trail with the toys you have collected for your rather large Hamster to follow - but each toy must be a certain number of spaces away from the last. Collecting all toys and finishing the minigame will make your hamster fit again and he will help you to find Picarats by appearing and pointing to them. Apart from making the residents feel better, the tea minigame isn't so important.
Longevity:
The gameplay should last a good 10 hours or so but it really depends on your puzzle-solving skills. There are just over 150 puzzles in the game. Fortunately, bonus puzzles can be unlocked at the end of the game though to get these you must not make a single mistake on your quest. Every week there is a new downloadable puzzle available via WiFi. This will most likely go on until the next Professor Layton game comes out, so you’ll always have some puzzle solving to do. Sadly, once you finish the game you won’t feel like playing it again as you’ll already know the answers so therefore it lacks replay value.
Unlockable puzzles
The classic 2D cartoonish look returns in Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. The unique style suits the game well; I can assure you that you’ll fall in love with the graphics as soon as you lay your eyes upon them. Additionally, something I thought that really stood out about the game is the artwork in the cutscenes. Beautifully carried out on the bottom screen, the cutscenes are really something considering the
DS’s not-so-great graphics. They are all animated with the same cartoonish look as the main game, fitting in perfectly with the journey.
Tell me that's not epic.
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box’s soundtrack is both catchy and simple. The game features a variety of tracks, always harmonizing with the moment perfectly. A good example of this would be the theme playing in the town of Folsense. It’s sad and depressing which matches the town well. I can promise you that the music is a lot less repetitive than Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and I’m glad to see that they fixed that small problem. The cutscenes include voice acting, and luckily it's not too dreadful. I was happy that this addition came back from the original; it makes it slightly more interesting.
Overall:
It was certainly a long wait, but I’d say it was definitely worth it. Professor Layton and Luke have done it again, they’ve solved the unsolvable. I liked the addition of the minigames although they didn’t seem to fit in with the puzzle genre. The graphics are definitely a change from the usual anime style you’ll find in most Japanese games these days. You’ll love this game if you’re into puzzles and that sort of thing, but even if you aren’t I would still highly recommend it!
Linear Mode
