Overall 8.8 Graphics 8 Sound 10 Addictive 6 Story 10 Depth 7 Difficulty 7
9
Puzzles Unwound in a Lost Future Uzar
There are some games that leave you feeling bored, and
unaccomplished And then there are the games that were fun, and leave you
wanting more. Sometimes they leave you bawling your eyes out, angry with the
villain, and appreciate the game altogether. Professor Layton and the Unwound
Future falls into the latter. That game was great! It’s definitely my favorite
in the series so far. (Maybe Layton vs. Ace Attorney will change my mind…) But,
I can’t do too much to explain it in the first paragraph, so without further adieu, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future.
Graphics: 8/10
The game has great graphics. Well, the Professor Layton series is basically
part brainteaser collection, part point and click, and part visual novel. By
moving, it’s basically just changing screens, similar to Ace Attorney. So what
you’re greeted with in each location is a beautiful hand drawn styled sketch of
each location. It’s not exactly eye popping. It’s more shaded, and rustic.
Almost like each screen is some kind of painting. But, this game IS outclassed, again, by the next installment in the series; but only on a small level.
Sound: 9/10
This game has a GREAT soundtrack! ^_^ I loved all of it, and each track fits
the location, mood, and scene, perfectly. The voice acting is top notch
too.
It’s a definite improvement from Curious Village, and it’s more polished
than
Diabolical Box. It also has that same little tune for puzzles that the
last two games had. It will either be fun to listen to, or make you want
to rip your hair out. Or perhaps just mute your DS.
The voice acting kind of plateaus from here on out. Not exactly a bad thing, but this is a Nintendo DS game, and very smooth for that
matter. So for getting it right the first time earns it a high score.
Addictiveness: 6/10
Like in my other Layton reviews. It’s super addicting the first time, you’ll
have trouble putting it down; unless you’re stuck with a puzzle. :P But,
knowing the answers to puzzles takes away from needing to solve them. But on
the other hand, this is definitely a game one would want to play again.
Story: 10/10
This….This story man! If you've played it you might agree, if not, well,
you really should play it sometime. You won't regret it. So, once upon a after Diabolical Box. Professor Layton
and his
pet monkey noble assistant Luke are eating lunch. But this isn’t any lunch, no no no. This lunch is during a
presentation; a scientist named Dr.
Alain Stahngun claimed to have built a real working time machine. During
this presentation Stahngun, and the Prime Minister, Bill Hawkes climb into the
machine. BUT SOMETHING WENT WRONG! And both Stahngun and Hawkes are gone…Did
the machine work? One week later,? more scientists start disappearing. But stranger still, Layton and Luke are getting
letters from Luke, from ten years in the future…Future Luke says in his letters
that Layton has become a mob boss. Him and his gang, simply known as The Family has taken control of London. Layton
decides to help Future Luke stop Future Layton because, who’s better to stop an
evil guy than the younger, less evil, and probably more energetic past version of
himself? Future Luke gives Layton and friends directions to a time machine, and
they’re whisked away to ten years in the future. But exactly why is Future Layton
suddenly evil? Where in the world is Bill Hawkes and Stahngun? And…what’s with
the talking rabbit? Let me just tell you, it’s really good. Minus probably the
Rabbit, he’s kind of a jerk. :P
Depth: 7/10The depth game-wise is pretty
decent. There are lots of hidden puzzles, hint coins, and all that loveliness.
It is also on a scale a good ten times that of Curious Village, and about three times larger than Diabolical Box roughly. Basically, it's pretty big. You are going to rely on Granny Riddleton...A lot.
There are a few new minigames this time around: the toy car, parrot, and
picture book. You solve puzzles to unlock new levels for the first two, and
stickers and stories for the picture book.
In the toy car, the car will always
travel in a straight line unless you have it drive over a tile that turns it a
specific direction, or jump. You need to collect all of whatever objects are
scattered through the grid.
In the parrot game, you have the parrot deliver things to people. But their
various things are heavy, so the parrot can’t just fly there. So you need to
arrange perches for him to rest, then jump off again, onto another one, all
until you get there.
And the picture book has you place stickers of characters, and objects, into
their proper places, so they line up with the story.
In all three games, you need to solve puzzles in the main game in order to
unlock new levels, and more stickers. One thing I just realized I've never mentioned before. When you finish each minigame completely,
you'll unlock a "house". Like, if you finish the parrot you'll unlock
The Parrot's House (Or something similar). What they are is really just
some more puzzles. They aren't too important, but a nice little extra
bit of gameplay.
Difficulty: 7/10
Like before,
brainteasers and puzzles vary. But this one has a lot more puzzles. Each game is actually advertised saying “More puzzles than before!”. But
this one has a few genuinely challenging puzzles. Plus a thing called a
“Puzzle Battle”. Now before you crank up the beats, this isn’t like a
rap battle. This is a battle against the mind* (*Difficult A.I) and it
requires a few blind breaks from logic at times. But it’s incredibly satisfying when each puzzle is finished. Like the Professor says:
“Nothing satisfies like a puzzle solved”
Controls on the other hand, are so easy a four year old could do it. To save, look at puzzles you've solved, read your Journal (Layton's view on everything going on so far. Which is a nice little touch every game so far has had), or play minigames. You simply tap the suitcase icon on the touch screen. And to move, you tap the shoe icon, then any flashing arrows that show you which ways you can go.
In
case you haven’t noticed, I LOVED this game. It throws you some Mother
3-esque emotional sequences. It's not exactly the same things that make
each game emotional, but it has the same result. It hits you right in
the feels. And that’s one of the hallmarks of a well-crafted story. It's
a really fun, big, and kind of over the top game that will make you wonder if this is a finale. But the good news is, it isn't over.
Overall: 9/10
Graphics 8 Sound 10 Addictive 6 Story 10 Depth 7 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 07-14-14
Updated: 07-14-14
Review Replies: 4
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