When I first started playing Professor Layton and the Curious Village, I expected it to be a series of brain-strengthening logic puzzles strung together by a weak story, something similar to Brain Age and the other Touch Generations titles. If anyone else expected that and passed up Professor Layton as a result, go back and take another look; there’s more to this title than meets the eye. The meat of the game may be logic puzzles, but the presentation is something else entirely.

The Professor Layton series is actually created by developer Level-5, responsible for series such as Dark Cloud, Rogue Galaxy, and White Knight; this game marks their first fully self-funded and self-published venture, as well as their first foray onto a Nintendo system. As such, this game turns out to be a lot more than I initially gave it credit for, employing not only entertaining puzzle gameplay, but a fun storyline, entertaining characters, and fantastic artwork and cinematics.