Review: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is a puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Level-5.

An easier example of one of the hundreds of puzzles the player will have to solve.

One day Professor Layton receives a letter from his friend Dr. Schrader, informing him of Dr. Schrader’s latest find, the cursed Elysian Box. Fearing for his friend’s safety, the professor rushes over to Dr. Schrader’s home, only to find Dr. Schrader dead, the box missing, and a ticket for the Molentary Express train near his body. The professor, along with his assistant Luke, decides to board the train in the hopes of finding out who murdered Dr. Schrader and the location of the box.

In Diabolical Box, Layton and Luke travel from place to place, talking to everyone they meet and slowly picking up clues that unravel the mystery. Almost every step of the way either Layton or Luke have to solve logic puzzles found on something they are inspecting or recieved from a person they are talking to. While some of the puzzles are optional, most have to be completed to complete the story.

The main attraction of the game arepuzzles, of which there are over a hundred. Many of them are logic puzzles, like ones that would be found in a book. Others are mechanical puzzles that take advantage of the DS’ stylus function to operate. It is unfortunate that not all of the puzzles take advantage of the DS in some way, since otherwise it is no different than reading puzzles from a book.

Puzzles are the only challenge in the game. Anyone who is thinking about buying it has to like puzzles to some degree.

Most of the puzzles are really difficult, you will spend a lot of time staring at the DS screens racking your brain for an answer. They are not impossible though. A few of them do need a certain level of understanding of mathematics to complete, which is somewhat unfair. The worst ones though, are the slider puzzles and the peg solitaire puzzles. Those are awful and should not have been included in the game.

Throughout the game the player can find hint coins hidden in the scenery. These coins allow the player to buy up to three progressively more blatant hints per puzzle. Since there are a limited number of them they have to be used sparingly.

Completing a puzzle rewards the player with picarats, the game’s currency. The more times the player fails to solve a puzzle the less picarats they get. Gaining more picarats unlocks extra puzzles and bonuses, like a movie gallery or music gallery. They are not essential to beating the game, but they do provide a little extra incentive towards doing well on the puzzles.

To break the monotony of the main game the player can enjoy a couple of mini-games, using items that can be collected by completing some puzzles. The first game is a camera that needs to be reassembled. The second game is getting a hamster to lose weight by strategically placing items in front of it. The third game involves mixing tea ingredients to make certain teas for people. All three games are okay, though the tea one can be frustrating. Completing any of these games unlock more puzzles.

The rest of the game is pretty straightforward. Layton and Luke will go to a place, solve a puzzle, get a direction, and go to another place. Usually Layton and Luke will have to double back to the same place over and over again. The game starts on the train, but soon moves to a couple of towns. Thankfully none of the places are that big, and Layton and Luke move pretty fast, so travelling back and forth never feels tedious.

The story is decent. It is not a particularly deep or complicated mystery, but it is interesting enough. The characters are likable, especially Professor Layton. The twist at the end stretches the story’s believability, but it is not that important. The story is mostly told through talking portraits, but every so often the game will use some really professional looking animated cut scenes that look like they were taken out of an animated movie.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is a fun game for anyone who likes challenging puzzles, with a decent story and enjoyable characters to carry it along. Anyone who does not like puzzles will not enjoy it, but anybody who enjoys a tough mental challenge will have fun.