Review: Professor Layton and the Lost Future

The Professor and Luke are back in this new adventure, the unbreakable pair are called upon again as they head on probably their most unusual adventure yet, reassure its a good one. We also promise no spoilers.

Story

This time around the Professor and Luke face a bigger mystery than before, At the begging of the game you are introduced with a nice cut-scene. In this cut scene you see the Professor receive a letter that claims to be sent from the future Luke, telling Mr Layton that London is in a terrible situation and they need his help to keep London on track.  As you see in the screen shot above, Layton is puzzled and curious to know if the incident is caused by something that has happened a week ago when the time machine exploded with the consequence of the Prime Minister and the time machines creator to disappear.   The story then kicks of as you are trying to find and put together if the letter is actually from the future, causing Layton and Luke to find another time machine.  The overall plot of the game could be seen as far fetch, not to be mistaken it is, but it actually dare I say it is the best plot in a Layton game. The way the story unfolds and the use of flashbacks really do make the game stand out from the previous titles as they seem to be activated in the right places.

 

Design

The design of Professor Layton this time around is just. WOW. The cut scenes have really improved from the previous and show off more detail. The well designed locations are really astonishing to ones eye. The character development this time around has been much more supported and you will countlessly meet characters with an amazing dialogue and appearance. Its not hard to say the Layton games all look similar but this time around you can notice a huge difference in the details you wouldn’t think Level-5 would of spent time on. The design still has the same charm and the previous but somewhat enhancing it a bit more.  Its nice to see that the familiar elements that we have come to love over the previous titles hasn’t change dramatically but you will come to nice the slight differences.

Gameplay

If you haven’t played any of the previous titles before (go do so now) Professor Layton and the Lost Future is an Adventure/ Puzzle game.  Throughout this title you will encounter well written dialogues and the odd joke or two popping up to keep you interest, you will encounter an array of different puzzles and challenges along your path to progress further into the game.  This time around Level-5 wanted to put more puzzles into the London-bound adventure packing in 165 puzzles. The variety of puzzles are intriguing and are much more intuitive and get hard early on. Don’t forget however the Adventure side of the game which consist of your wondering around each location, talking to people and investigating our multiple different suspicious objects. I guess it just goes to show that if Level-5 and us gamers didn’t have a problem with the Adventure sides of things before, there’s no need to tweak it.  When you encounter a puzzle the Picarats continue to descend with every wrong answer you get, Picarats can be used to purchase new goodies in the Bonus Area.  Throughout your time playing the game you will encounter multiple charming characters who will of course have the addiction to throw puzzles at you. If you did get stuck during any of the puzzles, a new feature that comes in handy is the Super Hint function.  As you may already know in the previous titles you were able to spend your hint coins to reveal hints on puzzles you found to cause you bother.  Now this still remains the case, with three hints available. If these three hints still haven’t given you any justice the Super Hint function becomes a well deserved treat. Just spend two more coins and the game will basically tell you how to complete the puzzle. How nice. The puzzles in the Lost Future also feature some more new additions to the already known formula. This is probably most least exciting function to have an upgrade for, even though we are not going to complain about it. ..The Note function. It has now been upgraded and now gives you the opportunity to take notes easier due to the new set of tools, including the ability to trace or change the thickness of the pen. You are also given different sets of colours which can make it much easier now to solve object puzzles. The game’s other new feature is the inclusion of hidden puzzles, this gives you the more incentive to explore all the locations in the game. I am assure your wondering “how do I find these hidden areas” well in certain areas there will be strange noises such as a rustle of a bush. You will greeted with another puzzle for your mind to work on.  Lastly on the list is the three new mini-games to get your hands on,  The previous Layton games had a set of three puzzles before but this time these are much better than the previous. Oh yeah, watch out for a pesky Parrot as well.

Overall

Professor Layton and the Lost Future is a superb third title to the series. The game packs in quality puzzles, brilliant use of dialogue and visuals. The puzzles are still as addictive and play a much more of a key role to the story.  The overall game is a must have for any Layton fan, and if your curious of picking this game up, we recommend picking up the previous before you head to the big finale. It’s a shame to see the Professors rain come to an end for now but we can always hope for some prequels or a spin-off.