Professor Layton and the Curious Village

 DS
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 231 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 192 out of 231
  2. Mixed: 32 out of 231
  3. Negative: 7 out of 231
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  1. KrishanuR.
    Feb 16, 2008
    7
    This is quite a captivating game that makes going through and solving the the puzzles quite interesting. A major short comming however, is the difficulty of the puzzles. Whiles some of them are quite clever and will really make you think, others border on the absurdly infantile (not just difficulty, but the questions themselves), and while they might be suitable for an individual in This is quite a captivating game that makes going through and solving the the puzzles quite interesting. A major short comming however, is the difficulty of the puzzles. Whiles some of them are quite clever and will really make you think, others border on the absurdly infantile (not just difficulty, but the questions themselves), and while they might be suitable for an individual in Elementary school or below, they really do detract from the overall experience for anyone above that level.… Expand
  2. Bathmat
    Jan 22, 2011
    7
    This is a really good game, I'm just a tough marker. The story is really good, the cutscenes are great, the puzzles are fun, the story is good and the characters are good, but to retry a puzzle you have to go through a million menus, it sucks that you're confined to a small space repetitively running from point A to B and the puzzles don't really mix together with the story. It's also aThis is a really good game, I'm just a tough marker. The story is really good, the cutscenes are great, the puzzles are fun, the story is good and the characters are good, but to retry a puzzle you have to go through a million menus, it sucks that you're confined to a small space repetitively running from point A to B and the puzzles don't really mix together with the story. It's also a bit short. Other than that, it's good but I prefer you to buy the far superior Pandora's Box or the even better Lost Fututre.… Expand
  3. ghorahn
    Jan 6, 2012
    6
    I like a good puzzle-adventure game, and I'd played through the first Puzzle Agent just before I picked up Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Before long, I was missing the charm of Puzzle Agent; I don't find stuffy brit characters particularly interesting, and the story was too slow and predictable (though it did liven up before the end) to be a big motivator to keep playing. AndI like a good puzzle-adventure game, and I'd played through the first Puzzle Agent just before I picked up Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Before long, I was missing the charm of Puzzle Agent; I don't find stuffy brit characters particularly interesting, and the story was too slow and predictable (though it did liven up before the end) to be a big motivator to keep playing. And while many of the puzzles were fun (and plenty were familiar), some were...well, annoying. Or tedious. Or, in a few cases, frustrating. In a game like this, where I expect each puzzle to shine, those are big strikes against the game.… Expand
  4. wesker2012
    May 28, 2012
    6
    This game is overated, the puzzles are boring as hell. I feel like im back in school.
  5. TheJoseph
    Dec 22, 2017
    6
    Curious Village is great if you just want some challenging puzzles, but if your looking for anything else your likely not to find it here. It's hard to be critical of a game when it's key gameplay aspect is done well, but CV really suffers from being bland. To see what I mean, let's look at the story and characters.
    The story line is that our two heroes are brought to a strange town to    Curious Village is great if you just want some challenging puzzles, but if your looking for anything else your likely not to find it here. It's hard to be critical of a game when it's key gameplay aspect is done well, but CV really suffers from being bland. To see what I mean, let's look at the story and characters.
    The story line is that our two heroes are brought to a strange town to work out some property rights or something on the surface, but are really interested in finding out the secret of the golden apple, a super cool treasure, or something. When they get to the town someone dies and now the plot is a murder mystery, or at least it is once you solve the pressing issue of some important persons cat running off. If you can't tell, I find the story to be pretty forgettable and overall uninteresting. While this may be fine for most games, CV spends a good amount of time focusing on the story considering it has a visual novel-esque format. This causes a good chunk of the game besides a very small amount of the end to be superbly forgettable. There are some twists at the end that I can't say I saw coming, but were just... stupid. This is something that's in almost all the Layton games, unfortunately, but when the overall plot is so boring it just makes it stand out more as bland and dumb.
    Next we have the characters. First off, I'll say Layton and Luke are cool. I like them as protags, their fun characters, they're good. Everyone else... about as bland as the story. CV really suffers from going for quantity over quality with it's cast. There's a whole bunch of people with personalities that can be boiled down to "this person does X". This wouldn't be too bad if the game had some characters other than the protags who were more than this but there just aren't. Design wise, again Layton and Luke are good but I just don't find anyone else's design memorable at all. They're just that look cartoony and that's it. So yeah, this isn't really a strong suit for CV as well.
    The graphics overall do have some nice aspects to them, the hand-drawn style works very well and the art on the top screen looks very nice. My biggest problem graphically is the sprites in this game just look ugly. Very inexpressive and really basic. I think this is also a problem that boils down to quantity over quality. So yeah, good style, but not utilized that well. The town you're in also gets kinda old. You're there the entire game and it loses it's charm pretty quickly and just becomes really boring.
    The music in this game is great. The instruments used work well, all the songs fit when they play, and it just sounds lovely. Another highlight are the sound effects, from the text bleeps to walking down an echoing hallway, these are some of the best sound effects on the DS I've heard. The audio design of CV is plain and simply great.
    Gameplay-wise, it's almost all good. To start with the negatives, moving around on the map is pretty time consuming and finding your next location can feel like wondering around until you find the thing. My only other problems is that the puzzles go from 0 to 100 WAY too quick. You'll be going from baby's first puzzle to rage-inducing puzzles really quickly and it can be pretty jarring. Other than that, all the puzzles are good. They are a fun time, and almost always have a clever concept and solvable answer. While I wish I had more of a reason to be doing said puzzles, that's really just a personal preference and they are very good.
    So yeah, if you want to play this game for some really good puzzles and some nice music to go with it, this is the game for you. If you're looking for anything more than this, CV might be better to skip.    … Expand
  6. ZangBang
    Feb 17, 2023
    5
    Charming the player with a whimsical art-style and an elegant, immersive soundtrack, Professor Layton blends puzzle and adventure elements to craft something distinctively original. Even if exploration boils down to shallow point-and-click gameplay framed by an endearing but forgettable plot, puzzles are stimulating and wonderfully diverse, challenging the player's observation, deductionCharming the player with a whimsical art-style and an elegant, immersive soundtrack, Professor Layton blends puzzle and adventure elements to craft something distinctively original. Even if exploration boils down to shallow point-and-click gameplay framed by an endearing but forgettable plot, puzzles are stimulating and wonderfully diverse, challenging the player's observation, deduction and logical skills in rewarding ways, besides a few tedious, uncreative math problems.… Expand
  7. Yojimbo2015
    Jun 2, 2023
    5
    Cartoon mystery punctuated by puzzles of the type you find in quiz books sold at the train station. The Professor Layton games are all virtually identical so if you like one of them, you'll like them all...and vice versa.
  8. Triblue
    May 25, 2023
    7
    Les énigmes sont très variés. L'histoire est sympathique malgré son non sens à certains moments. Le gameplay est un peu simple mais c'est aussi ce qui fait sa force.

Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best DS Game of 2008
3
#3 Most Discussed DS Game of 2008
22
#22 Most Shared DS Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 72 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 68 out of 72
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 72
  3. Negative: 0 out of 72
  1. games(TM)
    70
    Taken as a purely forward-looking puzzle game (with a well-told story, to boot), Layton provides DS entertainment in a unique fashion. [JPN Import; May 2007, p.112]
  2. Nintendo Gamer
    86
    Lots of variety, good use of the touch screen. [May 2008, p.73]
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  3. Play Magazine
    80
    As good as the puzzles are, the presentation is almost better. [JPN Import; May 2007, p.77]
See all critic reviews »