Layton Brothers: Mystery Room

Mystery Room departs from the Layton series’ signature elements, and can’t measure up to the other interactive novel titles it attempts to emulate. The story and characters are interesting at times, but aren’t strong enough to keep the whole experience afloat. Mystery Room has bright spots, but the uneven execution and shoehorned-in Layton connection make the case go cold.

If you were looking for a Professor Layton game, I regret to say you won't find anything like it here. If, however, you liked Ace Attorney and want something along similar lines, this is probably of interest to you. Be forewarned, it's not nearly as challenging, robust, or manically enjoyable as that series, but it serves the appetite well enough.

Those who dare stay with it for a substantial chunk of time will also be pleased that as you climb your way up the ladder, things do knuckle down a tad.

Production values are high, with iPad providing the best canvas yet for Level-5′s animation and colouring. And though the puzzles and narrative take on a different rhythm to the core series, the delicate balance in their concoction and the demands of their solution – requiring equal amounts of logical and lateral thought – echo those of father Layton’s finest.

Level-5's newest Layton adventure is a bit of a departure from the norm but it's still pretty darn cool.

Mystery Room has nothing of the other Layton games, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Overall it's a decent adventure even if some of the cases are too linear and not really clever.

A strange little game whose mysteries feel empty when you reflect upon them. Stick with Phoenix Wright. [Sept 2013, p.83]

Layton Brothers: Mystery Room wants to be a point-and-click adventure game, but since you can never do anything incorrectly, it feels less like an adventure and more like a hidden object game.