Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaire's Conspiracy

Since this is my first Layton game, I do not have previous knowledge of the series before I dove into this one. However, as a complete newbie, I’m enjoying it highly so far. The puzzles are a bit tricky but do make me think. The visual style and animations look fantastic. Even as a newcomer, I’m finding the characters to be full of fun and charm. I found the story captivating and immersive from the get-go too, which doesn’t always happen.

Layton's Mystery Journey may be a big investment, but if you're a fan of the games or love solving puzzles in general this'll be well worth the money.

At $16, Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy is fairly priced and offers a lot of quality content for the puzzler in you. Personally, while I am enjoying my time with the game, I will be looking forward to the 3DS release instead, primarily out of personal preference more than anything. However, if you do not have a 3DS, this latest Layton adventure is a top quality app that shouldn’t disappoint.

Layton's Mystery Journey renews the series' cast, but maintains the core game we've come to know in all these years, providing a fun and compelling story.

Layton’s Mystery Journey is a convincing new chapter of the Level-5 franchise, with familiar mechanics and a wonderful value for the money. Too bad that the new characters aren't on the same level of the old ones, and the story is a bit dull and juvenile.

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and Millionaires’ Conspiracy is a great mobile foray into the mainline Layton series. While the overall story is a tad uninteresting, the excellent puzzle gameplay and tons of replay value more than make up for it. This is a title worthy of its franchise’s reputation.

Layton’s Mystery Journey marks Level-5’s glorious return to this criminally underrated puzzler series, and it paves the way for brighter adventures ahead for Kat and her friends. While the case and story structure feels a little weaker because of the lack of a ‘main’ mystery or hook at the beginning of the game, this is still very much a strong point-and-click narrative adventure that fans of the genre should not miss out on.

I can go on infinitely about how much I am enjoying Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy. The game present little truly new to the series' gameplay, but since it already shone in past titles that's a great thing. The characters are lovable, often with dry wit and secret pasts (or presents). Whimsy combines with reality, creating a fantastic believable world. The game promises at least dozens of hours of gameplay with limitless expansion potential, and I'm excited to see where it goes.

I’m glad to see the Layton series back. I really did miss it, but Layton’s Mystery Journey is on the lower end of the spectrum for the series. The puzzles are totally adequate, but the story isn’t compelling, not even in its new case structure. Hopefully, if the Mystery Journey series continues, the stories will get stronger and way more out there as we get more familiar with the new cast.

This is a pretty good new adventure for the series, that it still true to its core gameplay. Maybe too much, because we miss some new features, but if you like Layton's games, this won't disappoint you.

There’s is so much content in Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy which justifies the one-time purchase. Even though this is clearly a game for another platform, it can pass as a console quality game on your mobile phone.

The first episode of the Layton saga on mobile presents as main character the amateur detective young daughter of the famous professor. Could it be that the tone of the story and the puzzles are too much aligned with her immature age?

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy is a solid first step in crafting a new generation of adventures for the franchise, but future installments had best concentrate more on crafting a better bunch of puzzles to be strung together, as well as a deeper narrative, in order to match the glory of the earlier games. And future installments we should indeed hope for, because the charming art, characters, and dialogue all help to create an interesting world that deserves more love (that, and the fact that the game ends on a rather mind-blowing sequel hook). It isn’t the greatest journey a Layton has taken, but it’s still an entertaining one nonetheless.

Layton’s Mystery Journey may have a new protagonist and mobile interface, but it keeps the series’ trademark style alive. The episodic cases are hardly compelling, but the puzzles reign supreme, even if some of them are awkwardly worded. Fans will feel right at home with this fully-featured installment. If you haven’t yet experienced a Layton game, however, I would sooner recommend any of the six original Professor Layton entries or even the Phoenix Wright crossover. I want to see more of the delightful Katrielle but I hope her next game either gives us something new or at least gives us more compelling cases in the future.

While I had some issues with both the puzzle selection and the game’s execution on Android, it’s still a great value for the $16 asking price, especially considering that according to Level5 this game is identical to the 3DS version coming later this year, at likely more than twice the price. That makes it a compelling choice for those who own a 3DS, and a no-brainer for any puzzle lover who doesn’t own Nintendo’s handheld.

While nearly all aspects of the game shine, it’s the collective story that is supposed to bring the cases together that is lacking.

There’s enough here to please newcomers and fans shouldn’t feel too disappointed, but the Prof left some big shoes to fill. His daughter has the guts and smarts to fill them, but she really needs a better chance to shine.

The Layton legacy works perfectly well on mobile, with an endearing new lead and what by all rights should be regarded as a great value-for-money download.

Nice and fun, but too expensive for a mobile game and maybe too continuist compared with Layton's franchise prior entries.

Katrielle is the highlight of this adventure, and I want to solve more mysteries with her (especially the two left hanging), but this first month of her detective agency being in business is disappointing. None of the cases stand out as noteworthy, with the possible exception of the final one. An underwhelming first outing certainly doesn’t spell doom for the new Layton Detective Agency, but I was hoping for more from this series’ reboot.

No attempt at a series “refresh” is without its hurdles, and Layton’s Mystery Journey is no exception. The iffy puzzling doesn’t always hit the mark, though there’s some mind-stretching fun to be had among the hundreds of challenges. Though a disconnect in the writing between the excellent animated cutscenes and clunky written dialogue results in a strange story pacing, Katrielle’s adventure nonetheless has a satisfying payoff and a strong cast of characters that has me hopeful for future installments.

Katrielle Layton takes the stage as a brand-new puzzle-solving star. With twelve short cases to solve, Katrielle’s adventures are ideal for those who want to solve a quick puzzle, though somewhat lacking for fans that enjoy the build-up and twists of past Layton games.

Beautiful, joke-filled, but ultimately a little empty. [Issue#191, p.82]

For its $16 entry fee on mobile, it's a resoundingly complete package with goodies and extras that can keep me playing far past its 18-hour campaign. But with a weak narrative, an unrelatable main character, and puzzles that lack originality and inspiration, I have no problem calling Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy the worst the series has seen yet and one that makes me worry about the future of this franchise.