Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box DS Review

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is the second in a series of puzzle games and the latest one to come stateside. Like the first game, Diabolical Box follows Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke to solve a mystery by solving puzzles. It's a point and click adventure with an intriguing storyline that separates this game from other puzzle games putting it in a class of it's own. There are over 100 puzzles in the game ranging from fairly easy to quite difficult which will keep you entertained and puzzled for hours.

I'm gonna to spend a good chunk of this review discussing the puzzles because this game at it's core is a puzzle game. There are a variety of different puzzles ranging from guessing the right item from a number of clues to classic peg board puzzles to sliding puzzles. Some of the puzzles are unique to the other puzzles in the game, while others are just a harder version of a previous puzzle. A couple use outside elements taking you away from the screen. One of them uses a paper ticket that is found in the game's booklet which is instructed for your use in game. The last puzzle in the story uses a feature that none other in the game uses, leaving you to really think about what you have to do. That puzzle was my favorite because it really utilizes all the features that make the DS so unique.

If you get stumped on one of these puzzles you can get up to three hints which can be unlocked by using hint coins found throughout the game hidden in the background. Most of the coins are easy to find and hidden in the same types of places that they would be found in the first Professor Layton game. I was hoping for more of a challenge looking for these coins, but since they are used as a helping tool and not necessary to finish the game it wasn't a big deal. Plus it might be nice to not struggle over where to find one of these when you really need one to be finish a puzzle that you just can't seem to figure out. But then it becomes even more easier to find them when you finish the hamster side quest puzzle as he actually will point out their location to you.

Speaking of these side quests, there are a few for you to accomplish as you head through story mode. Three are of them to be exact. You will run into a chef on the train who will tell you about his pet hamster and how he needs some exercise for he fears that he is too unhealthy from living in a kitchen feeding off all the scraps. There are five levels and once he is fit and feeling good he will help you find those hint coins.

Another of these side quests involves a broken camera you receive. Again you will find pieces after solving puzzles and then you have to put all the pieces together to fix the camera. Once the camera is fixed more puzzles will be available to you.

The last side quest is played by mixing herbs together to make tea for the towns people. This side quest was the least fun. The towns people randomly appear to be sweating, indicating that they need tea. But if you serve them the wrong tea they don't seem to want another cup until some random time later. It's a bit frustrating to serve them the wrong tea just to go back later and find out you still don't have it right.

Other than the extensive amount of puzzles there is a story that ties them together nicely. Some puzzles are even tied into the story, so not to make them just a random element. The story to Diabolical Box was nice and full of mystery. You discover a little more and more of the giant puzzle as you move along like any good story, too bad you don't have to figure this one out on your own. It is all revealed through cutscenes, sometimes being backed up with a puzzle.

The cutscenes are nice with three different kinds that move the story along. The best is the actual moving pictures with voice acting. The style, even though not realistic is quite nicely drawn. The other two types is a still frame of the two characters currently talking with subtitles. Some of them are voice acted while others are not. It leaves you wondering why all aren't voice acted.

This game has a good replay value. Even after the story is finished there might still be puzzles to be solved since you don't need to solve them all to finish the story mode. There are also more puzzles to be downloaded through wi-fi just like the first. With so many puzzles and a cute artistic style this is truely one game on the DS to not pass up. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.