"I Want Professor Layton on My Zombpocalypse Team."
by Lisa Foiles

I couldn’t really get into the first Professor Layton game (the one with the “Curious Village”) because A.) I was much more A.D.D. in 2008 and a slow-moving puzzle game couldn’t keep my attention over, say, the cat doing something funny or B.) I was much dumber and didn’t appreciate playing games that made me feel dumber than I already was. But, I don’t know, maybe the real reason is that I just prefer Diabolical Boxes to Curious Villages. Can you blame me? They’re DIABOLICAL.

In short, I’m pulling a Memento and playing the games in reverse since Professor Layton and the DIABOLICAL Box stole my heart so forcefully that it has me on my knees in a French maid costume begging for more. (You’re welcome.)

For those of you unfamiliar with the Professor Layton games, they revolve around a simple concept: puzzles. Lots and lots and lots of puzzles. In fact, that’s the main reason I was unsure about the games to begin with – I thought they would involve me walking around a virtual town doing everybody’s math homework. While that is true at first glance, the games cleverly weave in a fascinating story with a twisting and turning plot, as well as very interesting characters.

At the beginning of Diabolical Box, the proper English gentleman, Layton, and the feisty but able-to-be-tamed-with-a-thick-belt Luke receive a letter from an old friend regarding a DIABOLICAL BOX that KILLS PEOPLE when they OPEN IT. They soon discover their old friend lying dead on the floor of his apartment with obvious evidence that someone had broken in and stolen the box! Which I might mention is DIABOLICAL. I really cannot stress that enough.

The story unfolds quite slowly as you venture from one riddle to the next, but not slow enough for you to become disinterested. It really does keep you wondering WTF is going on and why. The riddles themselves range from easy to ass-kickingly difficult, and out of all 150 or so of them, I really only thought two of the solutions were cheap. Cheap, as in you go to a movie expecting Bruce Willis and you get Nicolas Cage. That kind of cheap.

The best part about this game is that there is really nothing irritating about it. I despise games that make me read too much. Nine times out of ten I get handed crappy dialogue in excess being uttered by stupid characters, and I can’t possibly tap my stylus fast enough on the screen to get it over with. (I’m looking in your direction, The World Ends with You!) The first three-fourths of the game will have you convinced that Professor Layton is way cooler than every teacher you’ve ever encountered, and the last twenty-five percent will make you want to recruit him for your Zombpocalypse team because he’s such an intelligent badass. He’s close to replacing Bear Grylls on my team, if that tells you anything.

In conclusion, you seriously can’t go wrong with this game. The story is not only unpredictable and original, but is surprisingly heart wrenching at the end. The riddles are given to you in all shapes and forms; there is something for everyone. If you want to give your brain a workout, go for this game instead of those stupid Brain Age games.

Honestly. Don’t buy those games. You will get bored with them after a week only to find out their trade-in value is crap.

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10