Professor Layton and the Curious Village Review

We once again were able to score an exclusive interview review with Lugenstien! This time for Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

Wii Bluelight: Lugenstien, thanks for coming back for another review.

Lugenstien: My pleasure. I just completed the last puzzle in Professor Layton and it was an incredible game. The game consists of 135 puzzles for the player to solve (plus more available through download). These puzzles run the gamut from word puzzles to chess puzzles to various story problems.

Wii Bluelight: Sounds like another brain age type game.

Lugenstien: It goes far beyond the standard brain age game. While the puzzles will work your brain what truly sets this game apart is an incredible story line, great art style, and incredible voice acting that connects all of the puzzles together. The diverse puzzles alone are enough to make the game great but it is the presentation of the game that makes this game truly incredible. You explore the village of St. Mystere talking to residents and clicking on items to find puzzles. Solving these puzzles progresses the story line until you are able to solve the overall mystery behind the village.

Wii Bluelight: How hard are the puzzles in the game?

Lugenstien: There is a large variety of difficulty in the puzzles. Some are very easy, others will test even the seasoned puzzle solver, some seem down right impossible at first. However, for the hard puzzles players are able to spend coins that they have found throughout the village to buy hints to assist them in solving the puzzles.

Wii Bluelight: Anything else the players should know about this game?

Lugenstien: This is actually the first game in a planned trilogy. The second one has already been released in Japan. However, there has been no release date yet given for America. Look for it sometime in 2009.

Wii Bluelight: What is your final score for the game?

Lugenstien: Presentation: 10, one of the highest quality presentation on a DS game
Graphics/Sound: 9, very good music, plenty of songs to keep it interesting, very high quality voice acting
Gameplay: 8, great use of the stylus to solve problems, if you miss a puzzle as you search the village it is often hard to find them later in the game, this becomes frustrating
Game Length/Replayability: 8, it will take you a while to finish all of the puzzles, about 26 puzzles available through downloads, once you've beat a puzzle though not much replay value
Overall: 9, the high production values and simple enjoyability of this game makes it a must own. Look for upcoming sequels.

Picross DS Review

Today we present the first Wii Bluelight exclusive interview review with lugenstien. The first game reviewed is Picross DS.

Wii Bluelight: Lugenstien, what exactly is Picross DS.

Lugenstien: Picross DS is a puzzle game that can be simply described as a picture crossword. For each row and column you are told how many of the boxes need to be filled in to create a picture. For example on the puzzle below the middle column would be totally filed in since it says five of the boxes are filled in, and that is how many boxes there are in that row. The last column has a three that means that three consecutive boxes will be filled in. Through a process of elimination you can figure out which of the boxes those are. In the second row the numeration is 1 1. This means that there will be a box filled in and there will be some space in between another box that is filled in.Although somewhat complicated to explain once one begins to play it is easy and entertaining.

Wii Bluelight: How is the game controlled?

Lugenstien: There are actually two control methods. The first is stylus control. You tap or drag the stylus across the boxes that need to be colored in. The second is controlled through the control pad and the A and B button. For the smaller puzzles the stylus control is better; however, larger puzzles such as the 20x25 puzzles that require zooming in on the puzzle to use the stylus it is easier to stay zoomed out and use the control pad instead.

Wii Bluelight: How many puzzles are included in the game?

Lugenstien: There are 15 easy puzzles to help familiarize you with the game play, 165 normal puzzles where you are penalized for marking a wrong square, and at least 150 free puzzles where you are not alerted if you make a mistake. In addition to these puzzles you can create your own puzzles, download additional puzzles from the internet, and play in a daily mode where you try to advance your skills.

Wii Bluelight: Is there anything the game could improve on?

Lugenstien: The game as a whole is amazing. The gameplay is both addicting and challenging. The one shortcoming of the game is that it does not allow for multiple save files. If multiple people are playing the game it is impossible to know which puzzles you have completed and which puzzles the other person has completed. The simple addition of allowing for multiple player files would have made the game close to perfect. It makes the main game better but it would also be fun to compare your daily training scores with other people using the cart, similar to the Brain Age series.

Wii Bluelight: What is your final verdict on the game?

Lugenstien: I would break the score down like this.

Presentation: 5, simple presentation but it works; really should have provided for multiple save files

Graphics/Sound: 6, basic and clean graphics, limited selection of songs that get old quick

Gameplay: 8, gameplay is addictive, stylus control doesn't work as great on the larger levels

Game Length/Replayability: 10, there are so many puzzles you will be playing this game for 100s of hours

Overall: 8.5, adding multiple save files would have easilty pushed this game above a 9.

Wii Bluelight: Lugenstien, thank you for your review. We look forward to having you back on the site to review more games.