Professor Layton Blog

Day 1

Day One of the Professor Layton and Pandora's Box challenge and my girlfriend has already been hogging the DS non-stop.

This proves a couple of things. Firstly, we need two DS handhelds in this household. And secondly, the latest Layton in the series can still excite and engage non-gamers. Unlike me, she hasn't picked up a DS title since the original Profesor Layton (Professor Layton and the Curious Village) last year but couldn't wait to get her mitts on this one.

In Pandora's Box, the Professor's mentor, Dr. Andrew Schrader is found dead and an artefact supposed to be in his possession is missing. Determined to unravel the mystery of his long-term friend's death Professor Layton sets off on a journey on the legendary Molentary Express - a luxurious train that twists and turns almost as much as the storyline itself. It's this storyline, as much as the puzzle content, that makes it almost impossible to put this game down.

As you'd expect, the latest title follows the same form as the first with the Professor - who is calmly knowledgeable - and sidekick Luke - who is excitedly inquisitive - solving puzzles to unravel the mystery.

The game starts with the Prologue and my advice at this point is to read the instructions carefully in order to crack through the first puzzle. Those who played the first game will 'get it' quicker than the newbies but that's the great thing about Professor Layton and Pandora's Box; you don't need to have played the first version to enjoy the second.

Don't forget also to tap the screen to find hint tokens and chat to people on the street for help. The puzzles this time are more relevant to the story and, of course, the mystery that you are trying to solve, which is an improvement on the first version.

And guess what, we now know what role the dastardly Inspector Chelmly plays in all this. But it'd be a shame to tell you and spoil all that fun...

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Day 2

Day Two of our Professor Layton and Pandora's Box blog and we're travelling with the Prof and sidekick Luke on the legendary Molentary Express.

Our journey begins here after a letter led us to start investigations on this train.

Although there's been a bit of trouble packing Luke's case. It's frustrating, like a Rubix Cube. You know it can be done and if just one bit was different it would all fit.

Randomly done puzzle 24 now, that's the thing with this game, there is no real order to it and that's what makes it so exciting.

Nearly used a Hint Coin to help complete it but managed a lucky guess and can now save that for another day.

A guy has stopped me from entering the next carriage to carry on the search for clues.

Had to settle for tackling another puzzle which was strangely working out the LONGEST route for an ant through a maze.

It may be one of the quirkiest titles around but this game is still absolutely brilliANT!

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Day 3

It's Day Three of our Professor Layton and Pandora's Box mission and here's a useful tip: the Memo button is particularly handy for working things out before you submit them, yet another excellent improvement on the first title.

We've now got a chubby hamster in the game and named him Herbie. It looks like he's a major part of the adventure as there's an icon for him in the treasure chest and keep-fit gifts for him too. You get these by solving the puzzles so the more you solve the better for Herbie. Skip the puzzles or fail miserably and your hamster explodes...

Only joking!

If I'm honest, some of the puzzles so far have been a little bit easy but the way they tie into the story luckily keeps it exciting. Plus, with 150 puzzles in total there's plenty of time for them to get trickier. Puzzle 22 is an exception ... believe me, putting rubbish in a bin is not as simple as it sounds. Even after using three Hint Coins it still took a while and a good night's sleep before solving it. Plus the game is actually very funny. Whoever comes up with the characters has a great sense of humour.

This latest session has also unearthed a little house that says it belongs to 'You Know Who'. Will have to explore a little more to find out who that is.

It's strange how close you actually get to the Professor and Luke. For example, when Layton and Luke had lunch, I felt a bit peckish myself. It's extremely easy to lose yourself in their investigations and forget about real-life.

I wonder what they'd be like in the flesh. Maybe they could make a Professor Layton movie? I wonder who would play the pair of them ... answers on a postcard.

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Day 4

It's Day Four of the Professor Layton and Pandora's Box blog and there's only one more of these reports after today. Despite picking it up everyday, we're not even half way through the game yet; I reckon it'd take us a good couple of months to solve all the puzzles. How quickly you complete it probably depends on whether you're a compulsive person or not... luckily I can pick it up and put it down but I can imagine some people would get really addicted.

The puzzles are definitely getting harder and need more and more Hint Coins. Don't waste your time trying to work out which shoe is left and which is right on Puzzle 18 like the girlfriend did. It's obvious they're already on the correct sides of the squares.

Overall, I'm happy to report that we're both getting plenty of puzzles right. My girlfriend loves it when the Prof says 'huh wonderful' ... particularly as she hears it more often than me. Well, she is a Layton addict.

There are three new mini-games in Professor Layton and Pandora's Box: Camera, Hamster and Tea Set. At the moment we're busy collecting parts for the Professor's broken camera. Like the Hamster mini game, you have to earn these ... so hopefully all our hard work will soon pay off in the form of flash piece of new detective kit that will help us to solve future puzzles.

One quick and obvious tip before I log off: Don't forget to save your progress each time you close down. My girlfriend nearly forgot and would have lost a long, long while of puzzle solving.

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Day 5

Herbie the Hamster is playing up as we enter our final day of this Professor Layton and Pandora's Box blog. He won't walk more than three steps which is not going to help him lose weight. Maybe I need to collect more items?

It's amazing how you get into the Professor's way of thinking. Having done the first game both me and my girlfriend deduce stuff a lot faster this time around. Who needs brain training?!

Tina has a new piece for her camera but doesn't know what it is or does. Girls and gadgets!

We've managed to find Tom now, and it has revealed something very interesting you'll soon find out when you play it. That has got us to the end of chapter one and we're off the train too, which seems a good place to finish up this blog ride.

If you enjoyed the first Professor Layton game you will love this. It has all the best bits from the original, like great puzzles and a fun intriguing storyline. Plus now has stuff like the Memo notebook, quirky new characters and it's set in lots of different locations like a proper mystery book or film. And of course the Professor and Luke are still as likeable, if not more so.

If you get yourself one DS game this autumn then make it Professor Layton and Pandora's Box. You don't need to be a detective to work that out.

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