Game Review: Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

The Nintendo DS has not had much publicity with the older and more mature members of its audience, but Level 5’s release of “Professor Layton and the Unwound Future” allows them to wrap their brains around brain teasers and other logic puzzles. The third game in the Unwound Future series, Professor Layton is filled with logic puzzles that are still challenging, even to the most extraordinary Mines student. This sequel is an great improvement when it comes to game play, difficulty of the puzzles, and the overall aesthetics of the game. Even the non-player characters are amazingly hysterical and whimsy as their personalities help drive the campaign of the game.

The premise of this game is that there is a mystery that can only be solved by the British Professor Layton and his young accomplice Luke Triton as they are thrust ten years into the future. As they traverse the streets of London, citizens are eager for the player to solve their own puzzles, whether they just have the puzzle on their mind, or if the riddle is necessary to progress in the game. The player will find themselves thinking creatively by building a gun out of a broken slot machine and by apprehending a mysterious villain with a crew of identical goons. The game also consists of three mini-game features that are also puzzles, and while they are not important to the quest, these features do allow the player to access special bonuses including concept art and extremely difficult puzzles.

In all, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future contains over 165 puzzles and about 20-40 hours of game play depending upon the speed at which the player solves puzzles. And, while the campaign comes with those initial 165 puzzles, each week another puzzle is available to download which extends the replay value greatly. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is the perfect game for any Mines student who wants to work their brain while still relaxing after that difficult test.