Professor Layton and the Last Specter Review (DS)

Being completely unfamiliar with the series, my initial reaction to this game was to foolishly quip "Who the heck is Professor Layton, and why should I care?" This quickly turned to an appreciation for him, though. It turns out he’s a rather clever fellow who styles himself as a classical English gentleman, and he quickly won me over with a mix of great puzzles plus characterization. While Last Specter is the fourth release in the series, it is apparently the first in the storyline and thus makes a good entry point for new players. Anyone looking for a light-hearted game that is more about telling a story and getting the player to solve all sorts of puzzles will be well served, and there is even a great deal of ’side content’ to keep you busier than one might expect from a title in this genre.

The titular Professor Layton is supposed to be a professor of archeology at a London university, but often finds his keen eye for detail and ability to think complex situations through are in high demand for solving crimes, investigating supernatural or seemingly impossible situations, and so on. He’s famous for it, and the game frequently invokes that reputation: the player will regularly be presented with puzzles that either further Layton’s investigation, or convince a witness that he really can make sense of the situation if they’ll just provide a little more information. Sometimes Layton will even make his own puzzles; looking at common household objects may prompt a challenge just as a mental test for himself or his assistants.

Last Specter’s flow of play generally breaks down into three segments: exploration, story scenes, and puzzle solving. Watching the story unfold is pretty ’hands-off’, though some lines are given professional voice-overs and a few scenes are even fully animated. Exploration is mostly done by looking at the scene before you (a village street, the inside of a house, etc.) and tapping around with your stylus to find items of interest. This exploration is your most common method of encountering puzzles, which run through an impressive variety of goals. Most of them have no time limit and you’re encouraged to think them through, though they may require very precise actions in order to solve. A hint system is available if players get too stumped, though Last Specter requires that players spend ’hint coins’ from a finite pool in order to get these nudges on how to finish the challenge at hand.

Since puzzles are the primary game mechanic, they better be good. Thankfully, Last Specter delivers dozens upon dozens of them and they’re complex enough to be good challenges even for an adult player despite the art style looking like it’s from a children’s storybook. While suitable for adult players, kids can get in on this too; all they need is some patience, an eye for detail, and the ability to read. Between the hint system and that very few puzzles can be truly failed, Last Specter stands out as a game that is easy to play but will also either reward existing puzzle-solving skills or help develop them.