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Professor Layton and the Lost Future (DS)
by Clarey112
The Professor Layton games provide something a bit different from the usual RPG games as it combines a good and gripping story line with tons of puzzles. I think the game provides a good base for children to get into puzzles due to the interesting nature of the game but is also a fun game for adults who enjoy puzzles.
In this ... Professor Layton game you receive a letter from Future Luke who claims that there is an Evil Layton in the future and the duo go on a quest to the future to work out the mystery and once again save the day.
One thing that has always struck me about the Professor Layton games is how much you get gripped into the story line and the individual character personalities and this game is no exception and is my favourite of all of the Professor Layton games so far.
The puzzles vary in difficulty from ridiculously easy to very hard which I feel keeps the game more interesting, you also collect hint coins by tapping objects and buildings in different areas and you can use these to help you with puzzles if you get stuck, there are 4 hints per puzzle and I've found you have to be careful with the coins as to not run out of them making the game even more challenging. Some puzzles have to be completed to move on to the next section of the game but some you can pass on and they get sent to Granny's Shack to complete at a later time .
Alongside the main game you have several mini games which you collect as you advance in the story. These include a sticker book where you have to work out the order of various stickers to complete stories and a model car game where you have to work out the best routes to collect all of the bonus items in the levels. These give you another element to the game and have provided me with lots of entertainment.
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Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (DS)
by SWSt
At the risk of shooting myself in the foot, this is a bit of a pointless review. There are so many Lego games now that the chances are you will already have played at least one and the general rule of thumb is if you enjoy one, you will enjoy others.
Still, for what it's worth, this one's based around events in the last few ... Harry Potter novels: The Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows Parts 1 &2. Each are presented as stand-alone episodes and made up of several sub-levels
You will certainly get more out of this game if you are a Harry Potter fan. Personally, I think it's over-rated claptrap (cue screams of outrage), so only ever read the first book. As such, I can't comment on how faithful an adaptation this game is. The downside to my woeful lack of Potter knowledge was that when it came to the cut scenes (which are far too numerous and too long), I had no idea what was going on, nor did I recognise any but the most obvious characters or know how they fitted into the plot. Thankfully this doesn't matter, since the basic gameplay remains: smash the Lego blocks, destroy stuff
Oddly, despite being a direct sequel to the Years 1-4 game, a number of gameplay changes have been made (some good, some not so). It's actually probably closer in terms of both presentation and general gameplay to Lego Batman 2.
Graphics are a step up from the previous game. As you would expect from a Lego game, it's bright and colourful and all the Lego characters look good. A big improvement is that it's now much clearer which bits of the scenery can be smashed and which cannot - removing at least one frustration from the earlier title. It's a game that will appeal to kids thanks to its bright presentation but which adults won't be ashamed to be seen playing.
The major disappointment comes with the cut-scenes. Like Lego Batman 2, the quality is appalling - grainy, low resolution images that have clearly been rendered on another (more powerful) console and then squeezed onto a DS cart. They are also too long and too frequent (and, as far as I can tell, there is no way to skip them.
Sound has also made a quantum leap forward. Whilst the sound has always been pretty strong in the Lego games, it has a far more cinematic quality here. Many tunes have been taken directly from the films and sound great. Developer Traveller's Tales have also taken the sensible decision not to use full speech for characters and instead they speak in the familiar grunts and squeaks which suit the style of the game far better.
Of course, none of the Lego titles are exactly challenging, and this is no exception. You get infinite lives and whilst the game is littered with puzzles, none of them are taxing. The game is very much on-rails, so you can't wander into areas you're not meant to be and if you really get stuck, there are clues as to what character or spell you need to solve a particular puzzle. Level design is generally good, limiting the amount of doubling back, although it does become a little tiresome towards the end, with the final levels descending into little more than a series of dull, repetitive duels between various characters. This problem is repeated if you want to complete the game 100% as you are forced to enter the Duelling School to unlock the final few characters, where you simply fight duel after duel after duel. Zzzzzzzzz.
There are lots of characters and abilities to unlock and whilst the game itself is easy to complete, there's a lot of long term appeal in going back and finding everything. Completing Story Mode, unlocks Free Play which allows you to explore hidden areas using the different characters you have unlocked. As ever, Free Play Mode is actually a lot more fun than Story Mode, so it's no chore at all to keep replaying levels until you have found all the hidden goodies. Despite its simplicity, Years 5-7 offers good value for money and provides a lot of entertainment. I'd guess there's about 20-30 hours game time in this title if you look to complete 100%.
Another big improvement is the regularity of Save points. A gripe with previous Lego games was the length of some of the levels, with levels structured in such a way that if you had to exit before you reached the end of a level, you lost all progress. Here, levels are split down into sub-levels and every time you move onto a new sub-level, your progress is saved. Of course, this also makes an already easy game even easier, but it doesn't significantly shorten its lifespan - it just makes it easier to grab a quick game when you only have a short time to spare.
The one big disappointment was the controls which I actually thought were a retrograde step. Potter Years 1-4 had really innovative controls, requiring you to draw spells on the DS touchscreen. Whilst it wasn't without its problems, it was an excellent way of making the game more immersive. Sadly, these have been ditched for the sequel in favour of more traditional controls that use the D-Pad and action buttons. Whilst there's (almost) nothing wrong with the controls, they do feel a lot less innovative.
The one negative aspect is that sometimes controls can be a little finicky, requiring you to stand on exactly the right spot for them to work. Move just a smidgeon too far to the left or right and nothing happens. It wasn't a major issue once you realised the issue, but a little more careful play-testing could have ironed it out.
Despite the fact that I'm a big Batman fan with no interest in Harry Potter, I actually found this a better game than Lego Batman 2. I think the Potter universe translates better to this type of game and whilst the plot passed me by, the game itself kept me entertained. It costs around £12 for a new copy and whether you are a Potter fan or not, it's well worth every penny.
(c) Copyright SWSt 2013
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Lego Harry Potter: Episodes 1-4 (DS)
by SWSt
I confess I'm not a fan of Harry Potter and fail to see why it is so popular with adults. At the risk of offending anyone, I read the first book and saw the first two films and thought them mediocre at best. None of this matters with this game, however, which is great fun whether you are a Potter fan or not.
As you might ... guess, Harry Potter Years 1-4 is based around the first four books in the series. Each "episode" contains a number of levels based around key scenes from the book and features a host of familiar characters and locations. This will instantly make it fun to fans of the Potter series as they see their favourite characters and places depicted in Lego, whilst the block smashing, character unlocking antics of the Lego series make it fun for anyone, even if you've never read a Potter book.
I obviously can't comment on how faithful the plotting is to the books, or how well the characters have been represented. I'm assuming (based on my experience with other Lego games) that they pay a lot of fan service, but I'll leave it to others to say whether there are any glaring omissions. The lack of familiarity didn't impact on my enjoyment of the game, since it is pretty self-contained, although it was fairly obvious at times that I was missing out on some in-jokes.
The gameplay has been tweaked slightly from other games in the series and this is both a good and bad thing. Rather than simply requiring you to work your way through a level destroying things and killing enemies, levels are more mission based, requiring you to complete certain tasks for characters before you can progress. On the one hand, this is a good development, since it gives the game a little more structure and purpose. On the other hand, the missions can interrupt the flow of the game. Part of the fun of previous Lego titles has been the ability to simply explore. The mission based approach (at least in Story Mode) goes against this and can leave the game feeling a little disjointed at times.
Of course, the real joy of the Lego games comes when you have played through each level and unlocked the Free Play mode which allows you to use characters you have unlocked and explore previously inaccessible areas. There are lots of hidden areas to uncover and secret objects to find and the addition of Free Play mode adds real replay value. You won't just play them once, but several times until you have found everything there is to find. This extends the life of the game far more than you would expect, and for most people there's a good 20-30 hours of gaming time there.
Graphics are exactly as you would expect, with characters and locations lovingly recreated in blocky Lego. Graphics are chunky, colourful and well-rendered and characters instantly recognisable from their film counterparts (at least the ones I knew were). Cut-scenes are well-rendered and the cut scenes look good (far better than the awful videos that spoiled Lego Batman 2).
The one issue I did have was with some of the scenery. Background scenery (bookcases, tables, and other furniture) all looks the same and it was often tricky to tell which elements were breakable and which weren't. This was further hampered by the slightly imprecise controls. I did feel I kept wasting a lot of time trying to smash things that weren't smashable.
Levels are accompanied by various tunes from the films, with full orchestral scores to match the epic scope of the action. These can become a little annoying and repetitive and I do quite often play the game with the sound down, but if you like the music from the films, you will enjoy this. Sound effects are a little more basic (bangs and explosions when you destroy things, ringing noises when you find something) but are well-suited to the game and capture the cartoon-like feel of the graphics.
It's true that the game lacks any real long term challenge or significant difficulty level. Even by the standards of the (already easy) Lego series, it's clear that the gameplay has been dumbed down for younger gamers. As with earlier titles, you have infinite lives, so when you die you simply respawn at the same point. The mini games are much easier and the whole thing won't offer much of a challenge to even mildly competent gamers. There's also no replay value in the long term. Once you have found everything there is to be found, this is going to sit in a cupboard and never be touched again.
Years 1-4 has a novel approach when it comes to controls, which is partly successful. To interact with objects, the game requires you to use the stylus as a wand to trace shapes on the touchscreen and cast spells. This works really well, tying in with the theme of the game and immersing you in the Hogwarts environment. Where it doesn't work so well is with the basic attack spell (used to break Lego objects or kill enemies) which can be a little imprecise. You wave your wand in one direction, only for the actual spell to whizz off in a different direction, missing the target. Some objects also require very precise positioning for you to destroy them and if you are not standing in exactly the right spot, they fail to explode. This means that you can sometimes miss out on hidden objects until you realise what the problem is.
The controls can also be a little uncomfortable. Whilst the stylus can be used to move characters around the screen, I again found this a little imprecise and it led to some frustrating deaths. As such, I prefer to use the standard DS buttons. Unfortunately, this means that you have to use the buttons whilst also clutching the stylus ready for use. This is actually quite uncomfortable and I noticed that after sessions longer than 30 minutes or so, my hand was really aching. If you regularly play this game, there is a very real chance you could develop RSI.
Whilst Years 1-4 might be firmly aimed at the casual/younger gamer, the important thing is that it's a lot of fun to play. It might be a little light on challenge, but it offers a good chunk of entertainment. It can be picked up for about £10-15 and that will give you around 20 hours of entertainment - plenty for your money. Even as a non-fan of the Potter series, I enjoyed this game; fans will be in Hogwarts Heaven
© Copyright SWSt 2013
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