As I was a huge fan of the first Professor Layton game (Professor Layton and the Curious Village) I waited with great anticipation for the second installment to be released. As I have played the first game the review will contain some comparisons to the first game. (which I have recently reviewed if you know nothing about it!)

I had no reservations about buying this game as I had loved the first one so much and at the time I bought this it cost me around £30.00, a price I didnt mind paying. However, now you can get this game for around £15.00 on amazon, which is a great bargain!

This game is very similar to the first one, so if you didnt like that one then chances are you wont like this one either.

This game still follows Professor Layton and his assistant Luke. This time they discover that Layton's mentor has been murdered! The only clue that the pair can find is a ticket for the Molentary Express, the worlds most luxurious train. This of course means the duo go off to explore whats been happening, encountering lots of different characters and puzzles as they go. The game is set partially on the train and partially at stops along the trains route.

This game has even more puzzles than the last one, with over 150 new puzzles. Again the puzzles vary in difficulty, though in general I found the puzzles in this game to be harder compared to those that were in the first. This has, again, led to some very frustrating moments, where I have believed a puzzle to be impossible! (though of course its not!) The puzzles do not have a time limit though you do need to solve certain puzzles to progress through the game. If you are stuck on a puzzle then there are three hints which can help you out. However, I found that alot more hints were completely useless in this game compaed to the first game. This caused alot more frustration on my part, but I did also enjoy the fact the game was harder, like it was sent to challenge me!

Examples of puzzles in the game:

Piles of Pancakes: You have three plates. The plate on the left has pancakes stacked on it, each one is smaller than the last. You have to move all the pancakes across to the plate on the right. However, you can only move one pancake at a time and you cant place a larger pancake on top of a smaller one.

Sweets for Five: You have a box of sweets made up of four different varieties. You need to split the sweets up into five equal portions, making sure they contain the same number and variety of sweets. When doing this you can only use sweets that are located next to each other in the box.

Lukes Trunk: You need to help Luke pack his trunk. There are various objects that need to fit into the trunk - most made up of awkward shapes! You have to fit everything in, making sure nothing overlaps.

Some of the puzzles are repeated throughout the game, getting more difficult. For example 'Piles of Pancakes' appers a few times, each time with more and more pancakes. making it more and more difficult. This wasnt something that bothered me as something can be fairly easy at first but more challenging and thought provoking with increased difficulty.

The game also has extra game play through nintendo wifi as you are able to download weekly puzzles. I also think this game is one to keep as you will never remember the answers to all the puzzles, making it playable again.

This time round the game, for me, has lost its wow factor purely because the animation and amazing quality film clips have been seen before. However, if you wanted to play this game first, because it is now the cheaper of the two Layton games available, you will probably find this game to have the wow factor and enjoy the graphics etc alot more. I also found the game play to be slightly worse due to the fact you were on a moving train and this meant stopping at places and then moving on, meaning you couldnt go back to explore them. However, this didnt alter the fact that I really enjoyed this game.

As this game is very similar to the first one and at times I though the puzzles were actually harder, I wouldnt recommend this for children, even though the box does say for 7+. Also the writing within the game is still small, meaning that again my Gran cant play this game, even though she would love to, so its not recommend for those with poor eyesight.

I would recommend this game just as much as the first one, especially if you love puzzle solving. My mum bought this on my recomendation and loves it just as much as the first and she is busy trying to finish it! I now cant wait for the third installment and I'm jealous of the Japanese who already have four Professor Layton games available and apparently, are going to get a Layton movie!