Firstly I'll start by saying how much I love Professor Layton. I have played all the games and I have loved them all. Is this game as good as the others? Overall I would have to say yes, although the format is maybe starting to get a little tired 4 games on.

The story for this Professor Layton is set before all the other games (not confusing at all!) It follows Layton as he befriends his companion we have all come to know and love Luke. We are also introduced to his new assistant Emmy as the travel to the town of Misthallery. The town is plagued by a mystical spectre who appears and destroys various parts of the town. Of course Layton is on hand to solve the mystery, with your help of course.

The play of this game is much like the others. You work your way around town and discover various puzzles, some of which will be given by people just by talking to them and others will be hidden. Hidden puzzles are something I have always found annoying as personally I cant find a logic to them so I just tap the stylus all around the screen looking for them. As you make your way around the town you also discover hint coins. These can then be used to unlock up to four hints on any puzzle you are stuck on. These can sometimes be really helpful and are just what you need to solve that tricky puzzle. Other times they can just be so irritatingly unhelpful!

The game has over 170 puzzles to solve and I am yet to finish them all and have played it for around 14 hours so the longevity of the game is great. You are also able to download puzzles as part of the bonuses of the game, these are available on a weekly basis and help keep you interested in the game for longer. Puzzles include maze games, mathematical puzzles and good old logic puzzles.

My gripes with this game are the same as they have been with the others in the series. The writing is still too small so my gran is still never going to be able to play it. I also think although the game is a 7+ (for violence and fear) it would frustrate children who are too young as some of the puzzles can be very challenging.

Overall I do love a bit of Layton but I am hoping that the introduction of Layton to the 3DS world may bring something a bit more interesting as he is starting to tire after four games. I would recommend this game but I would probably wait until you can find it for £20.00 or less.