Professor Layton and The Curious Village
Meet professor Layton, the star of a planned trilogy of mind-bending adventure games from Japan. This guy and his Curious Village have been picked up and translated by Nintendo, no less, for worldwide release - a sure sign of quality. The idea is simple enough: uncover a village's darkest secrets by conversing with its inhabitants, probing anything out of place with your stylus, and solving puzzles. Ah, but the puzzles are anything but simple. They range from the classics - like the juice and pitcher problem where you might be asked to separate 16 ounces into two portions of eight using pitchers measuring twelve, nine, and seven ounces - to mathematical puzzles (think geometry and algebra). And then there are the trick questions: If mice from a certain pet shop cam give birth to 12 babies in one minute, then how many mice in total will you have 10 minutes after you bought one from this pet shop? All-told, Curious Village packs aout 140 brainteasers - plus additional weekly puzzles that you can download from the Internet - that are as varied as they're clever. If there's a unifying theme, it can only be that the puzzles are designed to be challenging enough to get those synapses firing, but not to the point of frustration. Should you get stuck, however, there are three hints to each brainteaser that you can "purchase" with hint coins, uncovered by tapping randomly at the game's numerous 2D backdrops. Perhaps more could have been done with the "adventure" element. As it stands, Curious Village feels like an adventure game for only two reasons - to furnish you with those coin-embedded backdrops and to prevent any detractors from making the argument that a mere collection of puzzles does not pass for a video game. A stronger storyline would have made Curious Village a little harder to put down - the game failed to put me in a "just one more puzzle" trance. Nevertheless, if you enjoy brainteasers (who doesn't?), then you certainly cannot go wrong with Professor Layton.

Despite its childish looks Professor Layton will challenge even the brainiest of you.
I expected this game to be fairly easy. Its childish, anime style graphics and plot give the impression that you will be in for an easy ride. DON'T BE FOOLED.
This game has puzzles that can be very difficult that fooled even me (and I am a MENSA member).
This is a must buy for anyone who enjoys puzzles or who just enjoys a challenge. It is not for young children or people who hate puzzles.

Amazing Game!
Brilliant Game - Modern day Classic -
makes you think, but has a great story,
Fantastic Voices for Layton and Luke
Excellent Delivery -Thanks Play-Asia

Professor Layton will train you better than
I love how Level-5 has incorporated puzzles into a story, although they aren't related to the plot. The puzzles are interesting, and some of them do require more critical thinking. The game has a wonderful art style with great background music, creating a somewhat quirky atmosphere, yet appealing. Unlike "Brain Age" that only provides brain training in the same pattern through out the entire game, Level-5 delivers a game with a story that's filled with a variety of puzzles that are more interesting and challenging~ "Professor Layton" is a MUST-HAVE for DS owners~