Professor Layton and The Lost Future Reviews

Back in old territory
After a brief stopover with "Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva" it is nice to be back in familiar, cherished territory with "The Lost Future". The game is back with its emblematic lineup of snappy, robotic and petulant characters, now crossing over from game to game or from film to game. Back in an unreal, timeless and illusory setting (London this time, but not London as we know it). Back is the accordion tune too (no matter how much we like it, it sounds too French for London though and we feel we're back or still in picturesque St Mystere). Back journeying through puzzles, and in time rather than space now. And back with another antidote proposition to the inevitability of... mortality.

With regards to the puzzles, they are easy, too easy in my opinion. Whether this is because they actually are in themselves very easy or because we have by now grown so used to the format and the tripping and trapping, most of them were for me instant revelations. Hint coins were collected, and remained collected. Many puzzles are masked, re-dressed old ones, but repetition is not always a bad thing and they are still gratifying.

What was lost for me in "The Lost Future" in terms of puzzle difficulty, the time travel riddle concept made up for. The overriding Laytonian theme of trying to capture life's transient reality through science and the human brain's reach and the melancholy of failing, enveloped in an H.G. Wells aura, was too hard to resist. Many many a fan will crave and relish this game. By the time the fourth one comes out though, a more 'radical' change should be mandatory. The rainbow of characters is revealing itself more and more as an interlinked net and the possibilities are promising. I hope Level-5 studio will pull out of the hat something that manages to surprise and daze with an unprecedented twist, with a masterful flourish, one year from now.

A gentleman leaves no series unfinished
Another year, another mystery to solve. Thankfully Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke are still as eager as ever, and haven't lost their appetite for puzzles. And thanks to the engaging characters and ambitious storyline, neither have I. The formula for The Lost Future doesn't deviate from the previous instalments. As usual, it's a point-and-click adventure stuffed full of individual puzzles. Or alternatively, it's a puzzle book in videogame format, with a storyline built around it. Take your pick.

As usual, the storyline is far-fetched, but not quite to the point that it requires a 'deus ex machina' type ending as Pandora's Box did. While the storyline takes place entirely in London - rather than a fictional village - all the usual Layton hallmarks remain in the town design and its wacky characters. A generous helping of returning characters keep The Lost Future firmly attached to the roots of the series, and we actually delve more deeply into the characters and their pasts with this outing. While this won't be the final Layton game, it adds to the previous games well and makes for a fitting end to the trilogy.

Minigames are provided to break up the action: a toy car puzzle game, a sticker-book in which you have to collect the items and complete the story (more fun than it sounds), and an infuriating game in which you have to draw platforms for a parrot to fly to. The less said about that, the better: 160 puzzles solved, but I can't do even a third of the parrot challenges. In short, The Lost Future maintains the high quality of the series, both in terms of puzzles and storytelling. The flaws of the formula are still present, and for me it's still a little too easy. But if you enjoyed the previous games, The Lost Future is a must-buy conclusion to the series... for now.

A journey through time...
This latest title in the professor Layton series looks and feels very much like the previous two. A story about time travel links together a series of mini-games of varying difficulty. Many of the puzzles look simplistic at first, but it's only once you start trying to work out the answer that you realise they are devilishly tricky!

As you move from game to game, you realise that there is very little repetition, almost all of the games are completely different. And that doesn't just go for 'Lost Future' - if you've played the previous titles then you won't find yourself playing games which feel like rehashed versions of what has already been released, the series manages to stay fresh by constantly coming up with new ideas.

In a nutshell: A great looking addictive brain teaser, but as with most other puzzle games it has limits. It will occupy you for some time, but doesn't have much replay value - once you've finally done all the puzzles you probably won't have another go at them for a long while. Older players who simply just want to do the mini-games may find the animated sequences charming at first, but then a little annoying! It's clear though that the Prof certainly hasn't ran out of steam and the puzzles creative and satisfyingly tricky.