by Cat Sentz

Created on: August 26, 2008

Welcome to the curious village of St. Mystere, a perfect getaway for gamers hungering for a point-and-click brain bender of an adventure. Much like any other European town, St. Mystere is just head over heels for puzzles and the eclectic lot of village-folk won't give up a scrap of info until you prove sufficient mastery over them, from math to logic to just plain riddling.

Professor Layton and his young apprentice Luke are called to St. Mystere to solve the mystery of the Golden Apple, where not-so-surprisingly they are met with a fitting amount of intrigue, silly characters, and a smattering of murder. Layton and Luke travel about the town uncovering clues, more mystery and of course, solving puzzles. While many of the riddles can be saved for a later time, the crux of the game is going to the trouble of solving them - take out the puzzles and it's all rather lean and purposeless.

As a point-and-click there are plenty of secrets to uncover, be they hidden puzzles or an astonishing number of hint coins. As the name suggests the latter are used to unlock the three available hints during puzzle solving should you find yourself baffled. While this may make the game more kid-friendly, in most cases the first two hints are a waste of coin. The puzzles, even at their easiest, will give you pause though overall they are completely manageable with the occasional stumper. From pour the liquid style puzzles to tile sliders to safe transport of farm animals, many are just trick questions aimed at the truly devious. It is hard not to appreciate the variety offered, and while the math-based ones made me feel like I needed to retake the fifth grade, trouncing the logic puzzles is downright satisfying.

Most of the puzzling comes as a means of obtaining clues from the villagers, and this puzzle-happy phenomenon extends to the objects of the town as well. Be it a stream that reminds Layton of a riddle or perhaps Luke's fondness for local fauna prompting a mammal-themed quandary, players won't get far without bumping into something, well, curious. These hidden puzzles uncover more of the village's mysteries, and Professor Layton typically seizes the opportunity to spring a puzzle of his own on Luke. Any chance to impart gems like: "One must always put a lady's needs first, that's what a gentleman does." Saucy Professor!

Each successfully solved puzzle fills your pocketbook with Picarats and is assigned a different worth based on difficulty. I vaguely remember a promise at game

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