“The sun rises when you and I meet, and when the wind blows, you will know my heart.”
I enjoyed my time with the first Professor Layton, even if I found it could be rather repetitive at points. The puzzle variety was just lacking, and the mystery was one I didn't care for that much. Still though, I had a pleasant time, and it made me curious to see how the other games hold up, and hopefully improve upon the pretty fun gameplay loop of Curious Village. Released about 9 months after the 1st game, Diabolical Box once again sets the stage for another mystery with our favorite gentlemen, and I was quite excited to dive into it. Video game sequels most often then not improve upon the original, so I had high hopes on what this game was gonna do. While it didn’t improve too much, it still was a pretty good time, and I think I can officially call myself a Layton fan now!
We once again find ourselves following Professor Layton and his assistant Luke Triton. This time, they’ve been instructed to do research on a mysterious box by Layton's old friend Andrew Schrader. The box, which is rumored to kill anyone who opens it, ends up being stolen by a mysterious assailant however, with the only clue left behind being a mysterious train ticket. Wasting no time, Layton sets off to discover whether the rumors of the box are true, and to find out just who exactly made off with the box and for what purpose. Much like the 1st game, the plot’s alright and the characters aren’t anything crazy besides Layton and Luke, but I found myself more hooked on it this time compared to Curious Village. You find yourself in a lot more locations this time around, having you explore a train, an ancient castle, and even a mysterious town shrouded in darkness. Each area is still rather small, but the variety helps a ton in keeping things fresh, and you usually move onto the next location before you get bored of the current one. The story itself feels a tad weaker in some aspects, the mystery is more interesting for sure, but the big Layton twist is even worse then the 1st game and you really need to suspend your disbelief to enjoy it properly. I feel like this series’s over reliance on these twists really harm the games more than anything, they just feel a tad too far from ridiculous to really feel in place with the semi grounded nature of the world, and I think they just need to strike a better balance in terms of how these twists are presented. At the very least, the presentation is a lot better here, it still shares the same graphics as the first game, but there’s a lot more animated cutscenes this time, and the audio doesn't feel as compressed here, leading to a much more pleasant experience overall, and I was even able to enjoy the soundtrack more because of it. In terms of gameplay though, this is where I’m a tad mixed on!
The same gameplay loop is once again present here, having you explore different areas, collecting hint coins and solving puzzles along the way before eventually hitting credits. I suppose I don't fix what isn’t broken, but it can feel like a slog sometimes with how slow it can take to progress to some plot points, and I just wish the pacing was better. The side quests are better this time at least, they take some more thought this time around, and the minigames are pretty fun, having you brew tea, exercise a hamster, and solve some spot the difference puzzles! I especially enjoyed the hamster minigame, it’s a lot of fun figuring out just where exactly each item needs to be placed in order to get the steps needed to lose the hamster’s weight. In terms of the regular puzzles themselves, there’s way less of those “trick” puzzles the 1st game had, but I still felt the variety could be a tiny bit better. There’s a good few puzzles that have 4-5 variants that are just a little harder than the previous one, and those just got tedious too quickly. Still, I had to use my brain a lot more here, and I found that to be way more refreshing than the 1st game, where I felt like I just had to figure out the weird wording then actually solve a puzzle. The post game returns here as well, being the exact same as the 1st game, having you solve a lot more challenging puzzles as a final test, and it’s pretty good here, they get your brain working just the right amount and it was a great reward for doing everything in the game. It’s not too big an improvement overall, but it’s enough to where I noticed the difference, and I found myself more motivated to finish the game overall!
Diabolical Box isn’t the craziest sequel in the world, and it probably would have benefited with more time in the oven, but it still was a good time overall, and it was definitely an improvement over the rather mediocre adventure of the 1st game. Puzzles feel a lot better and are better integrated into the story more, the story is more gripping, the presentations better, it’s a pretty solid sequel, and I had a great time going through it. I’m now even more excited to check out what the rest of the games are like, and I’m happy to call myself a proper gentlewoman now!
No comments:
Post a Comment