Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

Genre: Puzzle / Graphic Adventure

Players: 1

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Review:

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2012, is the fifth game in the Professor Layton series, and the first game in the series to be made for the Nintendo 3DS. Like other games in the franchise, this game combines Graphic Adventure and Puzzle game elements, with this game’s plot focusing on the Professor’s investigation into a malevolent masked figure wreaking havoc on the fictional city of Monte d’Or.

The gameplay here has players observing environments and speaking with various people to investigate the game’s mysteries, with these dialogue sequences interspersed with occasional puzzles. These puzzles generally have some vague relevance to the story, but at times it feels like the story just inserted an arbitrary dilemma just to have an excuse for a puzzle.

At the very least, these puzzles are varied, and generally good. The game also has occasional Arcade-style live-action scenes, and these are fine and add variety, but aren’t particularly good in and of themselves. At the very least, the game’s touchscreen controls are quite good, and in fact it seems that the entire game can be played using the touchscreen, making one wonder why this game hasn’t been ported to mobile devices.

The presentation here features decent cel-shaded 3D characters in front of backgrounds that blend 2D and 3D elements in a way that can make it difficult to tell the difference. These are joined by some nice animated cutscenes, and backed by a wonderful instrumental soundtrack and some solid voice acting during cutscenes. The result overall is a really endearing presentation that doesn’t push any envelopes, but is still charming all the same.

Both Puzzle fans and Graphic Adventure fans would do well to add the Professor Layton games to their collection, and Miracle Mask is no exception to that. This is a charming tale with some good puzzles and good use of the 3DS touchscreen, but more than that its charming characters and presentation make this an excellent choice.

tl;dr – Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask is the fifth game in the Layton series of Puzzle Games / Graphic Adventures, and it features a good mix of strong Puzzle gameplay and endearing characters and presentation. If you’re a fan of either of the genres this game covers, you’ll definitely want to add this one to your collection.

Grade: B+

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