Definitely my least favorite ‘Layton’, maybe, though by only a smidge, but not for the reasons I expected. This game actually does a really great job on the transition from 2D to 3D, considering this is a series that, before this game, basically leaned mostly on the charm of their cartoony art style and animations that were made for 2D art and animation. The models in this game were not only very well done, but are well utilized to make some scenes a little more lively, with some non-2D-animated cutscenes using the models for some action scenes so that it’s not all the standard visual novel diorama. It gives the game a really great overall look that doesn’t veer far away from the established and well known style of the Professor Layton series.
Unfortunately, this game’s scenario and plot is just not even meeting its visual success in the middle. It is very interesting to dive into more of Layton’s past, after getting some insight into his love life in ‘Unwound Future’ and then seeing his early days at his current professor job in ‘Last Specter’. The scenario goes back and forth between past and present, as the professor recounts more of a story that’s directly intwined with the strange events that the gang is investigating. The thing is, the events of the present are not interesting after the very beginning and until the very end! It is a bit of a drag, pacing-wise, and the mystery just did not entice me. The chapters that make up the past are leagues more interesting, as we learn more about the stoic Hershel Layton’s closest friends of his teenhood. It made me wonder, constantly, of how this plot might’ve been better broken up or arranged in order to make for a better overall scenario.
Now, in these games, I don’t exactly hold a high standard for them to be extremely mind-boggling and surprising in terms of plot twists. Professor Layton games are very wacky and mystical and earnest, aiming for a wide audience of all ages. These games all revolve around Layton and his entourage unraveling a seemingly supernatural event, and not only explaining the phenomenon as a farce, but also uncovering the motives behind it. A problem in this installment is the game doesn’t really seem to be having any fun with the “explaining the phenom” part of the story. Professor Layton just seems to figure a lot of it out by talking about the events with others, and not a lot of investigating into each event happens, or puzzle solving, for that matter. There are less “a-ha!” moments and more “oh, okay,” ones, instead, I guess you could say. This is the fifth installment, and at this point, the audience knows that people magically disappearing or turning to stone might have some logic behind it, and the fun should be figuring out just how it was done, instead of figuring out that it was a trick in the first place.
Then, when it comes to motive, it is not exactly hard to connect the dots on what’s going on even as soon as all of the main players are introduced. The story, then, does not unfold with this in mind, and thus plays out as if we couldn’t possibly have a clue up until the last couple of chapters, when the professor himself begins hinting that he knows. Though, once you see even the first chapter that takes place in Layton’s past, I imagine any player could narrow it down a lot, and it becomes less about unmasking the masked villain of this story, and more about uncovering the motive. The game’s present story drags, mostly, because it takes a while to get to investigating a motive that might tie into events of the past that we still are dying to see.
The game’s finale also kind of falls flat. In my review of Professor Layton and the Last Specter, I fawned very hard over the climax of that game. The finale incorporates a lot of fun elements, and a lot of puzzles, and thus feels like a great finale, story- and game-wise. There’s only about a handful of puzzles even involved in this game’s final hour, and while they are fun I just couldn’t help but feel as if this game’s entire scenario was just really stringy, and wobbly, and not at all the kind of charming, woven quilt that most of the other installments share. For instance, part of the last chapter has you reading storybooks left as hints within a giant hotel so that Layton and co. know where to go to confront the antagonist. This amounts to you going to a room, finding the book after clicking around, then going to the next room. I feel like, in a puzzle/mystery game, it might be better to have the player be familiar with all of the rooms already, maybe by having already visited the area (it actually would’ve really served the story to have Layton be staying in this hotel during his entire visit), and then the player can figure out which room to go to themselves based on the hints instead of just, unlocking the room once you find the book, lol.
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask transitions a landmark DS series to 3DS very, very well when it comes to UI and basic gameplay structure, and the visuals do not suffer from letting go of the classic 2D portraits and also switching things to the top screen to accomodate the 3DS’ hardware design. One of the most fun little reveals was actually that a chapter in the story is told entirely through a dungeon crawling segment, utilizing the game’s newfound 3D style to switch things up, gameplay-wise, and keep the series fresh and still inventive, and, thus, keeping the audience engaged. This game is definitely continuing from its predecessor and throwing in more ingredients into the pot than just a bunch more puzzles. However, the story’s execution just did not come together on this one, for me, and although I would still recommend this to any fan of the professor’s, as it still give some wonderful insight into the character, it definitely is the weakest installment, in my mind.
Unfortunately, this game’s scenario and plot is just not even meeting its visual success in the middle. It is very interesting to dive into more of Layton’s past, after getting some insight into his love life in ‘Unwound Future’ and then seeing his early days at his current professor job in ‘Last Specter’. The scenario goes back and forth between past and present, as the professor recounts more of a story that’s directly intwined with the strange events that the gang is investigating. The thing is, the events of the present are not interesting after the very beginning and until the very end! It is a bit of a drag, pacing-wise, and the mystery just did not entice me. The chapters that make up the past are leagues more interesting, as we learn more about the stoic Hershel Layton’s closest friends of his teenhood. It made me wonder, constantly, of how this plot might’ve been better broken up or arranged in order to make for a better overall scenario.
Now, in these games, I don’t exactly hold a high standard for them to be extremely mind-boggling and surprising in terms of plot twists. Professor Layton games are very wacky and mystical and earnest, aiming for a wide audience of all ages. These games all revolve around Layton and his entourage unraveling a seemingly supernatural event, and not only explaining the phenomenon as a farce, but also uncovering the motives behind it. A problem in this installment is the game doesn’t really seem to be having any fun with the “explaining the phenom” part of the story. Professor Layton just seems to figure a lot of it out by talking about the events with others, and not a lot of investigating into each event happens, or puzzle solving, for that matter. There are less “a-ha!” moments and more “oh, okay,” ones, instead, I guess you could say. This is the fifth installment, and at this point, the audience knows that people magically disappearing or turning to stone might have some logic behind it, and the fun should be figuring out just how it was done, instead of figuring out that it was a trick in the first place.
Then, when it comes to motive, it is not exactly hard to connect the dots on what’s going on even as soon as all of the main players are introduced. The story, then, does not unfold with this in mind, and thus plays out as if we couldn’t possibly have a clue up until the last couple of chapters, when the professor himself begins hinting that he knows. Though, once you see even the first chapter that takes place in Layton’s past, I imagine any player could narrow it down a lot, and it becomes less about unmasking the masked villain of this story, and more about uncovering the motive. The game’s present story drags, mostly, because it takes a while to get to investigating a motive that might tie into events of the past that we still are dying to see.
The game’s finale also kind of falls flat. In my review of Professor Layton and the Last Specter, I fawned very hard over the climax of that game. The finale incorporates a lot of fun elements, and a lot of puzzles, and thus feels like a great finale, story- and game-wise. There’s only about a handful of puzzles even involved in this game’s final hour, and while they are fun I just couldn’t help but feel as if this game’s entire scenario was just really stringy, and wobbly, and not at all the kind of charming, woven quilt that most of the other installments share. For instance, part of the last chapter has you reading storybooks left as hints within a giant hotel so that Layton and co. know where to go to confront the antagonist. This amounts to you going to a room, finding the book after clicking around, then going to the next room. I feel like, in a puzzle/mystery game, it might be better to have the player be familiar with all of the rooms already, maybe by having already visited the area (it actually would’ve really served the story to have Layton be staying in this hotel during his entire visit), and then the player can figure out which room to go to themselves based on the hints instead of just, unlocking the room once you find the book, lol.
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask transitions a landmark DS series to 3DS very, very well when it comes to UI and basic gameplay structure, and the visuals do not suffer from letting go of the classic 2D portraits and also switching things to the top screen to accomodate the 3DS’ hardware design. One of the most fun little reveals was actually that a chapter in the story is told entirely through a dungeon crawling segment, utilizing the game’s newfound 3D style to switch things up, gameplay-wise, and keep the series fresh and still inventive, and, thus, keeping the audience engaged. This game is definitely continuing from its predecessor and throwing in more ingredients into the pot than just a bunch more puzzles. However, the story’s execution just did not come together on this one, for me, and although I would still recommend this to any fan of the professor’s, as it still give some wonderful insight into the character, it definitely is the weakest installment, in my mind.