Common Sense Media Review
By Christopher Healy
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
More great brain-teasers, with a dark but exciting plot.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
What's It About?
In PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE UNWOUND FUTURE, the world-famous puzzle-solving detective and his young apprentice, Luke, attend a public demonstration of a scientist's new invention: a time machine. After the time machine explodes, and the inventor and Britain's Prime Minister both vanish, Layton is on the case. Eerie and mysterious happenings occur all over London and Luke starts getting letters from his future self. As the adventure progresses and Layton seeks out the mastermind behind the time-travel abductions, players get glimpses into Professor Layton's past and learn a bit more about his character.
Is It Any Good?
With this being the third Layton game in the past couple of years and with the basic formula being pretty much unchanged, you might expect the quality of Professor Layton and the Unwound Future to suffer at least a little bit -- but you'd be wrong. While the format is essentially the same as in earlier games -- Layton and Luke explore the city and interview suspects and witnesses who inevitably want to challenge them with puzzles -- the plot here is perhaps the most compelling yet. The animation and voice acting are top-notch, as usual. And the puzzles are all clever, with tons of variety among them. The "super hints" are also a very nice addition that should be great help to players who may tend to get stuck on a certain type of puzzle. So while Unwound Future feels very much like its predecessors, it is still just as good as they were (if not a smidgen better).
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about puzzle games vs. action games. Can games that reward fast brains as opposed to fast thumbs be just as exciting? What attracts you to a brainy game like Professor Layton?
Game Details
- Platforms : Nintendo DS , Nintendo DSi
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : Nintendo
- Release date : September 12, 2010
- Genre : Puzzle
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : August 5, 2021
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