I wonder what it's like to be offered puzzles at every turn in life. Not just being offered a brain-teaser by friends, but actually being harangued in the street by people who want you to solve their latest problem, to sort tiles, to figure out what jacket goes on what hook, all that. Being Professor Layton (and his plucky apprentice Luke) must be one hell of a life. With the latest installment in his series, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, the puzzling man must solve another bevy of riddles, puzzles abound at every corner once again.

The story begins when Luke recieves a letter from, apparently, a 10-year-older version of himself. With this mystery, the pair go on an adventure that involves time-travel, kidnappings, and a look into the past of the great Layton himself. The story isn't quite as strong as the previous games', but it's fun to play through and fairly engrossing as you learn more about Layton's past. There are some dull parts in it, but it flows mostly well.

Beside that, there's not too much to say about the game, if you're familiar with the series. You solve puzzle after puzzle, doing everything from unlocking doors to defusing fights to gaining entrance to a police station in the process. Puzzles are quite varied, a little more so than the previous Layton games, and there were more puzzles of the visual or logic variety, rather than the multitude of math-type puzzles that I recall from other games. I definitely prefer these more, but your mileage may vary. Still, there are puzzles where the solution is vague, rarely bound by logic, and simply feels just arbitrary. These are, thankfully, rare.

There are new minigames to play through, some really fun ones like guiding a car through an obstacle course, using stickers in a sticker book based on clues, and a platformer-style puzzle involving a parrot. In to the new games, the Unwound Future brings an improved memo system with variable sized-pens, different colors, and the ability to erase what you choose, rather than everything at once.

There's not a whole lot to say about the new Layton game, other than it's more of what made the previous games fun. More puzzles, more story, more impressive cutscenes and art. For fans of the series, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is anoter great addition to the world of Layton.

For the context of this review, the platform primarily tested was the Nintendo DS release of the game.

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