Never played any Layton game before, meaning I don't have any Layton-references to compare it too. I guess if one knows the other games in this entry one would know what to expect. I just can't identify with the cases/story at all. I can even imagine a zombie apocalypse or aliens invading the earth but a Spoiler missing kissing scene from a movie being a major crime or a mayor Spoiler "conspiring" to have two people thrown/jumping into a river to make a festival from her childhood great again and acting like it was the most horrible crime in the world after being found out (especially knowing what a lot of politicians are really capable of) I just can't warm up with such a far fetched story. For me it wouldn't be much of a difference to just receive one brainteaser after the other, the cases are just a distraction from the mostly great puzzles. Yes that's my opinion, my personal taste and I didn't want to offend anyone with the comment about the toddler humor. Should've realized this could be insulting to those who actually like the game's story. Doesn't mean I personally feel any different about it though. Guess different tastes make us human. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I've played the Layton games on my daughter and 3ds. Still have the games, and completed 1 of them I think. I try to do the games without using any hint coins. I'm looking forward to having this new one on my phone. I think the stories can be odd at times, but they are charming, and I love the puzzles as involve thinking and frustration at times. But I can see how some will think that the story is just a side to the main game of coin searching and puzzle after puzzle.... but I love them and my friends n family love them too Hope they release older ones and newer ones onto iPhone
Bought the game with a gift card. I have to agree with Gambler that the story is very meh. I don't feel the urgency or necessity of any case, so obviously couldn't feel any achievement after "solving" them. I wouldn't call them child cartoon, but they are just... absurd. Maybe it's a Japanese humor thing, I don't know. Like some of those Japanese entertainment shows where every guest and audience on screen was laughing their eyes out, yet I sit there totally miss the point of what's so funny. I guess it's culture difference? With that said, I'm not too bothered with the story. Bought the game for the puzzles and didn't come with a high expectation of an excellent story anyway. The puzzles, I wouldn't rate them 5 stars either. Many of them a good, but there are quite a few ones that are either boringly simple, or just don't make much sense to me, even after I solve them (by luck). Just couldn't get the logic of the solutions. Also they don't have much replay value, but most puzzle games don't either, so not a big issue I guess. Putting the story and puzzle aside, my biggest issue here, is actually the presentation. Everyone says the game is specifically designed for mobile device, but why are all the screens split in half? There is no cohesiveness between top and bottom half, they are just like 2 random pictures taped together. Besides, I don't remember if I ever had one chance to interact with the top half. Can't help but feel this is designed for a DS with 2 screens. I never own a DS before, so I'm really, really not used to this design. It's even worse when I have to play in portrait and rotate to landscape for animation. There has to be a better way to do this! Seriously, if they insist on the split screen (which I don't think is necessary), can't they at least let us play landscape all the time, with 1 screen on left and 1 on right? Overall, if I were to review this game, as a person with no affection rooted from previous Layton games, I would give it a 4 star at best. I can't feel the love that many people seem to share here, but that's just my opinion, so don't burn me
one day we will get other layton titles, or ni no kuni, or even a real yokai watch game. just hope this game did well on mobile
I've completed all the previous Layton games and for me this one is the weakest of the bunch mostly because the puzzles are too repetitive and rely too much on cheap tricks. Far too many of them throw a heap of numbers at you but there's a (usually somewhat daft) trick that means the numbers don't matter at all. The story is okay but the characters aren't half as interesting probably due to the bitty nature of having multiple cases. The minigames are a mixed bag, the maze one is great, the jewel shop is decent but the rest are just fillers to be honest and who really cares about picking furniture for a virtual sitting room? It's not terrible and the price compared to a 3DS game is pretty reasonable but it feels like a budget version in terms of the puzzles and that's a big negative in my book.
Finally beat the game at 40+ hours. The game isn't that long prob because the timer counts even you are doing daily puzzles and other things. This is my favorite game so far in 2017.
