The Layton formula is still working great, with more puzzles than ever, a new main character and the London setting. After ten years, though, the storyline is not as good as previous games, and puzzle design is not as imaginative.
This is not by any means a bad game, if people insist in comparing this game to its predecessors they will just miss the true essence of this game. Sure, the small cases may be the weakpoint of this game but the main characters (and some side charcaters) will charm the game like no Layton game before. The puzzles continue to deliver and it has several enhancements for puzzle location, hint coin location, customizable outfits, rooms, references for past games, etc. Now for the story itself, I agree it's not the best but it certainly isn't the worst, I place it just under UF and DB. In conclusion, this one is a really great addition to the series and it's just as worthy as any other Layton game.
Con Katrielle me ha pasado algo que nunca me había pasado con ningún otro juego, he ido quejándome de sus casos aparentemente inconexos y simples hasta su último caso, el cual ha venido a darle sentido a todo lo que había pasado hasta ese momento. He sido lo más paciente que he podido a la espera de ver si me encontraba algo a la altura de los Layton y vaya que si me lo he encontrado en sus últimas horas. Quizá sea ese el problema, que parte de una saga llena de historias que te atrapan desde el inicio, historias fantásticas que saben intrigar desde el principio. Aquí tenemos algo más de calle y una historia de fondo que se va construyendo poco a poco hasta que pega ese plot twist al final, de toda la saga de Layton esta es la entrega menos fantástica y más sensata de todas. Por lo demás tenemos un apartado gráfico y artístico soberbio, una banda sonora muy acertada, unos extras marca de la casa muy interesantes y una muy buena rejugabilidad. Con unos puzles que me han sorprendido y que nunca caen en la repetición ni te dan una sensación de monotonía como pasaba en anteriores títulos. Si logras aguantar hasta el final vas a entenderlo todo, pero ese es su problema que tal y como está contado a veces puede hacerse algo cuesta arriba aguantar los 10 primeros casos.
Yet another Layton game. This game with new characters like Lady Layton plays exactly like you expect it from a Layton game. It is very humorous, got awesome puzzles and there are a lot of new cases to explore. It just misses an overwhelming story.
Layton's Mystery Journey is the point of change for the popular adventure/ puzzle series. Even though Level-5 tried hard to retain the essence of the franchise we can’t overlook the unnecessary repetition of many puzzles and the fact that Kat is not as a charming character as her father was.
Carried by the Layton family's experience in mystery, Katrielle starts her detective career with modern resolutions, such as the episodic investigation proceedings. But the cases and their protagonists ultimately lack depth, while the whole plot looks like a long introduction. The puzzles and mini games also appear less inspired, or bold, since Kat solves the most relevant riddles by herself anyway. Let's hope that she's keeping more tricks in her hat for the upcoming adventures.
This is a good puzzle game with fun characters and beautiful surroundings, but the level of the old Layton games is still a lot better. The quality of the puzzles has decreased and the story simply does not stick.
Offering the same abundance of barely-integrated gameplay as its predecessors but with new protagonists and smaller cases, the gorgeous Layton's Mystery Journey is ideal for puzzle fans on the go, though at times it sacrifices quality for quantity.
This game is a pretty good Layton game! Its story may be a bit weaker than some of its predecessor's, and we have to agree that some of the cases' resolutions make little sense and are not that great, but the game has some great puzzles and going through the cases is very fun! I have to say, though, that as you progress in the game it gets better and better. Also, its graphics, for a 3DS, are very good, although of course this game isn't focused on graphics. While we all miss Luke and Professor Layton, the 3 new main characters (Layton's daughter, her assistant Ernest, and the dog) are awesome, they are very charismatic and fun to play with. We have to highlight as well that there are 195 puzzles (185 + 10 special ones), that is I think the highest number ever in a Layton game! Coupled with the daily puzzles you can download, there are a lot of misteries to solve!
All in all, a pretty good game, if you like the saga this is a must-have, and if you haven't played any other Layton games yet, this one doesn't disappoint as a start!
Short Version: I enjoyed it for the simple adventure it was trying to be, but it's hard to ignore how inconsequential each episode feels in the plot as a whole.
I've been a fan of the Layton series ever since I got my 3DS. I think I'm in the minority when I say that I felt the prequel trilogy was more interesting then the classics, likely because I started with them. Regardless of which Layton games we prefer, I think all fans were excited with the announcement of Lady Layton, later titled "Mystery Journey". It was going to pass on the torch to his daughter, Katrielle, and introduced a new mystery with the famed professor going missing.
After finishing the game, my thoughts were mostly positive at first, but after giving it more thought, I started having mixed feelings. I'll start with the positives, I feel like this game has really good writing and the best humor in series. The jokes made me laugh and I really liked the use English terms and slang like "donkey years". I also felt that the cast of characters were likable. Katrielle's a very chipper yet intelligent protagonist, Sherl's a lovable grump, and Ernest, Emiliana, and everyone else were just super fun to be around.
Unfortunately, I feel like the game didn't properly take advantage of it's episodic format. The cases feel too self contained to be connected to one another. There's still a sense of continuity with most cases involving one of the titular millionaires, but even so, none of the cases ever involved or hinted at a "conspiracy" until the end. This would be fine for something like a TV show, but in a story driven video game, it can feel like none of the chapters really matter.
Without spoiling too much, the second to last case's title made me think something crazy was going to happen that could lead to major stakes in the final case. Instead, everything that happens in the second to last case is solved at the very end of it, having no effect on the final case whatsoever. It's SO inconsequential, that I feel like cutting this case out of the game would have effected NOTHING, even more so than any of the other cases in the game which at least have the excuse of introducing the millionaires one by one and giving other characters interesting backgrounds (there's this other one involving the Inspector's wife that's complete filler, but at the very least I give it credit making itself obvious filler and not teasing me in to thinking it was important).
I didn't hate this game, there were things that I really liked as a Layton fan and none of the characters stood out as particularly unlikable. Most of the cases, if treated as individual stories like TV show episodes to a cartoon, can be seen as fun and charming on their own. Also, I did really like the final case since there was a twist that I genuinely didn't see coming. But the reason I didn't see that twist coming was because they never built up to the ending with the cases and instead chose to make feel inconsequential. The least they could've done were slight hints, but they didn't even give that much.
I can't in good faith recommend this to a newcomer, which was the developer's intention for this game, since it would make for a terrible first impression of the Layton series. It's hard to even recommend it on it's own merits since I could see many people being bored with the lack of an overarching plot in an episodic game of all things. I can only really recommend this to Layton fans who are willing to lower their expectations.
Really beautiful art and music, but lacks the charm of the original Professor Layton Games. I had a lot of trouble with understanding some of the puzzles; the wording of the instructions just didn't make sense, almost like there was some poor translation going on, and I really missed having an overarching plot. I felt like a lot of the mysteries were very predictable, which is something I really enjoyed about the original games: that they were unpredictable in the outcome. Overall though, I enjoyed playing this game, but it could have definitely been done better.
Layton is a franchise about puzzles and solving some kind of intriguing mystery.
This game's puzzles feel off (I played the game some time ago already, but I remember it had many repetitive trick answers, lacking some variety, it just wasn't fun). Also, instead of the intriguing story, you get a handle of short cases which simply aren't interesting (as an example, in one case you have to find a missing cat, and I'm not putting a spoiler alert over that btw). It lacks the 2 fundamentals of the series, so there shouldn't be much more to say about it. Also, Layton fans are waiting for a sequel of the third game, not whatever this is. Though I don't mind these games as long as they keep looking for an actually good puzzle designer (the previous one, who was very good,passed away).
SummaryA new adventure in the Layton series –with a female protagonist: As the seventh main entry into the core Layton series, LAYTON’S MYSTERY JOURNEY follows Professor Hershel Layton's daughter, Katrielle "Kat" Layton.A new cast of leading and supporting characters:When Professor Hershel Layton (the protagonist of past Layton titles) goes mis...