Professor Layton is roughly what you’d get if you took Sherlock Holmes, removed his drug habit and took away that acid on his tongue, replacing it with honey. The case of Pandora’s Box is Layton’s second adventure with his apprentice Luke. The first has become a DS classic – find out if this game lives up to that legacy in our Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box review.
The adventure opens with a murder. Dr. Shrader, Layton’s former mentor, lies dead, apparently after having opened a mysterious artefact called the Elysian Box. Following a trail of clues and bumping into a curious cast of odd characters, Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box sees you exploring a pair of villages and a very fancy Orient Express-a-like train in search of answers.
The story is really just the glue that sticks the game’s 150 or so puzzles together, but it’s what makes Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box relentlessly charming and the sort of game that even those that only normally play Peggle will get hopelessly addicted to. In order words, Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box is a girlfriend-friendly gem.
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Tapping on characters or objects in each scene will fire up puzzles. For the most part, they’re logic-based and visual conundrums – fairly traditional slices of puzzle book-style brain teasers that’ll normally only take a minute or two. In case you get hopelessly stuck, Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box also offers three text hints for each puzzle, but you’ll have to use hint coins to unlock them. These are found in each location by tapping on suspicious-looking areas.
This hooks into part of what makes Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box so addictive – there’s always something else to be getting on with rather than just the puzzles themselves. Once you’ve got past the game’s first stages, you’ll also have a hamster to train, a camera to construct piece-by-piece and a tea blending kit to fiddle with, all through the power of mini-games.
Essentially, the delightful blueprint set up in Professor Layton and the Curious Village remains largely in-tact in this new adventure, but some improvements have been made. Firstly, the game’s environments are more diverse and the story is packed with a few more intriguing twists. It also packs in an hour or so more gameplay than its predecessor and better video cut scenes to make the story that little bit more involving.
Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box’s story does get perilously close to jumping the shark in its final movements, but roll with it and you’ll find yourself strangely moved before the credits roll.
If you haven’t checked out Professor Layton and the Curious Village already, put it on your wish list straight away. It’s not better than Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box, but the whole series is a must-buy and it sets up Layton’s second great adventure perfectly.
