TGS 2008: Professor Layton and the Final Time Journey Hands-On

TOKYO--The puzzle-solving Professor Layton and his young assistant, Luke, are on their final journey in Layton Kyouju to Saigo no Jikan Ryokou. We've had the opportunity to play only the first Professor Layton game in North America, but in Japan, Level 5's trilogy is about to be complete. It's unfortunate that this series must come to an end, but we're still eagerly waiting for a North American version of Pandora's Box and Final Time Journey. At this year's Tokyo Game Show, we went over to Level 5's booth to get a quick look to see how this game starts off.

Considering there's a lot of Japanese text, we weren't able to get every little detail about the story, but we do know that it is set in London. In the opening cutscene we see Professor Layton and Luke sitting on a double-decker bus discussing the contents of a letter. Professor Layton thinks that Luke has played a joke on him because the letter is from Luke himself. Luke tells the professor that he didn't write a letter, but when he reads it, he realizes that it is written by him, but 10 years into the future. The future Luke requests that the professor come meet him at a watch shop. We are then taken to a flashback where the professor and Luke are at an outdoor restaurant. The inspector is also seen, eating at the restaurant, and there is some kind of announcement going on. We also get a close-up shot of some strange contraption in the outdoor courtyard.

The first puzzle we came across revolved around the seating. Tables were set up with flowers on them, and it looked like the goal was to arrange the flowers so they're placed on the table of the same color. We also noticed that there is a timer when you solve a puzzle. If you can't solve it within the time limit, you'll have to try it again. This is unfortunate, since some of these puzzles can be tricky and the timer might turn away people who don't like the added pressure of a running clock.

The second puzzle looked like a maze with letters of the alphabet randomly placed on the screen. The goal was to find a particular path through the maze, but we weren't sure of the details. Judging from what we saw, it plays similarly to the first game in the trilogy. The artwork is the same, but there seems to be a bit more animation onscreen when there is a long exchange in dialogue.

It would be nice if this version and the last Professor Layton game made their way to North America. Puzzle-solving fans could use a good story with clever riddles and mind-bending brain teasers on their Nintendo DS. Layton Kyouju to Saigo no Jikan Ryokou will be released November 27 in Japan only. We were unable to obtain any information regarding a North American release.