Every puzzle, has an answer! This is my first adventure into the world of puzzle games, and this one doesn't disappoint.
You start off with Professor Layton and his "apprentice," Luke, who arrive at St. Mystere, a mysterious town, former home of the rich and famous Baron Reinhold. Your purpose their is to discover the location of the Golden Apple, or the late Baron's fortune. And so your adventure begins. The town and it's puzzle loving inhabitants all have a unique, cartoony, endearing style to them, making the character design one of the better sides to this game. To advance the story, you must traverse the town, solving puzzles to get the people to give you information and using point -and-click investigation to find hint coins. Hint coins, which you can unlock if you're having trouble with a puzzle, are very helpful, and are a key element in puzzle solving. You can't spend them frivolously, however, since there are only a limited number in the town. The whole story and investigation part of the game are done perfectly - the writing is great, and the story is unique and immersive. However, the game contains some short cinematic scenes, which look great and fit in to the story well, but the voice acting is absolutely atrocious. Especially Luke. Ugghhh. Anywho, on to the puzzles. I think they are designed and woven into the story quite well. Barring about 5 to 10 confusing ones you'll need to look at FAQS for, most of them are quite ingenious. I really like the ones where you can use touch control to move things around and find the answer. There are quite a few mathematical, heavy thinking ones, too. I didn't like those too well, but that's just me ( I don't like math).
All in all, Professot L is an awesome game, best in the genre, and one of the top DS games out there. If you're like me and have never played a puzzle game before, go on, try it. It won't disappoint (unless you hate to think, then you're in trouble).