Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Frozen girls from ancient times, special eggs linked to an archaic civilisation, betrayal, twists and turns, adventuring across the globe - welcome to the next edition of Hershel Layton's escapades! By now, most people should be familiar with the style of gameplay featured in this, the sixth main entry - Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy. However, here is a quick recap for those newcomers reading: think of the point-and-click adventures on PC where moving the mouse around various locations allows for interaction with the scenery, collecting items, talking to people, uncovering secrets, and so on, whilst a novel-esque story unfolds all around. Now, imagine the Brain Training series, whereby numerous brain-teasing conundrums are piled up, being fired off one-after-the-other, testing the old grey matter to the maximum. Merge those two styles of game together and the result is what Akihiro Hino, CEO of Level-5, conjured up with the Professor Layton series that started way back when on Nintendo DS with The Curious Village and Professor Layton and Pandora's Box shortly afterwards.

Splendid hand-drawn artwork, with characters now represented on-screen in polygonal form thanks to the added power of the 3DS, but not losing the charm of the DS originals, Azran Legacy takes players on a journey through cityscapes and rural settings, to underground caverns and deserted towns. Variety may be the spice of life, but here it is the lifeblood that keeps the series fresh, with the range of characters met en route to uncovering the mysteries at hand being all sorts of crazy, and the locations visited being pleasing on the eyes with plenty to play around with.

As with Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, the improved mechanic of scouring settings for clues is back, where the stylus can be used to drag a miniature magnifying glass around the touch screen until the lens turns orange or blue - the former being something of interest and the latter giving the chance to zoom in further. This means locating Hint Coins (for giving a helping hand when trying to crack some really tough puzzles later on), the many items required for completion of mini-games that unlock (including 'dress-up' where people ask for fashion advice…), or discovering hidden puzzles dotted around, is far more intuitive than the old 'randomly tap anywhere' technique employed.

For those that have played the previous five titles, the draw here will come down to eagerness for the story's continuation. What will befall Layton and his trusty cohorts, Emmy and Luke after both Professor Layton and the Spectre's Call and The Miracle Mask? Thankfully, despite a slow start, the yarn swiftly develops as the half a dozen chapters included progress. The main adventure probably lasts around the 15-20 hour mark, but that comes at the expense of not hunting high and low for every last drip of puzzle solving fun. Skipping the majority of the game is rather pointless, though, since those likely to be long-term fans are the sort that love working out patterns, doing tricky calculations, unravelling problems, all right to the very end and beyond (since the final credits encourage replay to scour every nook and cranny, then complete all the extra games (figure out how to get all the flowers in a garden to blossom at the same time, rolling objects around stages in specific ways, and more).