Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a neat little adventure/puzzle game for the DS and, quite possibly, the strangest game I've ever played. What makes this game so weird is not the actual gameplay, but the context in which the game takes places. Every single person in the curious little village that Professor Layton visits requires that he (or his apprentice) solve some sort of puzzle before even speaking to him. Everyone. Without exception. Even when there's a freshly dead body in the room.

It reminds me of those old horror movies where the traveling protagonist happens upon a town that is inhabited solely by zombies or cultists or the slaves of Bluebeard. Except here, rather than being zombies, everyone is some sort of puzzle freak.

Professor Layton is initially summoned to the town of St. Mystere to help solve a peculiar estate dispute. But, before even the first day is out, there is a murder, and Professor Layton and his assistant are drawn into the intrigue. To solve the murder as well as the mystery of St. Mystere, you have to explore the town, solve its puzzles and the puzzles of its denizens. The fact that every conversation starts with a new puzzle adds a certain surreal quality to the interactions in the game.

Some of the puzzles are related to the task at hand, others are just tests to prove your value or trustworthiness. Others will be found in pictures or on dark doorsteps. And those that you miss will can be found later at the "Puzzle House" a sort of home for wayward puzzles. Some of the puzzles are new, some are classics and some are variations on a theme. If you've ever spent an afternoon doing puzzles out of a book, you'll recognize some of the puzzles or their forms.

Some examples:

You have a scale and eight weights, one of which is lighter than the other seven. Using the scale only twice, determine which is the lighter weight.

Given a set of directions and conditions, determine which house belongs to the puzzler.

On a map of the village connect 4 sets of locations such that none of the paths cross.

Determine which of four drawings could not be drawn without lifting your pen or redrawing any section of it.

The classic "Wolves and Chicks" puzzle.

Several variations on "which of these is not like the other?"

And so on.

There are at least 132 puzzles. Each puzzle has a number: the secret puzzles you'll find tend to have high numbers which you will discover in no particular order, whereas the puzzles given by the residents as part of the story are basically numbered in order. So, the highest puzzle number I've seen is 132, but I'm guessing they go higher.

As you poke around town — and I do mean poke, you poke at everything with your stylus to see if garners some sort of response — looking for clues, you'll also find hint coins. Hint coins are used when you get stuck on a puzzle. Each puzzle has three hints, each costing a single coin. But, according to wikipedia, there only 200 coins in the game, so you'll not be able to hint your way out of every puzzle. Unfortunately — and this will probably be my only complaint about this title — some of the hints aren't all that useful, so don't use them unless you're really, really stuck.

In addition to convincing tight-lipped townsfolk into talking to you, some puzzles will have their own reward. Some provide you with "gizmos" which are eventually assembled into a completed thingy. You'll also find painting scraps which you'll eventually be able assemble into a full painting. Solving puzzles also earns you "picarats". I don't know what a "picarat" is, but I am somehow thrilled at having earned to many! The number of picarats awarded is tied to the overall difficulty of the puzzle. Most fall in the 25 to 35 picarat range, but I've seen them as low as 10 and as high as 50. Guessing wrong on a puzzle will drop your picarat reward by about 10%. In cases where there are a finite number of possible answers, the penalty is much higher, so guessing is discouraged.

Since the core gameplay is all about solving puzzles, you have to enjoy that. If you don't, then you're not going to enjoy this game. But, if you enjoy solving puzzles and logic problems, then this game is the cat's jammies. The puzzles are good and the story is interesting enough that the whole "I want to see what happens next" syndrome kicks in and you'll find yourself puzzling well past your bedtime.