Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Nintendo DS, 1 player, $69.95
******
By Séamus Byrne
No kids' game, despite the pleasant animation
Designed with the look of a Miyazaki anime, Professor Layton... is one of the smartest games you will find on the DS. The curious village of St Mystere is exactly that - full of weird people pestering our good professor with challenging puzzles while he unravels a mystery that would make Hitchcock proud.
Once you encounter a murder very early on, it's clear this pleasantly animated village is no kids' game. The increasingly difficult puzzles are also aimed squarely at a more cerebral market. The puzzles range from maths to wordplay, shapes to ball mazes, and everything in between.
Once you have solved the mysteries of the central story, it doesn't end there. Nintendo is even offering additional downloadable puzzles to ensure you want to keep coming back to this one for months to come. If you like a good challenge, this is a very clever puzzler that offers respite to those who want more than Brain Training games to test their mental mettle.