Review #736: Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

 Gentlemen don't make a scene, so I'm not the one that's crying, it's you!

 It's been quite a ride, but here we are, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future marks the conclusion of the first Layton trilogy, as being the final game, chronologically speaking, that features Layton as the main character. While you don't need to play the previous games in order to enjoy Unwound Future, the emotional payoff is much more touching if you did.

 A letter from Luke arrives, which sets out Layton and Luke on their newest adventure. Luke, you say? The letter comes from Luke alright, but from Luke 10 years into the future! After witnessing a time-travelling experiment go awry, eventually Luke and Layton find their way into the future, and they team up with future Luke in order to solve the mystery of future London. Ironically, for a game set in the future, this game also delves back into Layton's past and how this gentleman came to be. This game has got the best narrative in the series, at least in the first trilogy, and it's hard not to tear up during the epilogue. On another note, the game has about 168 puzzles, making it the meatiest Layton yet! It also feels like it had the highest budget as well, since it features many more animated cutscenes as well as voice acting than the previous games, both looking and sounding better than ever.

 Honestly, the game plays exactly the same as before. You explore different areas, interacting with NPCs in order to trigger new puzzles and riddles to solve. You can tap around the environments to search for hint coins or hidden puzzles. It's a decent assortment of the lot, can't say I preferred them or disliked them over the ones in previous games. As for this game's exclusive minigames there are three: Toy Car Driving, in which you must plan out a route for a car in order to collect everything on the road, Parrot Delivery Service, in which you must produce platforms for a parrot to bounce over in order to reach someone and, lastly, a Sticker Book, in which you tell a story by placing the appropriate stickers over it. These were probably the best minigames in the series yet, I found the sticker books particularly endearing. But then again, I suck at puzzle games and those were quite simple to figure out.

 I'm not the biggest puzzle fan, so I fear Professor Layton will never hit the right notes with me. That said, I adored this final game's story, I found it very interesting and I found myself more emotionally invested in Layton and Luke than with their previous ordeals. Layton definitely deserves all the praise it gets.
 8.0 out of 10