Game Review: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

B influenced me to download this game two days before the Pharmacotherapeutics quiz and parts of it became so addictive that I traded studying for puzzles and this on hindsight was a terrible idea because for the first time since first-year biology I failed a bloody quiz.

Diabolical Box was very similar to Curious Village. It had the same sort of puzzles. Some in fact were almost exactly the same (i.e. those INFURIATING sliding blocks to get an item from point A to point B). Some were a bit bullshit, like, you wouldn’t think they’re hard but you wouldn’t be able to work them out and then when you eventually stumble upon the answer you’ll be all WTF.

There are a few new features in DB:

• Remember the little robot dog that sniffed out hint coins? There’s a hamster that does the same thing in DB, except while you had to construct the little dog in CV you have to make the fatty hamster lose weight by playing a minigame before it can spot hint coins for you
• Another minigame is the Tea Set. You collect different tea leaves/flowers/herbs as you play and make combinations of three types to create a tea. If your tea is good, the recipe is retained. If it’s shit, then they tell you it’s shit and to try another combination. When you walk around, random people will need tea to sort out their problems e.g. a cold, fatigue, etc. Apparently you’ll get 26 such requests and I’ve no idea what happens when you’ve satisfied all of them because I haven’t yet
• Another minigame is the camera. When you’re in certain places, a camera icon will appear on the upper right hand corner of the screen. You click it and end up playing spot-the-difference where identifying all three differences will result in a hidden puzzle. There are nine photos in total and again I’ve no idea what happens when you’ve solved all of them because I haven’t. Because I swear to God one of them has only two differences

My verdict is that CV was somewhat more fun, although that could have just been due to the novelty of it. I recommend playing only when you’re feeling mentally alert and physically awake because otherwise you won’t solve anything and end up snapping the DS shut so forcefully that you crack a bit of plastic. 7/10

GTA Chinatown Wars

New DS Rom.

I heard awesome reviews about it and I’m going to start tonight instead of being more constructive.

B has started playing The World Ends With You. C and I finished it awhile ago, actually when I went into it to check my shut-down-PP it said 408 days had elapsed since I last opened the game. And then out of curiosity I tapped a few noises and realised I had forgotten how fun it was and now I’m going to play it again.

I wasn’t as stoked about the twisty ending as C was. I don’t think I quite got it. Hopefully B will appreciate the storyline more than I did.