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For the very first time, I have felt myself getting a little bit smarter. That's probably because I was playing 'Professor Layton: Unwound Future'. It's not something you would play when you want mind-numbing escapism after a hard day's work but it's perfect for when you feel like exercising your brain... and it might require you to pull out the old graph paper and perform some good 'ol fashioned long division. While some children under 12 might find this game of puzzles, problems and riddles a bit too difficult, it truly is a great way to make math and logic fun for young people…and even most adults. Unwound's story is pretty light and ridged in the way it unfolds. The game bounces from one task to another without the ability to influence the pre-determined story at all. To be fair, the plot serves only as a backdrop which links the puzzles together. I would have been drawn into the game's narrative a bit more if my actions made a difference as to how the story played out. Upon realizing that they did not, I clicked through the text without so much as a thought or care in the world. If I could offer one key critique, it would be to open up the storyline to allow for some personal choices. 'Unwound Future' won't win any awards for graphics, video, music, movie sequences, or creative use of the multi-DS display screens either, but it did use these features appropriately in order to maximize the enjoyment of the brain-teasers. The music was fun - at first - with a Parisian cafe and a Sherlock Holmes sort of feel. However, I eventually needed to mute the sound as it started to grate on my increasingly taxed mind. I need total silence when performing mental gymnastics and the simple and repetitive music became more irritating and distracting than I could endure. Now for the strength of the game: the puzzles are the real magic. They are well-crafted and surprisingly challenging, even for a reasonably educated thirty-something person. I found myself hunting for my long lost pencil and sketch pad to map out solutions to the riddles. I required the use of hints more frequently than I care to admit, but fortunately I never found myself out of hint coins. They were easily found by tapping various hiding spots on the screen and, fortunately, they seem to be in every scene. Even if you had exhausted the hints and were still unable to answer the riddle, you had the ability to quit and go back to try and answer it again later on. 'Unwound Future' also featured a mini-game section of various types. These were fun extra challenges that could be completed at your leisure. There are also weekly extras (available for download from the official website) that provide an ongoing supply of fresh puzzles. Try as I might this isn't the kind of game that engages you for long periods of time. It is definitely a better way to test your logic, spacial relations, mathematic, and language skills than a book. This isn't the kind of game though you'll likely play for hours on end but the hours that you do invest in it should leave you feeling smarter than when you started.   Professor Layton - The Unwound Future Format: Nintendo DS Publisher: Level-5, Nintendo Developer: Level-5 ESRB Rating: E10+ Official Site: http://professorlaytonds.com Rating: 6 / 10

 

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G4 Canada (formerly TechTV Canada) launched in September 2001. G4 is the one and only television station that is plugged into every dimension of games, gear, gadgets and gigabytes. Owned Rogers Media Inc., the channel airs more than 24 original series. G4 is available on digital cable and satellite. For more information, see www.g4tv.ca.