Complete: Professor Layton

Level-5; 2008

Late last night, I completed the final chapter of Professor Layton and the Curious Village, triggering the end credits. I’ve also solved every puzzle in the main game except for the inn decoration side-quest. I have solved a couple of the extra puzzles in the bonus section, but not all of them (my total number of completed puzzles is 122). The game took 9:49 over six or seven days to complete… and much of this time was spent staring blankly at sliding blocks.

With this game out of the way, Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV are the portable priorities among my open games.

Acquired: Professor Layton

Level-5; 2008

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is an odd little detective game that revolves around solving puzzles, riddles, and brain-teasers in order to advance the story. The plot seems to be standard mystery fare, with zany characters trying to find a mystery item in a mysterious setting. The key to the game’s success (and addictiveness) is the odd method of interacting with the game world. Professor Layton and his sidekick travel around town via a pretty standard point-and-click interface that makes decent use of the Nintendo DS’s stylus and touch screen controls. In order to get help from the townspeople, Layton must solve puzzles for them. These include riddles, word games, the old “getting stuff across a river” standard, odd-one-out visual puzzles, sliding shapes, and so on, and increase in difficulty as the game progresses.

Against my better judgment, I started playing the game just to see what it was like, and I wasn’t able to put it down for over an hour. As such, it’s going into the open games list, but given the game’s snappy pace I suspect it won’t be there for very long.

Acquired: Final Fantasy IV

Square Enix; 2008

I first played Final Fantasy IV back in 1991 when it was released on the SNES in Canada as Final Fantasy II. It was awesome. It has always held a special place in my heart. This latest version—a 3D DS remake—features a complete graphical overhaul, as well as a revisited script and a retooled gameplay system. Dual screen support and optional stylus-based controls have been implemented. The game even features new video scenes and voice acting during important sections of the story. Much of the tweaked gameplay brings the game into line with more recent entries in the series (making it easier to manage items and equipment, for example), but there is also a new ability system that allows for some customization of the characters.

This game enjoys enough priority that it’s jumped straight into my open games list, bypassing the queue altogether. I’m still working on other open games as well, but nostalgia wouldn’t let me keep this puppy sealed for one minute.

Acquired: Tetris DS

Nintendo; 2006

Tetris DS is the latest handheld falling-block puzzler in the famous series that started all the mayhem. Now just look at how many block-arranging puzzle games we have! The strange thing is that it has somehow gone out of print. Tetris. On a portable Nintendo system. Weird. Anyway, this version features a whole bunch of different play modes, including the traditional “marathon” of endless line-clearing and a couple of interesting competitive modes. It also uses a number of classic NES game themes as backdrops for each mode, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Donkey Kong. No sign of the original classic music yet (if it’s not in here I will be very disappointed), but it may be unlockable.

I started playing this game just briefly. Who wouldn’t? It’s the ultimate pick-up-and-play portable game. As such it’s bypassing the queue and going straight into the open games list, but I suspect it won’t stay there for very long.

Acquired: Civilization Revolution

Firaxis/2K Games; 2008

Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is a console installment in the classic PC strategy series Civilization. The player controls all aspects of one civilization (selected from a list of sixteen that are loosely based on real historical counterparts). The goal of the game is to become the dominant global civilization, a feat that can be reached in a number of ways (in other words, total conquest in war is not the only means to attain victory). I haven’t started playing the game yet, but it’s not going into the queue until I clear at least one portable game from the open list.

Acquired: Final Fantasy Tactics A2

Square Enix; 2008

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, a tactical RPG, is a DS sequel to the GBA entry in the Tactics sub-series of Final Fantasy games spawned by the original PS1 Final Fantasy Tactics. It is a part of the “Ivalice Alliance” series that includes the Tactics games, an entry in the main series (Final Fantasy XII), and even a non-Final Fantasy game (Vagrant Story). I haven’t started the game yet (it is still sealed), but it’ll be in the queue until I can clear some more open games.

Acquired: Hoshigami Remix

Aksys Games; 2007

Hoshigami Remix is a DS remake of the PS1 tactical-RPG Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth, originally developed by MaxFive and published by Atlus. I had always meant to try the original, especially since I’m a big fan of the genre. I haven’t started the game yet, but it’ll be in the queue until I can clear some more open games.