Hey everyone! Puzzle games are a huge part of the handheld market, and if you haven't played these games you are definitely missing out!

                                   

                  

This is the first handheld game I will have posted about, and because of that I made sure to pick a gem (or five of them!).  The professor Layton series currently has 4 titles that have been released in America “Professor Layton and the Curious Village”, “Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box”, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future”, Professor Layton and the Last Specter”, and the newest “Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask”.  The first four can be played on a Nintendo DS or DSi, but the fifth game is made for the Nintendo 3DS system.  Each of these games features Professor Layton, a college Professor who lives in England who is called upon by various people to solve some perplexing cases.  It is up to the player to solve a myriad of puzzles that will lead the story to its final climax.

The gameplay takes a very slow place, with players touching arrows on the DS screen to move from one area to another looking for clues and solving puzzles.  However, this slow pace takes nothing away from the game and actually helps the player search each screen meticulously for new puzzles and hint coins that help solve the many puzzles.  Speaking of puzzles, these games have some great ones! This is the meat of the game, and each successive version has more and more of them.  Puzzles range from math problems, to navigating mazes and word games.  Some of these can be quite hard, but with the help of the hint coins found in the game they can all be solved.  Solving puzzles progresses the story till its final climax, when Layton and his companions are able to piece together the final conclusion.

This series is an excellent teaching tool for many gamers, especially those 10 and up.  Any younger and some of the puzzles could be quite difficult to solve without some help.  But for those able, the puzzles force gamers to evaluate different situations and think outside the box.  Both math and literacy skills are developed by the puzzles, a great benefit to this fantastic game.  On top of this, about 90 percent of the story is presented through on screen script.  Gamers read a fantastic amount of print in order to understand and appreciate the story.  The game plays much like a book, with a puzzle break every 2-3 pages.

The only downside to this game is that there is no built in multiplayer, but this is one of the few games that I still recommend without it.  A multiplayer mode wouldn’t really make sense or have a purpose to this game and often enough players will need to ask those around them for a little help in solving the puzzles!  For gamers above the age of ten with a handheld Nintendo system I would highly recommend any one of these games.  Each has an excellent story and helps promote growth on many levels from reading comprehension to thinking outside the box and utilizing math skills. Pick any of these up and feel confident that you will love playing it as much any younger gamer.