Nintendo DS

Professor Layton & the Diabolical Box

Name: Professor Layton & the Diabolical Box
Brand: Nintendo
Rating: 8.15 (1614 reviews)

Released 8/26/09

Genre

: Action Adventure

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Content Descriptors

Alcohol Reference
Mild Violence

Interactive Elements

No Interactive Elements

8.2

GameFly

from 1614 users

metacritic

Based on 65 critics

Professor Layton and his assistant, Luke, are back, and this time they're facing a whole new challenge! Help the puzzle-master duo solve new mind benders as they attempt to discover who - or what - caused the death of the good Professor's mentor. Was it the Elysian Box, rumored to kill anyone who opens it? Or was it something else? Only you can find out! Take on more than 150 all-new brain teasers, logic puzzles, and riddles to challenge every mind. More voice work and animated scenes draw you further into the story. And you can even download bonus puzzles via Nintendo Wi-Fi, just to keep the puzzle-solving fun going. At least 33 bonus puzzles will be available for download!

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Media (2)

User Ratings (1614)

8.2

9-10

7-8

5-6

3-4

1-2

User Reviews (24)

Most Helpful

Most Recent

Better than the 1st!

To keep it short, solve puzzles/riddles to finish the game and solve the mystery. This game was good, puzzles/riddles were way easier than the 1st game. The story is just as good and there are new "sidequests" that make this game fun even after you completed the main story. Graphics and sounds are also good. The voice over aren't that bad either and this is one of the few games I like to play with the volume turned up. Highly recommend, can't wait for the next one!

ladylibra92 (member since 2011)

reviewed on 7/11/11

1 agree

Fantastic game! Loved it!

This game was AMAZING. I loved the plot line (although the ending was a little ridiculous and unrealistic... still a very interesting twist.) and the puzzles, especially towards the end. I feel like when the mystery is getting closer to being solved, the puzzles are more focused towards the plot and then I can't put the dang thing down at all. About half way through this game, I just played it in a straight shot. Actually, I played the whole game in ten hours because I was so in love with it. (I was very proud when looking at the other person's save file at 21 hours. \m/) This game is really gripping and extremely fun so long as you're into puzzles, obviously. My boyfriend and I play these together and he's extremely logically minded (if that makes sense) so whenever I got stuck, he could quickly figure out the answer and help me arrive to that answer. There are a lot of trick puzzles that are frustrating when you're seeking a logical explanation, and it's something silly. In retrospect, they're hilarious but when you've spent the last fifteen minutes in total confusion, it's less funny and more "okay, time to take a break from this crapola" type thing. I'd like to complain about Luke as a black smudge on the perfection that is this game, but he's not that bad, he just annoys me. Flora is kind of a pointless character and there are a ton of plot holes (likely done on purpose to progress the plot to the following game) so I think the whole thing would have been better (and more summed up) without her. The end is emotional and left me feeling like I could have potentially cried if I wasn't with other people in the room. It's very sweet and you end it with a fuzzy good feeling. I cannot wait for the next game! In fact, the next game was in spot 6 in my GameQ but I moved it up to #1 after I completed the Diabolical Box. I love love love this game and can't wait for the Professor Layton VS. Ace Attorney/Gyakuten Saiban game to come out!

kirkncaity (member since 2010)

reviewed on 12/2/10

1 agree

Enjoyable!

I played this game not realizing that I should have played Professor Layton and the Curious Village first. After doing some research, I figured out the chronological order of the series. Nevertheless, I had fun solving the puzzles...some of them were tricky, but I still enjoyed it. Good game...looking forward to the next one.

cdwark039 (member since 2010)

reviewed on 10/16/10

1 agree

Fantastic Game, Though Not For Everyone.

I really loved playing this game. The graphics are beautiful -- they look a lot like a Miyazaki movie (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle) -- the mysteries are fun, the pacing is great, and the puzzles are fun to solve. I've seen reviews in which people say things like, "it's boring just trying all the possibilities for each puzzle until you find the right one." The whole point is to enjoy solving the puzzles yourself! My advice is, don't rush through the game. Don't cheat to find the answers by force or trial and error. Try to figure them out yourself! Enjoy it! If you don't like solving puzzles, fair enough! I personally don't like games in which the character runs around shooting monsters, you know? We all like different things. There are only a few drawbacks to this game. #1. Some of the puzzles are frustrating, not difficult. For example, one puzzle is a picture of a scene in which something is wrong, and the puzzle solver is supposed to figure out what's wrong logically. The problem is that the scene is dark and it's raining, so it's actually difficult to see the scene at all, much less figure out what's logically wrong. #2. The major "mysteries" of the game are solved by playing forward through the game, rather than by you, the player. For example, in the beginning of the game, Professor Layton and Luke are looking for a missing child, Tom. I figured out almost immediately why they were having so much trouble finding Tom, but I wasn't able to tell the game that -- the mystery was "solved" for me by Professor long after I had figured it out. #3. It's too short! But that's sort of a complaint of love.... So, on the whole, this game is wonderful, though it's not for everyone. If you like puzzles, and don't mind patiently figuring them out, then play this game! And I would give basically the same review for the first Professor Layton game.

LorettaGP (member since 2008)

reviewed on 9/29/09

7 agree

Glad to have you back Professor!

Professor Hershell Layton and his assistant Luke return for another exciting adventure filled with mysteries and of course, puzzle solving. After witnessing the death of Layton's mentor, the two pursue the last mystery he was working on, the Elysian Box, a box that is said to kill all those who dare to open it. The mini games also make a comeback this time around and more voice work is added to certain scenes. A "colorful" new set of characters are here as well as others from the first game make a surprise entrance. And people who have wanted to open the secret door in the first game can finally see what it holds. And of course, there is a secret door in this game as well as the confirmation of a third game in the works. I can't wait for it but until then, I'll be playing this one. I had a lot of fun playing this game. No complaints except for maybe a few tricky puzzles but that's what guides are there for. I highly recommened it for fans of the first game.

StarWars94 (member since 2008)

reviewed on 9/1/09

9 agree

Bigger, Better version of the first game

Just finished it, took ~11 hrs vs ~7 for the first one. Possibly due to more storyline, as puzzles (apart from a couple of real stinkers) seemed generally easier than the first one. Definately a 'can't put it down' game. Would recommend playing the first one though, as parts of the story follow on from that.

Ichiban (member since 2006)

reviewed on 9/4/09

8 agree

finished in 2 days

when i got this game i really enjoyed it so much i couldn't put it down i like the pancake stack and light the creepy woodsalso cross the icey lake i'm really going to get this for my brithday with pro layton 1 i give pro layton 2 5 brewed tea out of 5. p.s. you brew tea in this game.

wiifan2009 (member since 2006)

reviewed on 8/31/09

6 agree

What are you critics thinking?

Though gamefly critics and users have given this game good ratings, I simply have to disagree on this. If I wanted to watch a poorly plotted cartoon, I would watch them on television. There is very little GAME PLAY to this game. Other than randomly pecking around at items in the scenes and rolling your eyes through supremely easy mini-puzzles. I couldn't even bring myself to play past one puzzle that had only TWO possibilities, yet it still let you "win" on the second try. Maybe if your kid is wanting a game where they don't feel inept and you just want to shut them up for an hour or so, you should put this in their hands. For those of you adults wanting to play an interesting game, this is not the one.

Wynter (member since 2010)

reviewed on 2/9/10

8 agree

a definite improvement over the first

if you loved the first, you will really love this one and if you didn't play the first, but you love adventure games, charming art, good writing, and fun puzzles, you need to play the first one first that being said, this game's biggest improvement over the first is just that the puzzle design is just a lot more logical than the previous game. the first game suffered from having a lot of puzzles with arbitrarily chosen solutions that weren't necessarily factual to the situation described. there are a lot fewer of those bad ones in this game

GamerTech (member since 2010)

reviewed on 4/29/14

0 agree

A charming, fun game, with only a few minor flaws

This was my first Professor Layton game, but won't be my last. It's a lot of fun, and it's great if you're looking to challenge your mind rather than your reflexes. My only two gripes: 1. The ending to the story/mystery was kind of lame, IMO. 2. There are several infuriatingly cheap puzzles. By the time you figure it out, at the end of every puzzle there's an explanation. In these cheap ones, the explanation is usually "we never said you couldn't do THIS", and is just generally misleading. I hate puzzles like that. Overall, fun game, definitely worth a try.

HYRUL3 (member since 2011)

reviewed on 2/13/13

0 agree