Parent's Guide: Professor Layton and Miracle Mask - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask is the fifth game in the Professor Layton series, and marks the series debut on the 3DS. An appealing point and click style game, with deviously tricky puzzles and riddles thrown in, Professor Layton is a game that's best suited for older children.

The story here revolves around a town called Monte d'Or, where a mysterious magician known as the Masked Gentleman has been going around causing trouble. Making picture come to life, turning people into stone, and even, by all appearances, setting fire to a stage a number of people were standing on, the Masked Gentleman appears to be running amok - and it's up to you, as the world renowned puzzle solver, Professor Layton, to put things right.

In order to get to the bottom of things, it's up to you to explore the town, and talk to its inhabitants, hunt for clues, and solve any puzzles you come across. This being a Layton game, there are plenty of them - 150 in fact. Far from just simple put-the-red-card-in-the-red-slot puzzles, though, the challenges in Layton are devious riddles and mind benders - which is why it's likely not best suited to younger children. Asking you to read a lot into often quite wordy questions, and often read between the lines in order to make sense of things, the puzzles here may be too challenging for younger players - although luckily, hint coins, which you collect while wondering around the town, can be spent to unlock up to five hints for each puzzle. While you won't have enough hint coins to buy hints for every puzzle, it does provide a handy leg up should your child get particularly stuck - especially if you find yourself not being able to help out either!

The game also requires a strong grasp of the English language, not only in terms of its puzzles, but also to comprehend its story. Most characters aren't voiced, and with some being written in regional accents, and others in seeming gibberish, it will be tricky for younger players to follow what's happening. One particular character goes on about the "masked dandleman", while another drops 'is 'aitches, thanks to an apostrophe, leading to some rather awkward sentences for those just getting to grips with reading.

In terms of questionable content, there's nothing at all for parents to worry about here. While the devious Masked Gentleman may perform several nasty tricks on his audience, including turning some to stone, there's nothing overtly violent, or gory here - and no swearing at all. The most violent it gets is when the Masked Gentleman performs a trick that appears to set fire to some people - but you know it was an illusion, and don't actually see anything bad happen. In a series of freeze frames, you see people on stage, then flames appear, covering the stage, before in the third shot, the flames, and the people, have disappeared. It's spooky, but you know he hasn't killed them - making it another mystery you have to solve.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Nintendo 3DS