When the original Professor Layton came out early last year, my brain was the equivalent of a rusty watch that had spent too long sitting in my skull refusing to work properly. Pretty soon this became somewhat of an issue as I was faced with a seemingly unending barrage of logic and maths puzzles that strained my lazy grey matter above and beyond the usual call of duty, which usually would cause me all sorts of mild rage issues and stop me playing a game in a slightly childish huff. Luckily, the rest of the thing was so damned charming that it managed to drag me kicking and screaming through to the very end, which was an achievement in itself.

Those of you who have played the original game will know pretty much exactly what to expect when it comes to Pandora’s Box, as it works in the same manner. You ‘control’ the ever-so-proper Layton and his slightly irritating sidekick Luke as you point-and-tap your way through a selection of different locations trying to solve the mystery of why the Prof’s friend has been rather unfortunately murdered. Along the way you have to solve a number of riddles and puzzles to advance the plot, which in itself is bizarre and slightly disconcerting at points.

See, the one thing that set the original Layton up was that the rather strange way in which these puzzles were offered by the locals in exchange for information and items was rather cleverly explained at the end, and as such the whole thing suddenly made sense. Pandora’s Box does much the same but in an even more far-fetched boggling manner, although along the way it becomes clear that this game is rather more dark and menacing than its predecessor so in a way it fits reasonably well.

The puzzles themselves are a pretty similar bunch to the last lot, testing you with mathematical posers, logistical nightmares and – sadly for me – the occasional block sliding puzzle. Disappointingly, as with the original game, there are a selection of puzzles that are difficult not because of the problem that they present but due to the game not really offering you enough information in the first place and relying on you making assumptions that you often don’t. Still, for the most part they’re a tricky yet rewarding bunch of posers that’ll test all sorts of different parts of your noggin.

The discovery and collection of these puzzles isn’t necessarily the key to getting to the end of the game; as with the first title you are able to get to the end credits by solving a relatively small portion of them should you wish. In a way the Layton games pander toward the compulsive completion seekers such as myself who find themselves impulsively clicking around each of the game’s location screens in order to hunt every single puzzle and – usefully – coin that will buy you one of the three hints each puzzle offers. The fact that the game offers you that choice is no doubt a saving grace, as those who prefer the story can concentrate on working their way toward solving the issues at hand without having to be barraged by an endless number of puzzles. On a related note, having Granny Riddleton’s shack on offer throughout so any puzzles that you may have missed can be tackled later is yet again a boon, meaning that you don’t have to worry about missing anything either.

For those of you who do wish to hunt down and solve everything the game offers, three mini games hold the key to tracking down the last few dozen puzzles. These aren’t quite as involving as the original game’s trio mind, as although the camera-building mini game is similar to the robot dog from the first the two other objectives are either too easy in the form of the obese hamster that you have to get into shape by arranging items in a playpen and, in the case of a tea-brewing effort in which you have to combine ingredients to create a selection of brews to give to characters a little later in the game, too much of an exercise in patience as you find yourself having to endlessly try random combinations in case you hit upon one of the collection of recipes.

Still, the game looks and sounds beautiful for the most part, with some utterly wonderful locations and Ghibli-like cutscenes adding to the production immeasurably. The one complaint you could level is that the voice acting, whilst mostly fantastic, is let down once again by whoever voices Luke, as although they’ve changed his erstwhile wet blanket manner they’ve unfortunately gone too far the other way and made him a bloody annoying little cockney sprot instead. It’s a minor quibble to have, though, and overall it’s a very pleasing little game to look at and listen to.

In general, the game manages to do enough to be considered a worthy sequel to the original, as although in some respects it lets itself down as mentioned. Still, if you’re into your riddle solving (and let’s face it, if you’re not then why look at a Layton game in the first place?) then it’s a wonderfully produced, devilishly morish adventure that is quite unlike anything else on the market. It may hurt your brain more than you could possibly imagine at times, but overall once again a little pain is more than worth what you get out of it at the end.