Professor Layton and the Last Specter, known in Europe as Professor Layton and the Spectre's Call, is a puzzle adventure video game produced by Level-5 for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. Last Specter is the fourth game in the Professor Layton series, and is a prequel that takes place three years before the first trilogy, detailing how Professor Layton met his apprentice, Luke Triton, as well as introducing Layton's assistant Emmy Altava.
Professor Layton and the Last Specter also includes an additional role-playing game entitled Professor Layton's London Life, available from the start of the game. London Life, in which players interact with various characters from the series in a town called "Little London", was advertised as having over 100 hours of content. London Life was removed from the European versions of the game because the translation of texts would have significantly delayed the game's release.
The game was released during 2009 in Japan, and was the highest-selling game there during the week of its release. It saw release in North American and PAL regions during 2011.
Gameplay Professor Layton and the Last Specter is a puzzle game presented in the style of an adventure game. The player controls the actions of a group of three protagonists as they move about a village called Misthallery: Professor Hershel Layton, his assistant Emmy Altava, and a young boy named Luke Triton. While in the village, the three of them are presented with several mysteries that are solved as the plot progresses. Misthallery is divided into several sections, although many require the plot to progress to a certain point before they can be accessed. In order to move about Misthallery, players tap a shoe-shaped icon on the bottom-right corner of the touch screen, and then the arrow representing the direction of the path they wish to take. While in Misthallery, the player is capable of tapping anywhere on the bottom screen of the Nintendo DS system to investigate objects and reveal bits of dialogue, hint coins, collectible items, or hidden puzzles. Likewise, if a non-player character is visible on the screen, they can be tapped to initiate a conversation.
Puzzles Initiating a conversation or investigating an object in the main game will often lead to the player being asked to solve a puzzle. If the plot progresses to a point at which a puzzle can no longer be accessed, it will be retrieved by a character named Keats the Cat for later solving. There are over 170 puzzles in the game, including brain teasers, sliding puzzles, logic puzzles, peg solitaire, and several other varieties. When a puzzle begins, the player is briefly presented with the puzzle's name, number, and value in "Picarats", the game's system of points as well as an estimation of the puzzle's difficulty. These points are not used during the main game, but if a player collects enough of these Picarats, they gain access to bonuses accessible from the main menu.
After this first screen, players are taken the main puzzle solving interface, which provides instructions for the current puzzle on the top screen while allowing the player to interact directly with the touch screen in order to solve the puzzle. The player has an infinite amount of time to complete each puzzle, and they have access to an in-game memo pad function to aid them in solving each puzzle. If they do not wish to solve the puzzle at the time, they can hit the button labelled "Quit" in order to exit the interface without losing any Picarats. Additionally, all puzzles have three hints available that can be purchased with tokens called "hint coins". If a player needs more help, they can also purchase a fourth "super hint", a more detailed hint that costs two hint coins. However, there are a limited amount of hint coins, and the game recommends they be used wisely. The player starts with ten hint coins, but more can be obtained by thorough investigation of the village.
In order to solve a puzzle, the player must input an answer on the bottom screen. Sometimes, this will involve tapping a button labelled "Input Answer" and writing a word or number that solves the given puzzle. Other times, they might be asked to circle an answer or tap an area on the touch screen, and then hit "Submit". Still others are solved automatically once the player finds the solution by interacting with objects on the bottom screen. If the player has made a mistake in solving a puzzle, they can hit the button labelled "Restart" to reset the puzzle. Deducted Picarats and purchased hints are not reset if a puzzle is restarted. If the player submits an incorrect answer, they will be asked to repeat the puzzle, and a varying amount of Picarats will be deducted from the maximum possible for that puzzle. If the player submits a correct answer, they are rewarded with the amount of Picarats the puzzle is worth, and the plot will progress. After completing a puzzle, it can be played again at any time from the Puzzle Index, a section in the game's interface that lists the puzzles a player has completed. Occasionally, after completing a puzzle, the player will receive small items that can be used in minigames. Fulfilling certain criteria, such as clearing all levels in a minigame, unlock additional puzzles in the Bonuses section.
Players are also capable of connecting to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection in order to download additional puzzles in the "Bonuses" mode, which can be selected from the game's title screen. These puzzles to be are made available each week following the game's release. Hints for these puzzles could not be purchased with hint coins, but they were provided freely one week after the puzzle was made available, for 33 weeks. When a player connected to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, all puzzles and hints would be downloaded. After May 20, 2014, it's no longer possible to download the additional content, as the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service was terminated on that date.
Minigames Professor Layton and the Last Specter also features several small minigames that are playable in the main game, available by selecting them from the Professor's Suitcase located in the top-right corner of the bottom screen while moving about the town. In order to play these minigames, the plot must have progressed far enough to have unlocked each of them, and more difficult levels require the completion of puzzles in the main game.
The Toy Train minigame involves laying a railroad track across a complex game board. The toy train must pass through every train station and reach a defined end point, and in harder levels, it must be timed to avoid cars and other trains. The toy train requires fuel to move, limiting the amount of track that can be placed by a player unless more fuel is collected before a track ends.
The Fish minigame involves manipulating a fish to collect every coin in its tank. The fish moves in a straight diagonal line, and the player can alter this line by placing bubbles at certain marked points, reflecting it in a different direction. In the Japanese version of Last Specter, the Fish minigame is instead based on trying to create words by feeding them to fish, who alter them in specific patterns.
In the Puppet Theater minigame, the player is tasked with finishing the script of an ongoing play so that it makes sense. If the player chooses a word that does not make sense in the context of the play, the play abruptly ends and the player is asked to try again; if all of the right words are chosen, the play is given an epilogue and an audience applauds.
After progressing far enough into the story, the player can tap mice across Misthallery to earn "mouse badges" and gain access to another minigame, entitled Mouse Alley. Unlike the other minigames, this is accessed through a character in Misthallery and not through the Trunk. The goal of the minigame is to tap as many mice as possible within the time limit, while avoiding tapping Luke's mouse, Toppy, by mistake. This is the only real-time element in the game.
Plot
Setting Professor Layton and the Last Specter takes place three years before the events of Professor Layton and the Curious Village in a fictional English village known as Misthallery. In Misthallery, citizens have long spoken of legends of a specter who rose from the mist to defend the village whenever the Specter's Flute was played. Lately, a monster who is believed by the town's population to be this specter has been attacking the village during the middle of the night, destroying homes and buildings.
Misthallery is a watery town in which traveling via gondola to move about the town's canals is commonplace. By these canals, the town is divided into five distinct regions: the Crossroads, the Market, the East District, Ely Street, and Highyard Hill. The Crossroads contain the library as well as the home of the mayor, Clark Triton. The town market is a shady place controlled by a mysterious entity known as the Black Raven, the East District contains an abandoned warehouse, and Ely Street as well as Highyard Hill are primarily residential areas. On the outskirts of Highyard Hill lies the manor owned by the former mayor's children, who live away from the rest of the village. The townspeople believe that the manor is home to a witch. The town is also rumored to contain the Golden Garden, hidden ruins of an ancient city.
Story
As the story begins, a woman named Emmy Altava is hired to be Professor Layton's assistant at the fictional Gressenheller University. Upon her introduction to him, he reveals that he is currently heading towards a town named Misthallery. According to a letter allegedly sent by his close friend, Clark Triton, a Specter is attacking the village at night. As the pair reach Clark's house, though, they find that the letter was sent not by Clark, but by his son, Luke, who has learned how to predict the Specter's attacks and wished to enlist Layton's help in putting an end to them. Luke sneaks out of his house to join Layton and Emmy's investigation. After they finish exploring Misthallery for the day, they go to spend the night at a local hotel. As they look out from the window in their room, they hear the sound of a flute and see a large, shadowy figure emerge from the mist, which proceeds to forge a path of destruction through the town, including their hotel room, before vanishing without a trace.
The next day, Layton, Luke, and Emmy set off to find the town's black market in order to discover information about the Specter's Flute, an artifact which is said to grant those who play it control over the Specter. After winning the trust of the Black Raven, a group of children who run the market, Layton learns that the flute was auctioned to the now-deceased Evan Barde, once the richest man in Misthallery, soon before the Specter started attacking the town. The three then head to Barde Manor to visit his daughter, Arianna, a girl who was once close friends with Luke, but is now suffering from a terminal illness and is believed by the townspeople to be a witch.