In a season of apocalyptic doom – whether via nuclear attack, alien invasion, natural disaster or ancient magical artifact – there"s something utterly refreshing about a game where the sole purpose of your endeavours is to find an apple. But then, Professor Layton"s very much that type of game – perfectly content in its own idyllic world of whimsy.

At its heart, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a puzzle game with vague adventure aspirations. It"s a collection of some 120 brain teasers with simple point-and-click-style exploration. However, only a misery would describe the adventure aspect as padding. Factor 5 has used the classic 2D adventure framework to fashion a delightful yarn of murder, mystery and homespun intrigue – all told with delightful understatement through gorgeous art and sound design, alongside typically sublime animated sequences from prolific anime studio Production I.G.

Location and character design is quirky, unique and uniformly gorgeous.

At the behest of one Lady Dahlia, puzzle expert Professor Layton and squawk-voiced assistant Luke (eminently punch-able thanks to his rather novel approach to the English accent) travel to the town (whatever the title might suggest) of St. Mystere. There"s an inheritance to be claimed but its division requires the use of a mysterious Golden Apple. Its whereabouts is unknown and that"s where you come in.

In practice, this involves roaming around St. Mystere – divided into single-screen locations, all rendered with beautiful, if static, hand drawn artwork – and chatting to the townsfolk using the elegantly simple stylus-driven interface. Movement is simply a case of nudging the arrows pointing in the direction you want to travel – with a fairly superfluous map on the top screen giving a degree of cohesion to the numerous locales available. You"re also free to tap around each area, with various objects eliciting basic observations on your surroundings or revealing useful items.

If you get stumped on puzzle #1, you essentially fail at life.

It"s far from a sophisticated adventure game though and these portions of the game generally require little more than heading in the direction you"re told in order to progress the story. The real meat of Professor Layton comes in the form of its standalone puzzles – doled out as you chat to villagers or poke around the environments. There"s a vast variety on offer here – ranging from mental arithmetic to lateral thinking – and despite the two disparate game mechanics on offer, it all ties together beautifully thanks to the game"s consistently excellent aesthetics and script.

Some puzzles take the form of time-honoured classics – getting foxes and chickens across a river without them gnawing each other to death, for instance – while others offer modern twists on familiar favourites – tracing lines, shifting matches and so on. The scope is truly impressive and there"s enough variety to cater to everyone"s tastes. It"s also a fine roster in terms of difficulty – with puzzles ranging from the ridiculously easy to the hair-tearingly hard – and, thankfully, the game"s relatively open structure means your progress is rarely hampered if you come across a particular stumper. With multiple puzzles available at any one time, it"s simply a case of moving on and tackling something else.

If you"re a completist though, Factor 5 has thoughtfully included a hint system to ease the pain when things get a little too cerebral. As you explore St. Mystere, you"ll find coins that can be spent on up to three clues per puzzle for those truly taxing moments. The downside is that you"ll lose Picarats – the game"s point currency – each time you ask for help, meaning you"ll have less to spend on unlockable content later on.

For the most part, we"ve very few criticisms with Professor Layton"s puzzle – they"re consistently inventive, engaging and perfectly pitched in terms of difficulty. However, occasional interface quirks can irk and, at time, actually inputting your solution can be a little counter-intuitive. What"s more, there"re perhaps a few too many "trick" puzzles and you"ll quickly learn to spot these from the game"s convoluted phrasing, making for a succession of very easy wins in some instances.

Poke around and there are plenty of other diversions to discover.

That said, it"s a brilliantly friendly, approachable package that goes out of its way to make playing a joy. From its wholly unnecessary but welcome extras, including story notes, played puzzle library and a bizarre feng shui-style furniture collecting game, to its unwavering attention to detail – story recaps every time you turn on the game so you needn"t worry about long spells away, for instance - Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a constant delight.