Here you'll find thousands and thousands of high-quality anime picture galleries - pics from
hundreds of shows, manga, and video games! If you are searching for japanese galleries of scans, you'll be hard-pressed
not to find it here! We've also got great 'How to Draw' pages, game downloads, and a special 'Girls' gallery, by popular demand! Also, check out our In-Depth pages, which have tons of info (and special galleries!) on today's hottest shows!
Professor Layton and the Curious Village's impressive animation - some of the best ever seen in a game - and its intelligent gameplay put it a step ahead of the competition.
This recent release for the Nintendo DS pits the British stylings of one Professor Layton (and his apprentice Luke) against the puzzles of the enigmatic St. Mystere, a walled-off town deep in the contryside. A treasure hunt and murder mystery rolled into one package, Layton walks about a beautiful, whimsical British town, solving problems and puzzles put forth by the townsfolk in his quest to not only find the treasure he was sent to the town to find, but solve other mysteries as well. The music is enchanting, the characters are well-designed and hilarious (Layon and Luke's accents alone are worth the price of the game), and the gameplay keeps you around (for just 'one more puzzle') for hours.
Old puzzle favorites (moving matchsticks to create pictures, getting chickens and wolves across a river, pouring water from pitcher to pitcher) abound, as well as many new ones. We here at the Cube have put more time into Layton than any other DS game in recent memory, just wanting to complete that next challenge. Don't be fooled by the easier puzzles that start the game, as the difficulty ramps up nicely. Thankfully, should you ever truly be stumped, you can search the village for Hint Coins to buy clues to solve any puzzle in the game.
There are a number of side-quests as well, from building robots to assembling paintings, to divvying up furniture between Layton and Luke to keep them both happy and comfortable during their stay. Nintendo also offers weekly puzzles via their Wi-Fi service, so you'll have something new to look forward to every few days.
Layton already has a sequel in Japan, with both games being best-sellers, and a third is planned, so if you like this one, know that you and the Professor will be solving mysteries together for years to come.
Final Opinion: One of the best DS games we've ever played, with a great deal of bang for your buck. Layton 2 and 3 are already must-buys.
Want to try out the game? You can see some of the animation and try a puzzle straight from the game at the Professor Layton site today!
We'd like to give a special thanks to a few folks - Ryo Dark for his large, large wallpaper submissions, and 'Anime Backgrounds and Wallpaper for your Desktop' for the initial startup funds for the site. Thanks for all the folks who signed onto the Network - hope you enjoy the hits!
We're thinking about creating a tutorial section for all the work we do, for the best ways to scan in really high quality images, that sort of thing. We never get around to it, though - Al is always tweaking the code, and the rest of them are adding more, newer shows. Sigh. I guess you'll have to look for tutorials elsewhere, for now. Maybe we'll have something cool someday, though..
So many new fansubs are coming out, it is hard to keep up! If you are looking for a particular gallery and you don't see it up, give it a few days, and we will have something ready. Trust me, we are working just as hard as you are watching!
Other notes - we're still working on getting good (note: "good") Full Metal Alchemist wallpapers. We haven't seen any really kung-fu awesome ones out there yet - none that we've actually asked to use on here. If you happen across one, please drop us a line - we are really looking to showcase this hot new show.
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Professor Layton and the Curious Village's impressive animation - some of the best ever seen in a game - and its intelligent gameplay put it a step ahead of the competition.
