Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - DS

Everyone loves a bit of Professor Layton, right? Well I adore the series and have completed the first two games: The Curious Village and Pandora's Box, both on DS.

So you can imagine how happy I was when the third game in the series, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, was announced at the E3 conference in Los Angeles a few weeks ago.

The professor receives a letter from his sidekick Luke, only the letter has been sent from 10 years in the future.

London is apparently in chaos and it's up to the Prof and Luke to solve more riddles to save the city.

The delicious hand-drawn visuals look as magical as ever and Nintendo have promised 160 brain-teasers and even more animated cut scenes. Extra puzzles will also be free to download following the game's launch.

The game should find its way over to the UK around September, and I'll be first in the queue on launch day.

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Problem solved, Professor...

I've never been a particular fan of videogame merchandise, but this Japanese Professor Layton figure certainly caught my eye. It's been created by Revoltech and it's wonderfully crafted. It comes with various accessories including handbook, chair, pen and the obligatory teacup and saucer. It will go on sale at around 2400 Yen, which roughly equates to £20. It's utterly adorable, but guaranteed to sell out when it launches in Japan in March.

Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders - DS

Taking elements from the Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright series, this murder mystery unfortunately fails to come close to either.

Playing the part of Captain Hastings, Hercule Poirot’s right-hand man, the player attempts to unravel the mystery behind several grizzly murders through riddles and investigations.

Multiple choice questions let you attempt as many of the answers as you'd like, so sifting through these is a piece of cake and lacks any decent challenge.

The tougher head-scratchers require the player to input the answer using the touchscreen, but with no hint system available these puzzles often lead to frustrating dead ends.

Visuals are unspectacular, failing to match the appeal of Phoenix Wright’s cartoon look, while spoken dialogue is few and far between. Ultimately, the lack of hint system and obtuse puzzles are the game’s downfall. With Layton and Wright still sitting on shop shelves, there really is little reason to pick up this below average murder mystery.