Professor Layton Vs Ace Attorney

Fantastic game and a wonderful mix of both the Ace Attorney series and the Layton series. Fans of either game will surely love this! I couldn't put it down!

Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright both found a mysterious book that transports them to a medieval world full of magic and witches. But when innocent women were tried as witches and sentenced to death by fire, Layton and Phoenix must combine their talents and skills to save their friends and reveal the truth behind the town. I'm in total heaven. When two of my favorite games join forces, I cannot but give a fangirl's squeal of delight. This is a dream come true. The plot was amazing. When compared with recent Layton's games, this story went above and beyond. The mystery was well hidden right up till the end. It had a delicious twist that will keep you glued to your 3DS. I barely put this game down since I got it. The ending was beautifully done. Parents should not worry about the content at all. There was a nice balance of puzzle solving and trials. Here is the break down: Layton's Puzzle Solving - There were 70 in-game puzzles. The puzzles' design remained the same. Actually, the puzzles were pretty simple and has less room for failure. I probably needed help with about 10. So be forewarn, it might not be a challenge. Ace Attorney's Trials - Trials were always a problem for me. I can be counted on to mess up a few contradictions. If you are not familiar with Ace Attorney, you are a defender who has to get a 'not guilty' verdict for their client. You used evidence and information to contradict witnesses. If you are familiar, you'll going to love this version. In this medieval world, magic exist and witnesses change their testimonies on the fly. So logic didn't always work. And you were not just dealing with one witness, you were sometimes dealing with 3-10 witnesses at the same time! The designs were a nice mixture of Layton's and Ace Attorney's. The maps were easier to move around and finding hint coins and puzzles became easier. The 3D conversion and the graphics just kept improving from the previous Layton games. Their mouth movements matched their words perfectly and the lines and movements were smooth and seamless. And the fact that you get to see Phoenix and Maya as 3D characters was awesome. The voice acting was perfectly cast. Happily, the original voice actors returned as their perspective characters. However, there were a lot of scenes where they don't talk. Reading is a must. There were not any extra things to do during the playthrough. However, after you complete the game there will be a bonus of 12 episodes that will tell you what happened to the characters after the events. These are DLC and one episode is available a day. It's possible to get two. It took about 20 hours to finish the game. I sincerely hope there will be a sequel. The combination of the puzzle solving and trials made this a very entertaining game. I honestly would not change a thing. Except I wished it was longer. So, Layton and Ace Attorney fans, get this game NOW!

A little on the short side but this is a cross over you'd expect to mix some of the best elements from each game! I hope more of these come in the future.

This games works best if you have played at least one game of each series, but I can see it working as a great display for the ones who love one of the franchises, but does not know the other one. The game is, as it would be expected, a mix between Ace Attorney and Professor Layton gameplays, with an intriguing story, loads of fun puzzles and some tense courtroom action. Some of the traditional Phoenix Wright moments are brilliantly twisted, since in this game the "scientific logic" gives way to "magical logic", what distinguishes it from the other games of the franchise. As for the Layton's part, since the game has less puzzles (60 vs 100+ of his solo games), they benefit from being more linked to the main plot - on Layton's games, is not uncommon to solve puzzles that have nothing to do with the story.

This combination of two distinctly different, beloved franchises takes an archeology professor, a lawyer, witches, and shakes liberally until thoroughly mixed. Wait… witches?! O_o …ok sure why not. It’s not like a fantasy setting can really make Phoenix Wright’s adventures much stranger. 😉 The prologues set up things well, with related events separately running afoul of Professor Hershel Layton and Phoenix Wright. These segments serve to establish the gist of each character’s gameplay elements as well as the central characters. In an interesting choice the art style from each separate game is kept for its characters. The mix is a little weird at first, but I got used to it quickly and it was probably a better approach than trying to force one set of iconic characters into the other world’s style. Also, the backgrounds tie it all together pretty well. Similar to the mixing of art styles is the mix of going back and forth between the disparate gameplay mechanics. I found it jarring at first and a bit forced as during the first half of the game it was basically switching each chapter. But it ended up melding together much more naturally and seamlessly by the end. While I’ve played and enjoyed both series, I’m traditionally more of a fan of the Phoenix Wright games. Yet here the Professor Layton elements were perhaps just a touch better, likely due to fitting the story more naturally. The trials were a bit contrived, and some of the constructions and limitations implemented to extend them (and thus the gameplay) were ridiculous. However they were still enjoyable, and the new mechanics introduced (group testimony and related elements) were fun and well done. Also, the “railroading” feeling and unreasonable burden of proof being foisted on the defense fit the themes and historical events obviously being alluded to. On the opposite side the puzzle elements were pretty much classic Layton. Sometimes appropriate and interwoven into the narrative well, sometimes shoehorned in, yet nearly all reasonably fun and varied in difficulty. Once everything starts to come together, Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright uses a couple of strong, nuanced characters to anchor the plot amidst a silly supporting cast that keeps the tone from getting too dark. Parts were overly melodramatic, but that’s par for the course with both these series and it never derailed the tension. Things just kept escalating and provided an excellent story with compelling mysteries, strong foreshadowing that simultaneously avoided spoiling things, and some phenomenally clever twists and red herrings. The story’s climax was fantastic, and overall I left Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright extremely satisfied with the journey I’d been taken on. Highly recommended to fans of either series, just make sure to stick past the somewhat uneven start.