Quick Review: Professor Layton Vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Professor Layton Vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
Nintendo 3DS
Capcom
Level 5
Release: August 29, 2014



My first impression of this game from previews was that it would take two amazing handheld puzzle games and mix them together to make an awesome game featuring two iconic characters in puzzle games from Nintendo's handheld DS and 3DS.  The great thing is that they take the best controls and game play from both games and put them into a great collaboration in this game.  I want to break down the individuality of both series first in this game and then go into the merger of the two.

Professor Hershel Layton and Luke Triton are both back with their many puzzles and stylish graphics that we have all come to love from the Professor Layton series.  The controls have only change a bit and it wasn't a bad change.  They added a sparkle effect on the magnifying glass to help the player find the hint coins a bit easier but for someone that loved clicking in random places to find the hint coins it is slightly frustrating to know that the mystery is easier to solve.  Plus when traveling through the town like we always have in the series, it now has a speech bubble before going to an area and it will tell you how many hint coins there are and how many you have found plus the same for hidden puzzles.  In my honest opinion, this takes away from the game because it makes it easier to complete and takes the challenge aspect away a bit.  But for those that have never played any of the games in the series, I am sure they wont be bothered by this as much if not at all.
The fact that we start the story off with Layton is one thing that I loved because of playing that series more than Phoenix Wright, but I like that at first we start with two Prologues one from Layton's style and then the second from Wright's style.  It made the transition from one to the other nice and smooth and then better when they tied the story together.

We also welcome back Nick and Maya from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney and love the premiere of them to the Nintendo 3DS.  The court cases they bring to this game and story are fun to play but also get very tiresome when you play one court case for over an hour.  I must be honest and say that the only time I've played Phoenix Wright is the iPad app which is the Phoenix Wright Trilogy and I loved solving the court cases on my iPad and it is even more fun on the 3DS.  The one weird thing that I find with this game though is that I feel like they don't focus as much on Nick and Maya and focus more on Layton and Luke.  With that when they do focus on Nick and Maya it is a lot of reading and not much gameplay until you get into a court room and start with cross-examinations and providing evidence.  That is where the courtroom is fun for me and thats about it.

When they finally bring Layton into the courtroom to assist Phoenix Wright it seems like Layton answers a lot of questions for you and it doesn't require as much hint coins to be used.  This makes the game rather easy to play and that is upsetting because I like a challenge and when I'm told what to do it takes away from skill and just makes it following directions.


Overall the game is well made and a lot of fun to play but I must say there are some serious things that disappoint me and make the game feel more like reading a book than playing an actual game.  I hope that if something like this was to happen again by merging two games series together that it would be more user interaction with the game and less reading a story all the time.



Quick Review Score- B+