NOTE: While this game is several months old, I personally waited until I had completed the whole game before making this review so I could give you the full accuracy.
While crossovers and shared universes are probably one of the biggest things in entertainment right now, sometimes an idea comes so far out of left field it seems almost illogical to create a good crossover. When people thought about all the potential crossovers for videogames, I’m not sure many thought about adding the skill-based puzzle solving of the Professor Layton series with the narrative heavy courtroom antics of the Ace Attorney series. But when developers from Level-5 and Capcom came together, the result was an incredible attempt at merging the universes, with one of the most interesting narratives on a handheld of 2014.
One of the single best aspects of the game is the incredible narrative. The game brings together the familiar faces of Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke and Pheonix Wright and Maya into a new world known only as Labyrinthia, a world trapped back in the 1700s, complete with it’s share of firey witch trials. The entire plot revolves around said trials, with one of the main protagonists, Espella, continuously needing to prove her innocence from being a witch, and later in the game, The Great Witch. I won’t go much deeper into the plot as it’s a story that NEEDS to be experienced firsthand. And the grand finale, the culmination of almost 30 hours of hard work and puzzle-solving, is one of the wildest narrative rides I’ve experienced in years. Without spoiling anything…I can’t think of very many people that would be able to properly predict some of the crazy twists that occur during the finale sequence of the game.
Unfortunately, as great as the storyline is, sometimes the sequences carry on a little too long. Dialog sometimes continues on much longer than it needs to, with dialog being repeated or reiterated to the point I would find myself skipping some of the more unnecessary dialogue. But when the dialogue is good, it gets real good real fast. And the witty banter between all characters involved is funny, ingenious, heartwarming, and fun at every attempt it makes.
When it comes to gameplay, the series mainly sticks to its roots. One of the great things is that exploration of London, and later on Labyrinthia itself, is mainly streamlined. New screens allowing you to see any puzzles or hint coins you missed are up there, able to go back and find them should you find yourself struggling. The puzzles themselves are good and unique, with very few puzzles feeling similar. While there’s nothing really new or groundbreaking in the puzzles from the Professor Layton series, many are still very fun and I enjoyed a vast majority of them. One of the only issues I have is many of the Layton puzzles are significantly easier than previous entries in the series, which means you don’t quite get the same satisfaction you did on the earlier titles. That decrease in quality is also there in the Pheonix Wright court cases, which do unfortunately tend to go overboard with the hints and queues as to what you’re supposed to do next. That’s not enough to lower the quality of the game completely, but it’s definitely a negative.
Speaking of the court cases, they’re quite a bit of fun if you can get over the fact that the game has a bad habit of hand-holding during cases. The witnesses are an eclectic bunch, the storylines are just as well written as the rest of the game. The introduction of multi-witness testimonies is an interesting twist, and sometimes it can add new gameplay options and new ways you have to approach testimonies in order to find the contradictions. Or you can just keep pressing until the game tells you which statement has the contradiction.
But overall, the storyline and fun far outweighs the problems I experienced with playing it. There are also a ton of unlockable puzzles you can get for free by connecting to the internet, so there is a small level of replayability there. But if you’re looking for a fun, quirky, 30 hour puzzle-filled storyline for on-the-go, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for the 3DS is one of the best games you could get for it.
Final Score: 8.5
+ Great Story
+ Fun Characters
+ Good Puzzle Variety
– Some Dialogue Rambles
– Significantly Easier than previous games
Nerdy Musings and More 