Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Review by: Zlinqx - 8.7/10
Sir Tophat vs Sir Blueknight: Apprentice BakerFirstly I need to apologize about this review being late which is mainly due to two things, namely me getting a Ps4 and being busy with school. Nevertheless I completed this game yesterday and I'm finally ready to review it so let's just get right to it.
Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney as you probably know is a crossover title of the aforementioned series that was released November 2012 in Japan and has been localised in English this year (though for some reason we got the English version in Europe 3 months earlier then north America).
And a thing anyone reading this review should know that my knowledge about the professor Layton and phoenix Wright series isn't as comprehensive as some of you might be who are reading this so keep that in mind. This also means that I'll be judging it a bit more as a standalone game rather then compared to games of either series though if I notice any important differences I'll mention that as well. And despite being somewhat inclined to do so I will refrain from writing this review in a Phoenix Wright court like fashion.
Well I ran out of funny things to say here for now so yeah... let's just get into it.
Graphics: 9
The graphics in this game mostly consist of 2d backgrounds (with the occasional 3d effect added in) and 3d character models, and I'd say it fits great. The backgrounds all look fantastic usually being very detailed and fairly varied as well. The character models do too and are very nicely animated as well. The cutscenes are in 2d as to be expected and they all look great and I don't have any problems with them. The 3d effect was utilised pretty well too. So normally I would've given graphics a 10 but there's an unfortunate problem that started occurring about halfway through my playthrough. The framerate started dropping ocassionally during dialogue and the weird part was that it only happened during dialogue and not while solving puzzles or cutscenes and such. It also didn't happen at all before that and it then started dropping much more often as the game went on. I tried doing some research on this and it seems some other people has encountered frame rate issues as well. Fortunately watching dialogue while seeing a character animation isn't the most graphics intensive part of the game so it doesn't break the game but it's still a pretty major technical oversight which makes me have to lower the graphics rating a bit. If you get past this however this game has in my opinion some of the best graphics on the 3ds.
Sound: 10
The sound in this game is fantastic. The music is orchestrated and features many previously seen tracks as well as some new ones (am I the only one who loves the orchestrated version of cornered or the sheer epicness of professor Layton's theme) and it sound amazing. I didn't once find a soundtrack I didn't like and they range from simply great (yes SIMPLY great) to fantastic. My one nitpick about the soundtrack and it's pretty minor is I wish that there was just a little bit more variety. Don't get me wrong they're all great and I had a very hard time getting tired of any one of them but I still wished there would've just been a little bit more new tracks in the game. The voice acting is great too although it's only used for certain pieces of the dialogue and of course during cutscenes. The sound effects also complement the game fairly well and don't hinder it in any way.
Addictiveness: 8
This game kept me pretty addicted throughout largely in part thanks to the great story (thankfully considering how much time you spend reading dialogue). With that said the puzzles and court cases although a bit on the easy side (which we'll get into) were still really enjoyable most of the time (especially for a noob at puzzle games like me). There was also an interesting change in gameplay for the court cases in particular due to this being a medieval setting where magic is apparently real and you're defending people who are accused of being witches. Not to mention that you can no longer use modern tools such as photographs, fingerprints etc. due to them not existing in the town and instead having to use things like court illustrations instead. A new feature added to the court cases is being able to cross examine multiple witnesses which also makes it so that a witness may be able to react to another witness statement. There's also the grand grimoire which is a book that contains information about all the different spells in labyrinthia which you'll unlock the ability to use each spell as evidence as they become relevant. As for the puzzles they remain somewhat unchanged but there is quite a nice variety of different puzzles and most of them are pretty enjoyable. Having two different styles of gameplay also adds more variety to the gameplay which will help if you enjoy playing long sessions. However and this is my main gripe with game really while there's nothing bad about the gameplay per say I still think they could've tried merging the gameplay of the two series a bit more. This was demonstrated during a puzzle later in the game where you used the Phoenix Wright kind of approach to solve a puzzle but outside of that there's little done to try and blend the styles of gameplay together which doesn't mean that it's bad but it seems like a bit of a waste of potential.
Story: 10
Probably one of the best parts if not the best part about the game is the story. Not so surprisingly considering the game is pretty much a visual novel. Not that it's a bad thing by any means, quite the opposite I actually think it works to the games benefit. As for what the story is about to give a very brief insight without spoiling much it's about the medieval town of labyrinthia which is? governed by a mysterious person known as storyteller through writing the story. Anything he writes in the story then turns into reality in the town. Naturally events will lead to both Professor Layton and Luke Triton as well as Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey set foot in the town and events transpire from there and many new mysteries to appear. As the two inevitably meet (that scene is priceless by the way) they also start building pretty convincing relationships between each other despite being pretty different in their style. And the characters in the town while sometimes somewhat predictable were still fairly well written. And of course this game also features a lot of funny humour found in other games in the series. Although a thing that might disappoint fans of both series is that besides the two main characters of each series there's not much in terms of cameos which means if you hoped to see some other characters of the two series interact with each other you're going to be disappointed. And it has a really shocking ending that does open up some plot holes though.
Depth: 9
Unfortunately a big downfall of the puzzle gameplay is that once you know the solution to a puzzle or trial it can easily be solved again of course that's nothing you can blame the game for but it makes it so there's little reason to play through it again unless you want to experience the story again or somehow forgot everything about it. However with that said there's still a lot of content crammed into it. Besides the 20-25 hours it'll most likely take you to complete the main storyline (which you'll be spending more of doing puzzles then you will court cases) there are a lot of optional puzzles that you are free to try throughout the main story by either talking to certain npcs or finding hidden puzzles around certain areas. Don't worry if you happen to miss any puzzles as they are then made accessible through a certain npc after a certain point in the game. There's also some optional downloadable content being released for free which includes a side story split into 12 episodes which can be accessed after completing the game once which should keep you coming back to the game from time to time.
Difficulty: 7
The game is a bit on the easy side compared to previous Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright games. A lot of the puzzles are pretty easy (though there are some tricky ones as well) and during court cases I found myself sometimes reaching a conclusion before the game had meaning I was essentially being dragged along dialogue which was meant to help me figure it out sometimes. Though I would like to think it's because I'm just really sharp and quick witted (believe me I really do) I get a feeling that's not entirely the case... No pun intended.
There's also something called hint coins which Professor Layton fans should know about which can be found while exploring areas and can then be used to give hints during puzzles as well as trials. And while I think this is a nice thought preventing players from using walkthrough as much the hints often feel just a little bit too giving not to mention the fact that hint coins are fairly plentiful. Meaning they make the game even easier... Unless you're like me and you're really obsessed about your hint coin counter staying as high as possible. But yeah if you do wish for a bit more of a challenge I'd say try to refrain using walkthroughs or hint coins at all.
Overall: 8.7
Despite failing to blend the two gameplay styles for the most part this is still a must get for fans of either or both series. And it's also a great starting points for people looking to get into either series due to the game being fairly gentle beginning to help ease people into the gameplay (though it might feel a bit slow for veterans of the series). You're still going to have a lot of fun solving puzzles, tackling court cases and advancing through the story to uncover the many mysteries surrounding the town of labyrinthia.
And that's all for this review. Make sure to rate it, comment on ways I can improve my reviews and that'll be all until next time.
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Graphics
9 Sound
10 Addictive
8 Depth
9 Story
10 Difficulty
7