Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney /// A Video Game Review

What do you get when you cross two popular franchises, one about solving puzzles and the other about court trials, and set them in an epic fantasy world?

One of my favorite games of all time.

I just finished playing Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney about a week ago, and now it's time to review it. Because honestly, I want to increase awareness about this title. I'm getting ahead of myself, though, so let's start at the beginning . . .

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Overview

Espella Cantabella is on the run.

With witches on her tail, she heads out into London in search of one Professor Layton, whom her would-be rescuer says can help. Not long after she asks for assistance from him and his apprentice, Luke, she is captured by one of the witches. Layton and Luke launch an investigation, and in a series of strange events, Espella is able to hide from her pursuers on a cargo ship . . . but the other two are transported to a town in another world via her book, Historia Labyrinthia.

Meanwhile, Phoenix Wright has been flown out to London with his assistant, Maya Fey, to participate in an exchange set up by the Legal League of Attorneys. However, though he had no intentions of standing in court, Nick is called to be a defense attorney for a young stowaway found on a cargo ship, as she's accused of committing theft and assault. The girl's teacher, Ms. Darklaw, tells Nick that his client, Espella, has already plead guilty. He won't stand for it and decides to prove her innocence. And he does . . . but afterward, when he and Maya find a book called Historia Labyrinthia that Espella dropped, they are brought to the medieval town of Labyrinthia.

Now the four heroes must join forces and unravel the mysteries of this bizarre town, where written stories become true and magic-wielders are burned alive. They also do their best to protect Espella and fight for her as she is tried in the Witches' Court, but Labyrinthia holds many dark and deadly secrets. Will truth and logic win out?

Or is this the last adventure for the gentleman professor and the ace attorney?

As I mentioned above, this is a crossover for the Professor Layton and the Ace Attorney series, and the gameplay is fairly straightforward. Half the time you'll be doing the Layton side of things, which entails solving puzzles, finding clues, and just exploring in general. The other half will be spent with Wright's elements: defending in court trials, finding contradictions in testimonies, and presenting evidence. While it sounds simple, it blends together quite well.

The idea came from the CEO of Level-5 (the company that makes the Layton titles), Akihiro Hino. He was actually a big fan of the Ace Attorney series and pitched his idea to Shu Takumi, who designed the Phoenix Wright series. And thus, a game I'm sure no one knew they wanted was born. It released first in Japan in November of 2012, before getting a localized version in Europe in March of 2014. North America didn't receive its own localization, but rather the European one, in August of the same year.

Keiji Inafune, who's involved with Capcom's research and development group, has said that this game wasn't just the result of one developer licensing the other's characters; both developers were in the thick of it, working together to create something I feel hasn't really been done all that much (or all that well) in the gaming industry. But did it work? Well, I've already said it's one of my absolute favorite games, but let's take an in-depth, spoiler-free look.

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Negatives

As I did for my Undertale review, I'm gonna start with the cons because I just prefer to get them out of the way. And just like that one, I'll first mention the fanbase. They're not as bad as Undertale's can be, but they can be pretty whiny. They've taken to the Internet to talk about all the plot holes they find in the game, especially those related to the ending. Without divulging too much, I really don't think most of these are actually plot holes if you stop and think about them or use your own reasoning. Are there a couple of potential ones? Yeah, but I personally don't think they're as bad as people make them out to be. Besides, it's apparently typical of Layton games to have an ending where plot holes are a high possibility, so . . .

I will quickly mention that, when they revealed that Luke can talk to animals, I thought they had just pulled this out of a hat, since there'd been nothing building up to reveal that. A little bit of research told me that this had been established in his games already, which is why it felt out of the blue to me. I should've known that it was just part of his character, so I figured I'd spare you from coming to the same conclusion.

There's some violence in the game, ranging from mild cases, like Nick being bitten by a pooch as part of a running joke or a girl getting clubbed in the back of the head, to stuff that's a bit more severe, such as a few people getting murdered. Some blood is shown, but not never in the murders themselves. In the Witches' Court, if you're found guilty, you are "cast straight into the hellfire." What surprised me most was that there's one suicide (not seen by the players) and a couple of suicide attempts throughout the game (never depicted as a good decision, though).

Language is pretty much non-existent. Nick often uses "heck," but there really isn't anything else in that regard. The closest we get to real swearing is someone saying "son of a witch" at one point.

What earned this game its Teen rating in NA is a minor character by the name of Foxy, a member of the Vigilantes. She is suggestively dressed in a low-cut, midriff-revealing breastplate and a short skirt. When she appears in a trial, she will frequently and quickly cross and uncross her legs. She is accompanied by two other Vigilantes, Servius and Treddon. They say that they like it when she steps on them and admire her. At one point, she makes a comment about how she likes being on top, something I didn't catch until after I played the game. (There are also apparently a few other remarks in the game that can be taken suggestively, but I think you'd be straining to see those.)

There was a bit of lag on occasion, depending how many characters were on-screen and which ones they were. It didn't really bother me too much, but I figured I'd mention it just in case. I also wished that some of the final puzzles were a little more difficult than what they actually were in the game, though I guess it depends on the person playing.

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Positives

Oh, where do I start . . .? Let's start with the plot. As someone who has never touched a game in either one of the titular characters' series, the storyline is what convinced me to buy the game--well, that and the fact that I got it for 30% off. Since then, I have bought three Layton titles and the original Ace Attorney trilogy, which should say something. But the plot was super captivating and kept me hooked me all the way through, drawing me back for more. Even when there was a lot of exposition happening at one point--I mean, it is a visual novel, so I'm not sure how else they could've explained all they did--I was still giving my whole attention, because I was connecting the dots and figuring things out.

In fact, without going into detail, I truly loved some of the twists this game had. There were times when they could've gone with the "easier" explanation for something, but they decided to go with that which is "harder." It's difficult for me to fully elaborate without spoiling stuff, but trust me, you'll know once you play.

I also enjoyed the bonus episodes, which are miniature chapters that you can download and play once you're finished the 30+ hours of the main campaign. They're quite humorous and provided me with much mirth, even if they're not totally canonical. Trust me, I'd pay for them in a heartbeat if they weren't free.

The characters themselves were totally amazing, and when there was spoken dialogue, I think the voice actors nailed every line. Layton was the group intellect and leader, while Nick provided the comic relief on a regular basis. Maya's enthusiasm was hilarious, and Luke was just endearing. I read that the other characters were boring and bland, but I completely disagree.

For starters, we've got Espella; I desperately wanted to see her innocence proven, because she's such a nice and caring girl. The Storyteller was mysterious and sent shivers up my spine with some of the stuff he wrote. Darklaw's authoritative and powerful presence as the High Inquisitor could practically be felt through the screen, and the Great Witch's layered voice (you know, when they have several people speak the same lines and layer them all over top of one another) was creepy as all heck. Even the side characters and witnesses were both very unique and very interesting.

But I think my favorite character, aside from the main ones, was Inquisitor Zacharias Barnham. He stood as Nick's rival in court, but he was so much more than that. He cared about his town and the people who lived there. He didn't want to see them continue to be hurt by witches, so he hunted them down with a vengeance. Though antagonistic toward Wright, I would classify Zach as more of an anti-hero. Plus, I loved how the crowd would shout his name out during the trials, adding to the chaos of the medieval court. I didn't catch until later that it's a play on words, as the people shouting "Barnham!" is supposed to be like "Burn 'em!" In fact, in every language that the game has been released in, his last name is a pun of sorts for witches being burned. So that's a plus.

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I will mention that there is a certain character who gets dropped out of the last act of the game, and fans have expressed their disappointment over what they consider to be the abandonment of a character arc. I strongly argue otherwise, as I believe the arc was finished like it was intended. But again, I can't explain in detail, due to spoilers. If you play the game and find this to be so, message me and we'll have a discussion.

What about the actual gameplay? Like I mentioned earlier, the two different styles merged into a very satisfying and enjoyable experience. I had also never played a visual novel before this, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Think of it as reading a book, except you've got the visual aspect added and you can interact in some ways. It's amazing. Never once was I bored by what I was doing in the game, even though it's not as involved as, say, a Zelda or Kirby title.

And if there's something that can absolutely not be criticized, it's the music. It's absolutely gorgeous, an orchestral masterpiece. I have never, for any other game, stuck around on the menu screen pretty much every time I played to listen to the opening theme in full. I also spent $75 to buy a physical copy of the soundtrack from Japan, so that should tell you how highly I regard this soundtrack.

It takes themes and songs from both series and gives them a new flair. Layton's side of the score tends to be more calming and gentle, as it's used for the areas you explore and the puzzles you solve. Wright's tracks can be anything between quietly suspenseful to bombastically grand as you stand in court and fight for people's lives. It's all so phenomenal, and is now tied with Undertale for my top favorite soundtrack of all time.

I'm not really sure what else to mention. I've already discussed plot, characters, music . . . I loved the art style of the game! I found it very pleasing, from the anime cutscenes to the whole look of Labyrinthia to the 3D character models. I also appreciated the themes of the game, and as much I would love to discuss them, I really can't do so without possibly moving into spoiler territory, and I do not want to disclose anything remotely spoilery for you guys. Again, if you finish the game and want to talk about its themes, find me somewhere online to have that conversation.

Conclusion

I think one of the best judges of a story, be it a book, film, or video game, is how you feel when you have to bid the characters farewell.

As I finished off the last chapter of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, and the credits began to roll, a heavy feeling made itself known in my gut. I was going to miss these lovely individuals and their incredible adventure. The feeling was dulled somewhat by the knowledge of the special episodes, but it didn't disappear completely.

Then I played the DLC and got a lot of laughs and joy from the bonus chapters. Even though it hadn't been that long since I played the main story, I was excited to be reunited. It didn't last forever . . . only a few hours, to be precise. It was all over again, and this time around, it felt real. I got that pained hangover one gets when saying goodbye to characters one had become attached to. In fact, it was several days before I picked up my 2DS XL to play another game.

That spoke volumes to me. Even though I get to now explore the individual series and see their own worlds and characters, it won't be the same as my first love for Layton, Nick, Maya, and Luke in my introductory journey with them. I have already determined that, after I've let it rest for a while, I'm going to replay the crossover.

Combined with a magical plot that entranced me play session after play session and a beautiful score that instilled in me all the right emotions at all the right times, it's made for a game I won't easily forget. It didn't take long for it to rise through the ranks of my favorite video games, and now it's sitting at--or close to--the top.

Is it completely stain-free? No, and some might find it more problematic than I did. I think that it all comes together to tell a powerful story, one of truth and its ability to set captives free. It resounds with me, and it's something that more people need to hear.

Thank you, Level-5 and Capcom, for sharing this with me. I am grateful for having gotten the chance to experience all the emotions and themes you placed within your game.

Onward to truth, and may we never stop searching for it!

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I'm finally done rambling about and praising this game. I hope I did it justice with my little review. What did you think of it? Are you now interested in playing it? If you have already, what did you like or dislike about it? I'm more than happy to talk about it with you!