Developer/Publisher: Level-5 Capcom/Nintendo Released: March 2014

Played on: 3DS

Crossovers in comics, movies and games, much like supergroups in music, always engender the same feeling – excitement that two beloved products you love will coexist in the same package, and an expectation that the outcome will inevitably be a bit rubbish. With expectations so low, the reaction to the finished package is often “That was not as bad as I expected!” I had this same reaction to Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright. Beyond that, I genuinely think the game is quite good! Surprises all around.

Before proceeding, its probably worth making clear my relationship with the two colliding franchises. I’m a huge Phoenix Wright fan. I’ve played every game in the series, and I’m an absolute sucker for the absurd characters and dialogue, and the illogical courtroom twists. The slow, padded, deliberate, “visual novel” pace of the series suits me to a tee. Professor Layton, however, wore out his welcome for me. I played the first 2 or 3 games that came out on DS, and while I enjoyed them, the flat characters and abundance of non-narrative puzzles became a boring cycle that I chose to stop participating in. While I can admire the Layton games for what they are, I had no desire to play any future titles.

The combination of the Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton series’ results in a surprisingly well balanced game with a good variety of gameplay elements. The “adventure” sections, often spent investigating the town, unfold like standard Professor Layton gameplay – you visit locations, pixel-hunt environments to find hint-coins for puzzles, talk to villagers and then get suddenly posed a barely related puzzle you have to solve. The other half of the game is spent in the “Witch Hunts”, courtroom battles that play out in the Phoenix Wright style of lots of lots of text boxes, cross examinations, evidence analysis and OBJECTIONS! Combined with a few new twists in each experience, Layton vs Wright becomes a surprisingly rich game that never gets lost too long in a single gameplay loop.

How the two characters come together in the narrative is typically odd. Puzzle-solver Layton and his apprentice Luke are sucked into the magical medieval town of Labyrinthia whose existence seems tied to the whims of a “Storyteller” who crafts the town narrative, which includes the capture and trial of witches. While investigating the town, the pair come upon two unlikely looking apprentice bakers, Phoenix Wright and his assistant Maya Fey, who have no memory of their previous lives. Of course when mutual friend Estella Cantabella is accused of being a witch, Wright is thrust into the courtroom to defend her. And the story unfolds from there with some good surprises along the way, but an ultimately eye-rolling final story twist that reminded me why I didn’t enjoy Professor Layton narratives. Despite being disappointed by the eventual ending, the off-beat characters and nicely suggested mystery keep the journey interesting, and even when the clunky final mysteries are revealed, they are delivered with such earnest commitment and some classic Japanese sentiment that the gamemakers totally get away with it. Cutting between the adventures of the two pairs of leads keeps the story building and allows for some mysterious cliffhangers and nicely dove-tailed story moments.

Playing the Layton-inspired sections was a nice return to a series I’d left alone for many years. There are dozens of nicely painted screens and environments to explore, providing more distinct locations than Phoenix Wright games usually have, and the sheer variety of short, unique puzzles in the game which often require you to think in completely new ways, was a nice challenge. Puzzle games with variety tend to have puzzles of equally varying quality, and this game is no exception. While the vast majority of puzzles are clear and fun, there are a handful of poorly worded or weakly designed ones that almost require you to use the collected hint-coins so that you stand a chance to even remotely solve them. Sadly, this is a fairly common trade-off in Layton games. The majority of the puzzles, however, are certainly fun, if a little easy.

The Witch Trials remain my favourite part of the game. An accused witch is caged precariously above a pit of fire while the Inquisition and the Defence duke it out on the courtroom floor. While Phoenix spends the bulk of his time cross-examining witnesses and presenting evidence, much like his regular games, the rules of this peculiar medieval town mix things up a little. Multiple witnesses give testimony at once, meaning Phoenix needs to watch out for witness reactions to other statements as well as having the capacity to call witnesses up on contradictory testimony. This can result in fairly lengthily and amusing cross-examinations, culminating in the final trial where 10 knights of varying reliability provide their testimony all at once. The fantasy setting is an excuse for the game developers to bend the Phoenix Wright interrogation model a little, and the resulting courtroom chaos is a delightful outcome.

Fully-voiced animated cutscenes are a staple of the Professor Layton series, and are a nice addition to the game’s storytelling arsenal. The addition of occasional voice-acting outside those cutscenes is less successful, and I certainly prefer the minimal voice acting that traditionally accompanies the Ace Attorney series. Phoenix Wright players would be used to a save system where they can save and resume from any point in the game, however Layton vs Wright can inconveniently go some time between save points if puzzles are placed successively, and loading a game during a trial section places you back at more of a checkpoint than the spot where you actually saved. Normally not something that would annoy me, but coming from the Phoenix Wright standalone games, this is worth noting. While I’m nitpicking, it’s also worth mentioning the strange animation frame drops that occur occasionally, which is puzzling since not a lot really happens on-screen in this game, and there is clearly some optimisation work that could have been done.

Ultimately, the crossover is successful, combining the strengths of each series into a cohesive new experience. It is actually disappointing that future standalone Phoenix Wright games won’t have the additional gameplay variety provided by the Layton puzzles, and that the Layton standalone games will be stuck in the talking/puzzle/silly mystery gameplay loop. I’d be up for a sequel – Capcom! Maybe one with less of a cop-out ending though.

Verdict: Another solid game for the 3DS, perfect to pick up and play for a few minutes at a time or for extended bouts. Fans of either series will find plenty to enjoy in this well executed crossover. An excellent stepping-on point for anyone curious about either the Layton or Wright games, this provides an accurate representation of each games’ strengths.

Should Bradley play this: Probably not. This is more of a niche title, and doesn’t make it onto the 3DS Must Play list.