This should’ve been a match made in heaven. And in some ways, it really is. The story winds up being undeniably fascinating, and even though I wasn’t fully on board with its initial premise of witches and magic, I became a believer by the end. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t salvage the rest of the game, which feels like something that was a bit haphazardly thrown together without any real thought or imagination.

The reason I say this is because rather than feeling like one whole cohesive experience that smartly meshes the best aspects of both Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton, the entire experiences feels like you’re playing two separate games. During certain sections, you’re playing as Phoenix in the courtroom, doing battle by cross examining witnesses and presenting evidence. And during the other sections, you’re playing as Professor Layton, scouring the environments for clues and solving puzzles along the way. Basically, you’re doing exactly same things you’ve done in all of the other Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton games. But when a crossover like this comes, I was expecting more ingenuity in terms of how these great franchises can mix.

Even something as simple as solving a puzzle to understand the true meaning behind a piece of evidence is only utilized once in the entire game. Yes, only once in the entire game does puzzle and courtroom cross, and it happens in the final case. In a game that’s about Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton, how can you only use that gameplay mechanic once? Doesn’t that seem like one of the most obvious things to do? And of course, the one time it’s used, it’s actually pretty damn interesting, and it leads to memorable revelation.

I’m also going to rant about Professor Layton for a bit. He’s a bad character. Not in terms of morals or villainy, but just a poorly designed one. Layton is a genius-level detective with an even keel attitude and a penchant to help others in need. Basically, he’s perfect. And that makes him boring. Near the end of the game (don’t worry this isn’t much of a spoiler), Layton drones on and on, basically revealing the truth by himself because of course he’s figured it all out. On the other hand, Phoenix is interesting as a character because he seems realistic: he makes mistakes, and is constantly trying to turn things around in his favor when the odds are stacked against him. Obviously, he always ends up winning because it’s a video game story, but it at least humanizes him in a way that makes him more compelling.

All that being said, I feel like the ending is really good, and it makes me mad that the first 80% of the game was so uninspiring. Neither Layton or Phoenix really had a chance to shine in this crossover. All of the Layton puzzles are way too easy (I ended up using only one hint), and Phoenix’s courtroom shenanigans feel half-baked because you can only hold a max of 8 pieces of evidence in your Court Record, whereas in other Phoenix Wright games you were often holding a dozen or more.

You know what Level 5 and Capcom should’ve done to make the gameplay more interesting? This:

I have always felt less engaged with Phoenix Wright games and more so with Layton, just from a complexity standpoint. I felt that Layton's puzzles offered more required thought. It seems like neither Capcom nor NIntendo wanted to relinquish control of their brand enough to proper merge them together. Your description makes it seem like it's just a Phoenix Wright and Layton game put together. That's disappointing.

Though I will say I think there's something intriguing and deep about the juxtaposition of Wright and Layton. You pointed it out well, but in the context that Layton bored you. But rather, I see it as though that's the point. There are these two clashing personas.

Yeah, your point about Layton's personality is true. When I played the Layton games, his character didn't really bother me that much, but after playing this and seeing the direct juxtaposition of Layton and Wright, I came to the realization that Layton's persona is somewhat boring.

Sure, it would have been pretty cool and interesting if the two gameplay sections had mixed more often, but I didn't really need that. The problem for me was that each section wasn't nearly as good as in it's original series. The Layton puzzles felt pretty weak overall and not particularly satisfying when I completed them. Sometimes even after reading the instructions, I wasn't totally sure what the puzzle was asking me to do. The Ace Attorney sections often felt obtuse and required me to make some bizarre leaps in logic, even for a world where we're talking about magic spells and witches. I nearly checked out at the beginning of the first witch trial when I was spending such a long time arguing about whether or not someone was holding an invisible scepter. Thank goodness for the hint coins, or those sections would have been a real struggle.

Having said that! I ended up kind of loving this game, and it's all because of the story. I was expecting a Layton/Ace Attorney cross-over to just be a fun-time, puzzle-solving, courtroom-battling romp. I was definitely not expecting them to put these established characters through the wringer like they did. There were like, emotions! And the mystery had its slow spots, but kept pulling me back in, all the way through to the totally absurd ending (which I thought was great.) I think they did go one twist too far with the reveal that Eve rang the bell though. Who cares who rang it? Both girls went up there with the intention of ringing the bell and neither one knew the consequences. Would Eve have been justified in seeking revenge if Espella had done it? It seemed like an unnecessary twist that felt a bit cruel in the way it was presented. Like I was supposed to be relieved that the blame was shifted from one girl to another. When that last testimony started, I thought we were gonna find out there was a third person who masterminded the Legendary Fire or something, so it was also kind of anticlimactic.

But yeah, overall, really enjoyed it. Would buy a sequel!

@spunkyhepanda: Yeah, I thought the gameplay felt really half-baked. Like because they had two different gameplay sections in Layton and Phoenix, they thought they could get away with making those sections less compelling. The Layton puzzles were too easy and the courtroom sections were not as complex as other Phoenix games.

I really did like the story and the ending, but at the end of the day, it kinda had the same plot twist as Curious Village. Super rich father doing ridiculous/insane things for his daughter.

As a side note, I've only played Curious Village, and have not played any of the other Layton games. I'm playing through Diabolical Box right now.