Layton Brothers: Mystery Room Is Out for iOS Now

Why the hell would this only be for apple products?

Here's hoping the legendary Herb Layton finally makes an appearance in this game at long last!

I've tried it. It's mind-numbingly boring.

Wait, so his son is a detective!? Who's his mom!? WHY IS HE NAMED ALFENDI!?

Haven't you heard? They're the future of gaming, or something...

@smokey_earhole: You think so? I've really enjoyed what I played so far.

The first two free cases are pretty easy, but the characters are weird and fun in that Layton or Phoenix Wright kind of way.

And the music is fucking incredible.

But like Phoenix Wright, the game itself is a little dull. Investigating the crime scenes has so far been pretty dull. Piecing the clues together and interrogating the suspect is pretty decent fun though.

Anyway, I think if you like the Phoenix Wright games you'll probably get into this.

His son? I thought it was supposed to be his brother?

Man, who was responsible for the localization for this? Grammatical errors are everywhere, especially the beginning. Not a great first impression.

That just makes me want to play it more!

I never realized that Adrien Brody was the fruit of Prof. Layton's loins.

I played a little bit of this last night...the translation seems BUSTED. Half of the sentences didn't make any sense.

No Android love.

Noses!

It's supposed to be a Welsh accent I believe. So they're trying to emulate that language in the text.

It is a pretty weird choice.

And Layton is confirmed NOT for Smash Bros.

Just thinking out loud, but maybe making one of the murder suspects look exactly like the protagonist with different-coloured hair wasn't the best choice. I assumed it was one of those "trying to clear your own name" stories until a bit near the end where he was talking to "himself."

Sigggghhhhh. It looks interesting, but I can never bring myself to ever want to play anything on a phone. Bring it over to the 3ds and we just might have a stew going.

Wait a year or two.

Phoenix Wright games are great because of the court battles. Investigation part is ok, at most.

A perfectly good sandwich was ruined by that dead persons hand.

Everything about this seems poorly thought out.

Layton's son? Horse shit.

Good art and interesting sound/music. TERRIBLE translation and boring gameplay, ala Apollo Justice (Phoenix Wright series). First "three" cases (one is just the prologue with no gameplay) are free so check it out if it interests you. Word of warning, it does NOT play like Professor Layton at all so if that's what you wanted, you won't find it.

Fucking awesome. Layton is one of the greatest games ever.

The whole package is only $5 and it's a universal app, which is almost shocking to me somehow seeing how some games go for over twice as much and have close ties to mobile gaming as it is. May not be quite as deep as Phoenix Wright, at least from the first two missions, but I found it engaging enough and it stood out in its own ways. I hope more games like this come out, and certainly hope that they are made available on Android. I have an iPhone and an old iPad and I lament it when decent games are not carried over to other platforms.

Some notes:

• Felt the presentation was pretty good, but had to think like the game designer a bit to make the right connections some times.
• The art style fits in with a mobile platform and the music is amazing. I got Ace Attorney tingles when you are accusing a suspect and that music just jams so right.
• The little arrows of text that fling from one character to another when testimony is given is a good touch, making the accusations feel that they have more weight to them.
• If you are thinking about downloading the game, DO NOT look at the images on the iTunes page as they are fairly spoilery of the first couple cases.
• Possible spoiler material in the "free" section: Sort of an interesting twist around the latter half of the second case, but in remembering case zero it makes me sad of how it all may end up.

@pepsiman: I'm hoping they'll add a Herbert Layton into one of the games at some point, too. That clip always makes me giggle. Surprised nobody's done a Bombination of it...hm. Maybe I should do something like that.

@jetforcegemini: It's not out on Mac, so it's not a universal Apple product. But I'd be really surprised if it didn't come to Android eventually.

To those complaining about translation/localization, see @rockyraccoon37's reply. They're trying to replicate Scottish dialect phonetically for the Lucy Baker character. A more careful reading shows that the other characters' dialogue is fine.

To those praising the music; they're right, it is awesome. I did little digging and I found out that it's by the legendary Yuzo Koshiro.

It's pretty fun. Scratching a murder-mystery-puzzle itch that has been nagging me for a bit. But the punny character names put it over the top (who doesn't love a hotel owner named Micah Sasucasa?). I must admit, though that it will probably be pretty boring and not really worth it if you don't like reading or enjoy the investigating. But that's why the first few episodes are free right?

Worthy of a free download if not the whole $5 package. Great fun and more Layton

I enjoyed the free trials enough to pick up the first $3 expansion, and I'm sure I'll be grabbing the $2 pack too. Serviceable gameplay with a great presentation and, like others have mentioned, music that hits the spot. If nothing else, I'm happy to support Level 5/Layton (and apps that don't implement terrible IAP.)

The localization is fine and intentional--though I agree that the first "It were over there!" was a little jarring.

For everyone saying the grammar is poor, the grammar is actually perfect. The characters speak in their own vernacular, and especially the young girl detective is supposed to be from London and it is written that way. Later on, there's a Scottish hen who says, 'i dinnae ken' or something similar. So although it's not the most obvious thing, it's definitely on purpose and not grammar or spelling mistakes.

The pacing does seem a bit tedious. Does anyone know if the later cases move any faster?