Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright: The perfect match

Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton’s collaboration is a triumph. It’s the sort of thing that you’d think would only exist in the frenzied mind of some rabid fan from fanfiction.net, but Level 5 and Capcom have put their minds together, seen eye to eye, and produced a game that successfully merges the two into one cohesive whole. It’s a baffling whole, but a whole nonetheless.

They’re from two completely different worlds, of course. Professor Layton is a casually dressed Victorian gent in a top hat, and his sidekick Luke dresses like some Charles Dickens urchin, and even has the mockney accent to go with it. Phoenix Wright and Maya? One’s an endearingly insecure hot shot lawyer in a sharp blue suit, and the other’s a boisterous, frivolous sidekick in traditional Japanese garb. Combining these two worlds is like getting an anime company to make a Werthers Originals advert; an old english gent slowly rocking back and forth in a rocking chair next to a roaring fire, sucking on a toffee and reminiscing about the old days, only he has hair like Goku and he’s listening to Babymetal.

They shouldn’t really blend stylistically, but they do. Layton’s fantasy whimsy and Wright’s mix of humour and drama work well together. It’s reflected in how the characters interact too. Layton’s a dreadful know it all really, a sickeningly self-assured smug… git. When all around him are getting hepped up, he always chimes in with some axiom to get cooler heads prevailing. Phoenix Wright’s the opposite. For the most part he really is just winging it. He’s a mess of self-doubt, bumbling idiocy and manic arm gestures.

Basically because they’re so different, they make a good double act, like a digital Morecambe and Wise (Wright is definitely the Morecambe, he’s a lot funnier). Their respective assistants mesh well too. Of course, the one part where the experience arguably falters a bit is the lack of interaction between other favourites from both series'. For instance, you don’t get Gumshoe from Ace Attorney being transferred over to London to help out Layton’s Inspector Chelmey, which is a shame, as that could have been a bit like the game equivalent of DI Fowler coming over to the North Yorkshire Police Department in Reeves and Mortimer’s Catterick.

However, focusing on what’s not here takes away from what is , and besides that, Layton vs Wright has a whole host of new characters that make their own mark, thanks to an engaging, lengthy and surprise-filled story that further helps coherently blend the two franchises.

The best thing about Layton vs Wright: Revengeance though, is that you’re never impatiently waiting for it to switch over to your next preferred game style or character. You’re never just going through the motions, impatiently waiting for Wright’s next Court Case, or Layton’s next batch of puzzles, so whether or not you prefer one series or the other is irrelevant: you’ll get mightily into it all, if you allow yourself to get sucked into its impossibly quaint (yet, at times, surprisingly quite dark) world.

The fact is, the respective styles of Layton and Ace Attorney mesh well. Obviously, both series’ are narrative driven puzzlers at heart, but the developers have found a way to seamlessly integrate Layton’s more sedate brain-bogglers with the high-stakes, deductive drama of the Ace Attorney series, and not just through the plot either. It’s as if the shorter Layton-esque puzzles are little training exercises, warming your fuzzy brain up before Phoenix’s, courtroom showdown main events. In essence, the bits where Phoenix Wright gets to show his stuff and garble his way to a ‘Not Guilty’ verdict are the boss battles of the title, and it adds a nice bit of structure and pacing to the proceedings.

So just what will the future hold for both franchises now? The game will hopefully sell; Professor Layton is one of the bigger heavy hitters on 3DS (the franchise has sold over 15 million) and Phoenix Wright has its following too. New fans will be won on both sides of the fence. Will this result in modified gameplay experiences or scenarios in both series' next instalments? Perhaps Professor Layton will get hauled into court in his next adventure and be forced to defend himself. Maybe Phoenix Wright will go up against a Riddler-esque lunatic in a top hat who keeps trying to throw him off the scent with daft little puzzles. Whatever happens, more people will have eyes on both.

Perhaps as a result, we’ll also see other games characters join forces? Imagine the fun. Mario vs Tomb Raider, Yoshi vs Turok, Kirby joining forces with the cast of Ninja Gaiden. Why stop there, Gex and Conker vs Army of Two! The possibilities are endless.