A little game called Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney was released in Australia today. As far as I know, there isn't a North American release date for the game yet, so I might just give a bit of a preview for everyone who can't get the game yet.
Currently I've only beaten the two prologue chapters. Layton gameplay is just what you'd expect, you solve the puzzles, you use the coins to get hints (you also start with 30 hint coins. Quite generous of you, game), and you tap the landscape to get more coins. Can't really say the landscape tapping is intuitive though since said landscape doesn't appear on the touch-screen, you have to slide the stylus on the touch-screen to move a cursor on the top screen. I don't know if it's like that in the 3DS Layton games, but it's awkward regardless. I'd just stick to the circle pad and buttons. Ace Attorney gameplay is a little strange. It takes a few elements from the Layton series and incorporates them into the courtroom gameplay. You can use hint coins in court to narrow down what evidence you need, and you're rewarded Picarats at the end of a trial depending on how many exclamation marks you have. Yes, I did just say exclamation marks. For whatever reason, they decided to revert back to the penalty system of the very first game. Dunno what was wrong with the bar, but OK. There doesn't seem to be a soft-reset function, so save scumming is kinda awkward, especially when you have to go through an extra menu to save the game, and you can't hold down the B button to fast-forward through text. I think this'll become annoying down the road. I also miss the feature in Dual Destinies where you can read what was previously said, but since this game did come out in Japan before Dual Destinies, I can let it slide. Also, they changed Phoenix's voice actor, it's not Sam Riegel in this game. If the Ace Attorney wiki is to be believed, Phoenix is now voiced by Roger Craig Smith, who gives a performance that sounds a lot older than Sam Riegal's, even though Phoenix is still in his 20's in this game while he's in his 30's in Dual Destinies. Just something weird.
I am enjoying the game so far, the story is intriguing and I'm curious to see how the new features play out. Hopefully, whoever the hell's publishing the game in North America will get it together soon.