Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (for Nintendo 3DS)

Chocolate Meets Peanut ButterThe game is divided into two sections, and alternates between them over the course of the story. Professor Layton investigates the city and interacts with citizens while hunting for clues, puzzles, and hint coins. Phoenix Wright takes to the courtroom to defend accused witches.
Solving puzzles and completing trials earns Picarats, points that are used to unlock bonus content such as a cutscene viewer and music files. The fewer mistakes that you make during a puzzle or trial, the more Picarats you're awarded to buy unlockable goodies.
Exploration and Puzzle Solving: The Forte of a GentlemanYou're taken to a colorful map of Labyrinthia when controlling Professor Layton. Layton and his diminutive assistant Luke Triton can be moved to any key points on the map that have been unlocked. Highlighting an area tallies the puzzles or Hint Coins hidden within.
Hint Coins are important items depending on your level of skill and/or patience. They're used to reveal hints in Professor Layton's puzzles, and reveal how to proceed in a trial during Phoenix Wright's courtroom sections. If you wish to piece together the puzzle solutions on your own, you can do so without ever looking at a hint. That said, Hint Coins are relatively abundant, and can serve as a convenient crutch for impatient gamers or those who feel like they're having trouble moving forward. 

Tapping an area on the map casues you to enter it, shifting the view to a vibrant, painting-like representation of that particular environment. You investigate the area with a magnifying glass cursor, controlled by the Nintendo 3DS's$228.80 at Amazon stylus. The magnifying glass changes color to signify what can be interacted with, be it person, point of interest, or hidden secret. Thankfully, the puzzles that you'll encounter are many and varied, so you won't become bored during Layton's investigation.
Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney has a lot of text and dialogue, due to the strong overarching story. This is particularly true in respect to the courtroom sections, but the text-heavy plot spills into the exploration areas, too. You engage many of Labyrinthia's zany citizens as the heroes search for new puzzles and explore the city. However, this means that you must to scroll through quite a bit of text between puzzle-solving sections. These weighty, exposition-filled interactions bog the gameplay.
Courtroom Circus and Ringmaster Phoenix WrightAfter Layton uncovers a vital clue or witness, the game shifts to the courtroom, the domain of the finger-jabbing ace attorney. Trials utilize the Strike System, which penalizes you for presenting the wrong evidence or poorly highlighting contradictions in a witness' statement. Five strikes destroy Phoenix Wright's defense, resulting in a game over, but you'll enjoy the goofy, over-the-top courtroom drama.
Unique to Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney are multiple witness scenarios. Witnesses are brought in to give their statements, and Wright can question several of them at once to highlight contradictions and gauge their reactions. This can lead to some interesting and downright hilarious revelations which wouldn't be possible when examining a single witness. The flip side to this is that cross-examining several witnesses can be quite tedious, as it requires multiple passes through witness dialogue, pressing them all the while, to get to vital clues.
Another element unique to the game is the Grand Grimoire, a spell book that you can use alongside the evidence in the court record. It highlights magic the witches of Labyrinthia use to harm others, and pages from the book can be presented as evidence as the trial demands. The Grimoire helps cement the supernatural nature of the realm of Labyrinthia in the courtroom, and is also very important to the game's plot.
Art And AccessibilityProfessor Layton utilizes a cartoony art style in its games, in which characters resemble eccentric caricatures. The Ace Attorney games on the other hand, use an anime-inspired art style and character proportions. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney combines both styles, with mixed results. Layton, Luke and many of the citizens of Labyrinthia use the cartoony style of the Professor Layton games, while major characters and courtroom characters tend to use the Ace Attorney style. Because of this, some characters will often look out of place when interacting with others. Still, the characters all look great regardless of their art style: They animate well, and often hilariously. But a more unified art style would have benefited the aesthetics of the game.
Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney makes minimal references to past titles from either series, making it very accessible to players not familiar with them. Because the game takes place in an entirely unique setting and introduces new characters, newcomers can dive in and not worry about who is who in either game world. The few references that are in the game are subtle Easter eggs; for example, when pressing the bard's pet parrot for more information, Phoenix remarks on how the situation feels oddly familiar, which is reference to a similar scenario in the original Ace Attorney game.
A Charming Puzzle Solving Adventure