This review is for a request from a half a year ago from an anonymous user to review PLvsAA, made by Level-5 whose game library is 75% fantasy and Capcom the EA of Japanese gaming companies, will this game eventually warm my heart? read this review and find out

The Pros: 

• The Luke and Maya moments are really cute
• I do have to admit the 2d animation with 3d effects is really nice
• I always like a good fantasy setting
• There’s a Dragon in it, sure its an illusion but dragons are awesome
• I really liked the art gallery 
• I like how they made the witch trails with the whole witnesses and stuff, its a unique experience

  

                           (though beta Labyrinthia looks better)

The Meh:

• The whole gimmick of people voice acting in the court room is a nice touch but it gets old very quickly
• Even though I like the music, Laytons theme is played to much
• The 3d models are between Miracle Mask and Azran Legacy quality 
• As far as i’m concerned Flynch is in between Winston (most bearable) and Gaspen Payne (most unbearable) for prosecutors that I cant tolerate
• The only original characters I liked from the game are Constantine, Eve the cat with the dash of Reda Yubin (Lettie Mailers Japanese name) mostly because most of the characters are all a bunch of lies (more on that in a moment)
• The special episodes are basically treasure episodes with puzzles in it

  

                                   (it’s for the things to come)

The Cons:

• At least Azran Legacy have some variation between its British and American counterparts, PLVSAA has none of that and there’s a bigger month gap between the two releases you might as well import the British version
• I disliked Maria’s Luke’s voice so much that I wish there was an option to switch to the original Japanese game
• There even that cheap to not get Lani Minella to re record the lines. I know some or most of you guys like Maria Darling for her authenticity but I like Lani better because she sounds like a boy and her acting is much better, I don’t give a Raichus ass about authenticity if your acting is not good then I won’t like your voice much
• Pop culture jokes are not funny, meme jokes are even worse
• Oh the punny names, the terrible punny names
• The character designs (especially the main characters) looks like the standard anime I’ve seen in every modern anime ever. I mean it worked for Ace Attorney but one of the reasons why Layton is so special is its more stylized design rarely seen in anime (maybe I should stop watching crappy OVAs) 
• The rest of the character designs of the citizens look like Rhythm Thief characters
• Psychelocks are not in the game, that is my favorite part of the Phoenix Wright trilogy 
• Why do they have to remove Emmy Altava in the game, I mean they have Edgeworth do a cameo, why not Emmy, or even Flora or even Don Paolo in the game and they are one of the main characters in the original trilogy (even Gumshoe was name dropped)
• Why couldn't they stick to the first trailer visuals instead of starting over from scratch because they can’t decide to include Emmy? the only proof is the interview in a Nintendo Dream magazine
• Espella is just Flora Reinhold with PTSD and a backbone
• Zacharias Barnham is Klavier Gavin (my favorite prosecutor) with Randall’s haircut and replace the rock star motif with the honorable knight
• If I have to hear the cheers of Barnham one more time I’ll hit myself with Shovel Knight’s shovel
• Many plot elements of this game is rip from the first four Layton games directly (a father built a made up town for his daughter from Curious Village, Hallucinogenic material from Diabolical Box, using real citizens as part of the facade from Unwound Future and the Witch Hunt sub-plot form the Last Specter)
• That plot twist, that goddamn plot twist IS THE WORST PLOT TWIST EVER, I mean if I were at the last trial when the storyteller was revealing about the truth of Labyrinthia I would have arrested him at the spot, because brainwashing others is unforgivable because if you brainwash a person a certain amount of times their original selves no longer exists. (ends justify the means my foot)
• There are no Profiles in the game, which is understandable since the NPCs are all lies anyway  
• Why didn't Newton Belduke simply become a whistleblower and gave info of the project to Interpol and stop all of this madness?
• In Fact all of this could have been avoided and simply hire the greatest therapists in the world to help cope the daughters of what happened, sure it can take years but at least they have a decent life.
• I sympathize with the Storyteller but I don't empathize with him one bit 
• i’m not a fan of crossovers ever since comic books start merging their universes (Marvel & DC are Guilty of this) with Pokemon Conquest and some fighting games being the exception. Heck even Jimmy Timmy power hour is more daring than this game since the main characters switch worlds, adopting their respected animation style PLvsAA just dumps the main two in each game into The Village on an Island with the altered plot twist of the Happening
• And for the love of the Azran the Ace Attorney takes place in Japan (with the great ace attorney making the headlines they have to retcon the setting)

  

                                      (I miss you Emmy)

TLDR: This is the most Depressing game I’ve played like ever (and not in a good way) I tried to like this game, I really did and even as I played along i was evening enjoying the game in some places, until the plot twist just froze my heart to what I thought of the game for 2 years. I rather play Miracle Mask + than this game. it’s the most overhyped and overrated game I’ve ever played, even more overrated than Unwound Future. Maybe i’m just biased to the prequel trilogy since I started with Eternal Diva and to Apollo justice due to the fact it has my three favorite AA characters in it, and I absolutely refuse that PL and AA share the same universe making the game non-canon to the main timelines. (at least make it AU) For all the negatives I give I have to give this game a 5/10 because at the end of the day it’s the gameplay that matters and it is solid

My ranking for the Layton games

AL>LS>MM>MR=UF>DB>CV>PLvsAA

My ranking for the Ace Attorney games:

AJ> AAI2=T&T>JFA>AA>AAI=PLvsAA>DD

Now if you excuse me i’m going out with the unpopular Puffin and drink seventeen cans of soda

                           (Thank the Azran for Alternative Universes)

P.S: I did actually email Lani about the issue and the reason why she didn’t voice Luke for that game is mostly due to Personal Reasons (I can share the letter if you guys want me too?)