Guess who got to play Professor Layton and the Last Specter on Saturday?

Why, it’d be me, of course! I had the honor of going to the EB Games Exposition in Gold Coast on Saturday, which featured all the latest and greatest games available to demo, along with a whole lot of other things I honestly didn’t get a chance to check out. Armed with my first ever press pass and my ever-tolerant husband (I think he’d rather be at home playing games than waiting in line to try a 5 minute demo), I endured long lines and more sweaty men than I’d care to remember to try out all the latest games.

Obviously I played a whole lot more than Professor Layton and the Last Specter, but for the purposes of this post I thought I’d just quickly recount what I thought about one element of the game that I was particularly excited for– the additional game, Layton’s London Life. Let’s face it, I really only got to play the thing two days before it’s officially released in America, but early is early, right?

It was a bit sad to see one lone DS XL hiding in the corner of the Nintendo booth, but as soon as I saw the Professor Layton logo I swam through the masses to get my hands on it–and play it I did, because absolutely no one was interested in trying it except for me. Too bad for them, I guess!

The main story mode was more of the same, really, and since I figured I had limited time I decided to see if I could back out and try Layton’s London Life. I honestly think it was a full version of the game, as I actually got to start a whole new Layton’s London Life save and create a character, whom I gave an incredibly grouchy face, pigtails, and the name “Nimmy.” The character creation is a bit limited but the options available make it fun nevertheless, and I was not one bit disappointed by the lovely Mother-esque graphics.

Though people have been calling London Life an RPG, it’s really more of a lifestyle game a la Animal Crossing. You get to dress up your character, go fishing, pick flowers, and do various fetch quests for a myriad of London’s inhabitants. People who like Animal Crossing are going to find a lot to like about London Life. In fact, I’d hazard to say it’ll hold you over until Animal Crossing 3D finally comes out!

So, in the end, I didn’t really get to play a whole lot of Professor Layton and the Last Specter, and the release date is so close that it seems a little silly to write up demo impressions, but suffice it to say if you’re planning on picking the game, I don’t think you’re going to be disappointed. Oh, and any of you who do better tell me your friend codes so we can visit each other’s Little Londons!

About Anne

Also known as apricotsushi. Anne can be written with the kanji for apricot (杏), and sushi was the most quintessentially Japanese thing I could think of when I was 13, resulting in my goofy, albeit memorable, nickname.

4 thoughts on “Guess who got to play Professor Layton and the Last Specter on Saturday?”

  1. Sounds great to me, Anne! I love Animal Crossing, so it sounds like I’ll love London Life, too. I’m guessing I’ll also love the rest of the game, too, of course 🙂

    Did you play anything else at the event that you really liked?

  2. I’m looking forward to sending my character to your town, Bryan, with the social connect feature London Life has! 😉

    I actually got to play a demo of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, and I was quite pleased with how that went. I still think it’s a bit of a gimmick, seeing as you need to pay full price of the game and then purchase multiple figures in order to get the “complete” experience, but it’s definitely something I could get into (if I didn’t value my wallet so much).

    Hm… Either than that, I did play a bit of Xenoblade Chronicles! I was really confused for most of it so I just ran around and killed a few things and talked to people in town, but it was still very pretty.

    As for still unreleased games, the most notable was Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City, which we played 4 player co-op, and it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed doing RE5 co-op with my husband, and it’s kind of similar to that, but with even more of a traditional shooter feel. I’m looking forward to seeing more of that one.

    Oh, and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land! I did 4 player co-op on that as well and it was a blast, even though my teammates seemed very confused, haha

  3. I was so glad to see that the Australian release of the game will get that RPG bit.

    The Europeans are missing out, which worried be greatly, as usually we follow suit with Europe, but Nintendo Australia’s done us right (and has been doing so surprisingly regularly recently, what’s with that?)

    Also, I wish I could have gone to that event. 🙁

  4. Yes, Nintendo Australia is definitely doing us Aussies good these days! I wonder why? I guess we shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth 😉

    It would’ve been great if you could’ve come! I hear they announced it will be in Sydney next year. Perhaps it will be easier for you to attend then?

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