Next ‘Professor Layton’ Sequel Going Mobile, Fans Are Outraged
Professor Layton fans received a surprise message from CEO Akihiro Hino during the Level-5 Vision 2015 – The Beginning Event that was held in Japan. Unfortunately, it is not exactly what the fans expected, or wanted. According to Hino, Professor Layton 7 will be playable on smartphones in Japan and the game play will focus on playing cards and fortune telling. Much to the dismay of Professor Layton Fans, the game will not be making an appearing on the Nintendo 3DS, at least not in the foreseeable future.
According to Siliconera, more details will be revealed in the future, but for now the quick tease is all that Akihiro Hino would reveal. Within the teaser, Hiro stated that the goal of the game is to decipher who the “vampire” is by using skills and deduction by playing card games and fortune telling. Screen shots of both were revealed during the presentation.
The card game seems to be a standard battle game, pitting one set of cards versus another, attempting to become victorious by playing the best card. It is unknown whether the players will be able to play against other real life players to win better cards, possibly rare additions, or if it will remain strictly a solo player game.
The fortune telling aspect of the game seems to be playable across all members that have downloaded the game, yet to what extent is still unknown.
Kotaku reported on the announcement, mirroring the sentiment of fans that the game is a step in the wrong direction for the series. They exclaimed that a smartphone instance of the Professor Layton series is not necessarily a bad idea. However, since it is officially called Professor Layton 7, it lends to the idea that it is a full-fledged game in the series and not just a filler game. Therefore, the larger world that fans have grown to love will be shrunken down and shoved into the smartphone styling.
Professor Layton 7 was originally scheduled to release on the Nintnendo 3DS, but there is no word on the change of platform.
Fans have shared their outrage in the comments of various Professor Layton 7 articles. Ishamael44 stated, on Kotaku’s site, that the way of cheap mobile gaming is a bad idea.
“Man these announcements always hurt me seeing once great companies falling to the siren song of cheap mobile game money, especially when they were companies that tried to make great JRPG’s.”
Other fans are outraged, feeling that a mobile installment will cheapen the series in the long run.
What are your thoughts on the mobile version of Professor Layton 7?
[Photo Courtesy: Siliconera]
