Professor Layton and the Devil’s Flute includes what might be the most extravagant game-within-a-game ever created: a bonus RPG called Professor Layton and London Life that is apparently 100 hours long.
It’s a shame that we here in the West are so far behind Japan in terms of Level-5’s deliciously brainteasing Professor Layton series. We’re just about to get the second game in the franchise, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, while Japan is already getting geared for the fourth, Professor Layton and the Devil’s Flute, in November.
It stings all the more if you consider one recently revealed bonus that comes with The Devil’s Flute. Packaging a game within a game is a clever and fun bonus that’s been seen in everything from Shenmue to the last Indiana Jones game on the Wii, but I’m pretty sure what Level-5 and Brownie Brown have conjured up for The Devil’s Flute takes the cake.
Included in The Devil’s Flute is Professor Layton and London Life, a full-on RPG developed by Brownie Brown that Level-5 boasts will last more than 100 hours. That’s quite the bonus, and should make The Devil’s Flute one hell of a value package.
Judging from the screens, this really is a Professor Layton RPG: there’s a town map on the top screen with gameplay happening on the bottom. Layton talks to NPCs who communicate in dialogue boxes, he explores a town from a top-down view in classic JRPG fashion, and he even has an equipment screen. Can’t wait to open some chest and discover a top hat that will give me +5 to lateral thinking.
[Via Joystiq]
