It’s hard not to get a Professor Layton vibe from Konami’s upcoming 3DS title, Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights. Even the title sounds like a Professor Layton title! Despite its british voice acting, familiar art, and top hats, Doctor Lautrec is proving to be an interesting title with a few elements not found in Professor Layton.

While it does feature conversation and puzzle elements, Doctor Lautrec seems to play alot more like an RPG. Players run around environments and battling foes. Definitely not what you’d see in a Layton game.

The title is set for Summer 2011 exclusively for Nintendo 3DS. After the jump you can find the new trailer and some screenshots.

At first glance, most will probably say, “Hey, that’s a Professor Layton rip-off!” But despite a similar style, name, and hat, the game actually sounds quite different.

Set in 19th century Paris, Doctor Lautric and his young assistant Sophie are treasure hunters who explore caves and other environments for…well, treasures. Of course, as with any title, there will probably be a larger overarching plot. And while Konami doesn’t reveal anything, they do mention that Lautrec is a genius and loves to solve mysteries, which is a good sign that a big mystery is coming. He also has a monkey named Kiki who occasionally sits on his shoulder, which is a possible sign that he likes monkeys.

Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights is made up of four basic elements: Events, battles, exploration and conversations. Events and conversations are pretty self explanatory, lots of talking. Thankfully, that talking will be actually voiced. Exploration has players exploring the environment with direct control over Doctor Lautrec. And then, Battle has players fighting off enemies using spirits that take human, beast, and bird forms. Yeah, doesn’t sound like Professor Layton now.

The title is set for Spring 2011 in Japan exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS. Glad it is just not a Professor Layton clone, since we already the sixth entry in the series and Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright on the way.

(Source: andriasang)