Since the sixth Ace Attorney game, Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice is set to be released in the US on September 8th I decided to go back and replay all of the Phoenix Wright main series games! I dunno if I’ll be able to get all the reviews out before the 8th, but I’ll sure as heck give it my best shot!!
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban in Japan) is a 2005 Nintendo DS single-player adventure visual novel developed by Capcom and the first game in the Ace Attorney series. Prior to it’s Nintendo DS release, Ace Attorney was originally released exclusively for the Gameboy Advance in Japan.
Story
In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney the player takes on the role of rookie defense attorney Phoenix Wright. With perseverance and a little luck, Phoenix stumbles and fumbles his way from a clueless newbie to an ace attorney. Do battle with the prosecution in five exciting cases that will have the player on the edge of their seat from start to finish. In the courtroom where a client is guilty until proven innocent, it’s up to Phoenix to achieve that much desired not guilty verdict.
Characters
Ace Attorney has an expansive cast of unique characters from witness to the police, so I will only provide descriptions for the main characters.
Gameplay
The gameplay is typical of a visual novel, the player takes control of Phoenix Wright as he attempts to successfully defend his clients in the court of law. There are a total of five cases in the game, each serving as a self contained episode within the overarching narrative of the game. Gameplay is split between two separate segments: the Investigation segments and the Courtroom segments.
During the Investigation segments, the player utilizes the DS’s lower touch screen interact with various characters (the accused, witnesses, and the police) and environments in order to gather evidence to aid Phoenix in defending his clients. Once evidence is collected, the player can present it to witnesses in order to obtain new information about the case. Typically Investigation segments occur prior to or in between Courtroom segments. After gathering all available information the Investigation segments end.
During Courtroom segments, the player uses the information and evidence gathered during the Investigation segments have Phoenix’s clients declared NOT GUILTY. Courtroom segments are presided over by a Judge who listens to the arguments of both the Defense and the Prosecution before delivering his verdict. Prior to the verdict, the player is able to cross-examine witnesses. Using the bottom touch screen players can press witnesses about suspicious statements from their testimony, or by presenting evidence that directly contradicts the provided testimony. In addition to using the touch screen, players can also utilize the Nintendo DS microphone to verbally Press witnesses and Present evidence by shouting “Hold It” and “Objection” respectively. Finally, players may be asked to answer questions from either the Judge or the the Prosecutor to additionally support claims made during the trial. Major mistakes during the Courtroom segments, are measured using a gauge consisting of five exclamation marks. If the player loses all of the exclamation marks before the end of the trial, the case automatically ends in a GUILTY verdict, resulting in a Game Over.
I love Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, this was probably my first introduction to visual novels (I can’t remember if it was this game or Hotel Dusk) and to this day I still have fond memories of my first playthrough. No matter how many times I play this game all of the puns and jokes still manage to make me laugh.
When Capcom decided to localize the game, they made a few changes to some of the puns to make them more relatable to English speaking audiences. Apparently during development the staff had some difficulty maintaining the integrity of some of the Japanese puns, especially where the character names were concerned. Many of the names and dialogue present in the Japanese versions of the game rely heavily on wordplay, so the staff had to be especially careful during localization. But despite a few inconsistencies, I feel that the team did a fair job of adapting the game.
The game features a an expansive cast of characters, each one fulfilling a specific role in the overall narrative of the game. The characters are endearing whether they’re a main character or a side character, but there were times when the side characters were more memorable than the main characters.
Despite the fact that each case follows the same basic formula, I still found the cases to be extremely engaging with their own unique challenges. There are a few times during the game that I just couldn’t figure out what evidence needed to be presented at what time or what piece of information I needed to collect during the Investigation segments. But, it was never anything that took away from my overall enjoyment of the game.
The only reason I didn’t give Ace Attorney a perfect score was because replayability is non-existent. After the player finishes the fifth and final case that’s it, there aren’t any additional special features or unlockable cases to play around with after the credits roll. But, that aside, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a fun game with likable characters and an engaging plot, that fans of all ages will love. So my overall rating for the game is…
4 Objections out of 5
