DS Review: ~Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney~

[Durxom]

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Release Date: October 11, 2005​

Originally released in Japan on the GBA in 2001, it was later remade for the Nintendo DS and released in 2005 internationally. It soon gained a cult following for its addictive gameplay, and it's humor, which have so far allowed 4 more sequels to the Ace Attorney series (or Gyakuten Saiban in Japan). If the court allows it, I shall present evidence to proof the awesomeness of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

Story

You follow Phoenix Wright, a rookie defense attorney working for Fey & Co. Law Offices. With help from his mentor, Mia Fey, Phoenix wins his first case, but shortly there after, certain events take place, causing Nick(everyone's nickname for Phoenix) to have to fend for himself, and help prove the innocence of Mia's younger sister, Maya. Throughout the game, you search for clues and testimonies and meet such characters such as Detective Gumshoe, Lotta Heart, and Larry Butz, to help win your clients' innocence against your rival and prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth, and the perfectionist, Manfred von Karma.

Spoiler: You will learn to hate this man!!

Gameplay

The gameplay consists of a mostly point-and-click style adventure game. You move about certain locations, talking with witnesses, and searching for evidence to help in your case. You can talk to people to learn more about the case and their view of what happened, and also present evidence you find to get more info out of them which is added to your Court Record.

After finding a certain amount of evidence, it will move onto the next day, and that is when you appear in court. This is where the fun begins!!! It becomes a battle of wits with the prosecutor, pressing witness testimony and presenting evidence to try and figure out what really happened and win the case. In some of the later cases, the trial goes on for days, and leaves you glabbergasted at how many loops and turns have taken place.

Sound & Music

While there isn't much sound in this game besides the text chatter, and the shouting noises, or other various noises, the music is where it really stands out. The music matches well with how the game is pacing. Find a piece of evidence stands out, slow gut-wrenching music with a feeling of "This is it", as you head into the court. Blow through all of the prosecutor's and witness's lies, a high paced stream of sound starts blaring out giving you that "Oh ya, I get them now!" feeling in your heart. The music really pushes the story and action that much more forward.

Spoiler: You know you've got the case in the bag when you start hearing this tune...

Extras

This remake contains all of the trial's from the original Japanese GBA game, but also adds another case onto the end that uses more of the DS's functionality, such as using the DS to find blood splatter, or dusting around for fingerprints, with this case,another good extra few hours is added onto the original game.

!!Final Verdict!!

This game adds DS functionality along with heavy thought, along with intense and at times, extremely difficult gameplay. I admit, I had to look at a FAQ for the last few cases, because I could not figure out at all on what I had to do. The humor is well injected into the fun gameplay, making this a must-have for all DS owners.

OBJECTION!!!

 

[Thaius]

Good review, and agreed. One of my favorite DS games, despite the all-too-often need to consult a guide. And dang, I love that soundtrack.

 

[Dragon_of_red]

Yeah, its a fun game, very hard though.

I do like the Arkward Zombie comic takes on Pheonix Wright though.

Good Review

 

[ultimatechance]

Yea, the game was allot of fun. But i hated it how more then one evidence would sometimes be related to the case and yet it the court would refuse to accept it.

I remember there being a case where I objected with a perfectly relevant piece of evidence, but the judge told me that it wasnt good enough to prove my point, and let me off without a penalty, where I then thought harder and presented the better evidence. I dont understand why the entire game wasnt set up like this, its only fair to give us another chance if the evidence is good, but not the best.

 

[shogunblade]

The game was fantasic. When I bought a Nintendo DS, this was one of the first games I ever rented from Gamefly.

I can remember spending many a night trying to stop the villians in this game, and it felt more satisfying trying to stop Von Karma than any other video game boss from any video game for the last two decades. This was a great game, now a bit expensive for me (last I saw, Amazon had it for $90.) but a great game, and a greeat review.

 

[ZeroMachine]

I absolutley loved that game, but there was no replay value whatsoever.

 

[Cilliandrew]

I absolutley loved that game, but there was no replay value whatsoever.

That's kind of how i felt. I liked the game. It kind of harkened back to point and click adventure games like "Space Quest" and "Monkey Island" a bit...

However, i got bored of the experience around the 4th chapter. And definitely did find the limitations of the court cases a bit frustrating.. I would try to present perfectly reasonable evidence that the creators obviously didn't think about, and BAM would get shot down and reprimanded.

I'm not sure if the other entries in the series improved on that particular flaw. I only ever played the first game.

Interesting experience, and i was happy to hear it became as successful as it did, but i don't think i could ever play it again.

 

[Durxom]

They haven't really changed that particularly on the next ones (only on the second one myself), but they changed the punishment system for it, as in before you were only allowed 5 chances till a game over, it now uses a bar and each circumstance takes a certain amount off...choose the wrong piece of evidence at the beginning of the trial, you lose a small tick...screw up once you've got a pace going and throwing down evidence, you lose the equivalent of 1 chance for the first game, they also added a part where you can do, sort of press secrets from witness outside of court, but if you present wrong evidence then, then you lose a chunk of your bar when you actually in court.

 

[Magnatek]

They haven't really changed that particularly on the next ones (only on the second one myself), but they changed the punishment system for it, as in before you were only allowed 5 chances till a game over, it now uses a bar and each circumstance takes a certain amount off...choose the wrong piece of evidence at the beginning of the trial, you lose a small tick...screw up once you've got a pace going and throwing down evidence, you lose the equivalent of 1 chance for the first game, they also added a part where you can do, sort of press secrets from witness outside of court, but if you present wrong evidence then, then you lose a chunk of your bar when you actually in court.

Also remember that the prosecutor may also "up the ante" during some cases. In other words, they may call a "double penalty", in which you lose twice as much of the bar, or an "ultimate penalty" challenge, with which the entire bar is up for grabs. However, that last one isn't used very much. I think I've only seen it used once.

 

[Gigaguy64]

Now i WILL pick this game up.
Just need to find a copy.
None of my stores i go to have had it when i wanted it.

Nice review.
It looks like a great game.

 

[Quad08]

This series is the reason I have/play my DS