[Game Review] Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (3DS Version)

Ace Attorney is one of the most popular Visual Novel series. Released by Capcom and is recommended for most ages so anyone can play. But those who like to solve mysteries, detective stories, or picking fun at the Characters are the best audience for the game. (I'm the last type.) In this article, I'm reviewing the 3DS version of the first game "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney."

HD version of first three titles in the series is announced for PC/Switch/X-One/PS4 just this week.

Gameplay

While it doesn't have much on the gameplay side. It doesn't feel that way for me. There's never a dull moment with Ace Attorney. It has fewer game mechanics than DanganRonpa but it felt as engaging!

OBJECTION! This evidence clearly proves it's more engaging than that!

You play as Phoenix Wright, a new lawyer that takes on seemingly impossible cases. Bluffs his way to winning them. He goes to every case basically unprepared and proves his clients innocence by questioning witnesses & prosecutors, finding contradictions in their statements.

Your only weapon!
When you only have a hammer everything looks like a nail.

The game system can be divided into two parts: Investigation to find evidence is basically "Go click on everything and talk to everyone." Using the evidence to clear contradictions in the court. Usually by bluffing or creating a theory that would prove your client innocence.

The investigation is as hard as clicking on every screen corner!

In Court, there's cross Examination sequence, where you try to hear a witness testimony and press him to find lies or misinformation in his case.

Sometimes the so-called witness might be the killer and Phoenix Wright will boldly accuse them in the court. This will send an actual Lawyer straight to jail if they tried the "accuse method" in real life". But in the game, you'd feel LIKE A HERO!

Story & Characters

The story starts with Phoenix first trail and his friend as the defendant. His mentor helps him figure out how the court works and gives him advice.

The Mentor.

His success in the first case with her help and after one unfortunate incident more cases come to his way, always with a personal connection to him.

Without spoiling anything, this game writing is brilliant! I love character names so much I'm always excited when a new one shows up! The reactions are so exaggerated, everyone acts like they're physically hit whenever proven wrong!

All characters the story focus on have compelling personalities, most of them have unique quirks! and even minor characters have their own backstories, (or seem to.) Their casual talk reveals a lot about their characters. The inner comments on their quickness by Phoenix Wright (who's weird himself,) are too funny not to mention in this review

The Judge seems stupid and clueless most of the time even though he's actually fair in his judgments. It seems like no one knows about the case details until the first witness or a good prosecutor points them out first.

"Can you object on that?"

Finally, both Phoenix Wright and his rival prosecutors Edgeworth seem fond of OBJECTIONS! They act as foils to each with their similarities and differences.

Conclusion

By the end of Ace Attorney, you'll feel tempted to shout "OBJECTION!" Every time you disagree with someone. This Game shows you why interrupting someone is unrespectful. (Yeah, I should stop doing that too.)

It's also the second most engaging and gameplay-like Visual Novel series I played, the first being DanganRonpa series.

The anime that's based on the game is pretty good too. Check it out if you have time.

Speaking on anime, if you enjoy it, you might want to join to #AikbaSteem on Discord, they're a fun group to be part of.

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Some images are taken from Nintendo Life Some are taken from the Wikia. Some are taken from the Anime. And one image is taken from here.

I should have included a picture of Maya! I didn't find one without spoilers.