"Pointer fingers at the ready..."

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (referred to as "AA" hereafter) is a remake of Gyakuten Saiban (a GBA game released only in Japan) for the Nintendo DS. It is the first of five Ace Attorney games on the DS.

A game about lawyers. That just sounds terrible, doesn't it? Who wants to play around as lawyers in court? I imagine a lot of people new to this series had these thoughts going through their minds. Can't blame them, either: no-one wants to sit around in court listening to witnesses drone on and on whilst vaguely trying to defend some guy that may or may not be guilty. It's boring. So, it's all the more amazing that Capcom not only made a great, exciting game based around lawyers and court procedures, but also managed to successfully market a visual novel outside of Japan. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a brilliant game, being extremely well-written with a lot of thought put into the characters and story, and has the added bonus of a kickass soundtrack and lovely graphics.

The graphics, as mentioned, are indeed lovely. Every character has a set of animations that makes them seem alive, giving them a personality. From cheerful, mischievous Maya to the snarky rookie lawyer Phoenix to the angry, panicky suspects that begin to deride you and are obviously freaked out by the fact that you're closing in on the truth. Every item and piece of evidence you find looks nice too. In the fifth and final case, you at one point have to watch a video and analyse it. The video, whilst in black and white, features 3D models. You don't get to see much of them, but they do look a bit nice. The graphics are wonderful, all-round. There's art books full of concept art and such, and you really should invest in one, because the artwork for the games is great.

The music is amazing. It just fits so well with the game. There wasn't one track that I didn't like. The music in the court scenes is the best of the game, and I would pretty easily slap it onto an iPod, if I had one. If you somehow don't like the music in the game, your tastes in music are terrible. The Objection! themes are simply epic, and really make the game a lot more exciting. The court scenes, as good as they are, just wouldn't be the same without the music. It adds to the atmosphere.

And now, the game itself. The game is, for the most part, simple. It follows a simple pattern of Investigation > Court > Investigation > Court, repeated a couple of times, though it obviously differs between cases. In the Investigation phases, you wander from location to location, talking to people and finding items and bits of evidence lying around, which you use in court or show to people to progress the story or get more info. The odd time you might end up just running around in circles for a good time, trying to find something to progress. The Court phases are where the game gets really good. In court, you must listen to the testimonies of the witnesses and point out the holes in them, be they contradictions or just plain mistakes. Occasionally, you are asked a question and must choose an answer. This is where the other element of court comes in: the penalty system. It's essentially a health bar. Every time you mess up, you're likely to get penalised. You can get penalised five times in one case, and once you do, it's Game Over, and you start back from the last save point/beginning. During the testimonies, whenever you come to something suspicious or curious, you can press it (HOLD IT!) and ask for more info. Usually, you must do this to advance, to unlock new pieces of testimony that you usually then have to present evidence against (OBJECTION!). You do this by selecting the bit of testimony you want to object to, and then select the "Present Evidence" button on the bottom screen, then look through your assorted items and evidence, pick the one you want, and hit "Present". If you got it right, the game will play out a scene (complete with epic OBJECTION!) and then you proceed. If you get it wrong, you get penalised.

One complaint I occasionally hear about the original trilogy of Ace Attorney games (that is, the ones remade for the DS) is that for the most part they don't make much use of the DS' features. Sure, you can shout "OBJECTION!" into the DS mic if you want (you should do that at least once, for catharsis). However, the touch screen is only used for the menus and stuff, which you can also use the buttons for. Methinks that this is what Capcom added the fifth, extra case for (aside from giving people an incentive to rebuy it in Japan). In the fifth case, you use the touch screen a lot to investigate scenes, using a special spray, looking at a video (using the DS' power to create 3D models) and you can now look over all of your items and pieces of evidence in 3D, to spot stains and writing on things. It's easily the most entertaining case in terms of Investigation phases.

There are only two problems: as previously mentioned there may come times where you just end up running in circles throughout all available locations, talking to everyone over and over, showing them everything in your possession to see if they react. This is rare, but it may happen every now and then. The second problem: things don't exactly work as they do in real life, despite most of this game being grounded in reality. Try not to think too hard about some things. But these aren't major things; they don't show up like in, say, an old Sierra point 'n' click.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a great game, and comes highly recommended. It's a bit of a mix between visual novel and point 'n' click adventure game with a great script, great story, awesome music and nice graphics. If you haven't got it and see it lying on a shelf somewhere, pick it up. You won't be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/20/09

Game Release: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (EU, 03/16/06)