"A brilliant game that outshines the original. TAKE THAT!"

Gyakuten Saiban 2- or, as it is more commonly known as, Phoenix Wright- Ace Attorney: Justice for All, is the sequel to Gyakuten Saiban: Yomigaeru Gyakuten- better known as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. The game will feel familiar to any fan of the series- the gameplay remains virtually unchanged. But the game itself is a triumph, and is far better than the original. Why? Two main reasons: One, the game itself has taken a jump in difficulty, something many fans are sure to welcome. And the game itself and its plot is much darker than Ace Attorney's. As usual, you play each case defending your client from the charge of murder. But how this is executed is done much more maturely and darkly. Anyways, on to the review.

Gameplay: 9/10

As I said above, the gameplay remains virtually unchanged- except in two locations. The first is one you'll notice quite quickly- you need it for the first contradiction of case one. You can now present people as evidence- in other words, you can now choose to present from either your evidence in the Court Record, or ‘Profiles.' The other, more major change, comes into play outside of court. During case 2's investigation, Phoenix will be given the ‘Magatama' by Maya, which allows him to tell if somebody's keeping a secret or lying to him. It's pretty clear when this happens- the background inverts colors before fading to black, and a series of chains and locks come over the person you're talking to. Once you have enough evidence, you can present Maya's Magatama and enter ‘Psyche-Lock' mode. The more locks a person has, the more evidence you'll need to present to break the lock and discover their secret. The most locks any one person has at one time is five, and that only comes up during the final case.

Speaking of which, you may be disappointed to learn that there are only 4 cases, and each only has two court days (with the exception of case one.) However, each court day is separated into two parts with a save point between them, much like in case five of the original. Each day has multiple witnesses (with one exception), meaning that each court period is longer in the original. And the first thing you'll notice about these new periods is obvious- they're much, much harder. The contradictions are well hidden, and there's even points where you can instantly lose. Speaking of which, the difficulty even increases with your health bar- instead of the standard five ‘!' marks the original had, you have a ‘bar' of health which will lose different amounts depending on what you're presenting/saying/accusing. The catch? It doesn't refill between witnesses- or court days. You can even lose health outside of court if you screw up on a Psyche-Lock. The only way to refill it is by successfully unlocking a Psyche-Lock.

All of these changes are good, earning it a 9/10 for gameplay.

Sound: 10/10

“What?” You may be thinking that as you read this. Unlike many gamers, I loved the soundtrack to this game- even if a few tracks are reused. Some of the new tracks, such as ‘In the Midst' and ‘With Pearly' (Pearl's theme) are simply amazing. There's not a whole lot more to say here, other than the fact Franziska's objection sounds like one of the ‘Mia Fey' voices on the Objection! site.

Plot:

I'm just going to go ahead and divide this into two sections.

Characters: 10/10

What's that, you say? Another 10/10? Well, the game deserves it. The characters in this game are memorable and quite varying. From the obnoxious occult fanatic who punctuates her sentences with the word ‘like' far too often to the gentlemanly assassin, who, upon being questioned by the judge, politely asks him if he would like to die. There are also characters from the original- Lotta Hart, the overzealous photographer from case four of the original shows up in the second and fourth cases of this one, and case four is essentially ‘PW:AA Case Three Reunion.' The main opposing prosecutor is Franziska von Karma, daughter of Phoenix's enemy in case four of the original, who deals out punishment by way of both objections and her whip.

Storyline:

Dividing time again.

Case One (The Lost Turnabout): 7/10

Decent. Not much can be done here, considering it's just a tutorial case.

Case Two (Reunion, and Turnabout): 9/10

Ahh, now we're getting to the good stuff. Plot twists galore, none of which I can go into due to massive spoilers. Pearl is essentially your sidekick for this case, where Maya- once again- is the defendant.

Case Three (Turnabout Big Top): 8/10

Ehhhhh… this has its good and bad parts. The good? The killer is less ‘evil' than in the others, a nice change of pace. The characters were decent, but at times could be annoying. And the plot… well, let's just say I'm having trouble swallowing this guy's murder plan.

Case Four (Farewell, My Turnabout): 10/10

YES. This is the most dramatic, plot-twisty case in all of both the first game and this one. Pearl once again serves as Phoenix's sidekick, as Maya has been kidnapped. The ransom? A ‘not guilty' verdict for the defendant. No sweat, right? Unfortunately, things aren't that easy as Franziska, the defendant's manager, and even Will Powers, the defendant of PW:AA's case 3 take to the stand, culminating in a shocking climax where the true killer is not the surprise, but rather who had the killer kill. An easy 10/10 for this one.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics are mainly the same as the original's in terms of quality. I did, however, love some of the character designs.

(Replay value can't really be rated, as it's entirely dependent on what kind person you are- it's kind of like re-reading a book.)

OVERALL: 9/10

Buy or Rent?

Import or buy. The Japanese version has the full localization, but if you can't import, you'll have to wait for 2007 to pick it up.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/09/06