"It takes a few steps backwards in some ways but it still succeeds in telling great stories with interesting characters."

Adventure gaming lives on through Justice For All. In true Capcom fashion, Justice For All is a sequel with not much change to the core gameplay that was laid out from the original. That's not necessarily a bad thing at all however, Justice For All continues the courtroom drama with great writing, intriguing stories and memorable characters that all come together to create a solid game.

The game can be essentially broken down into two gameplay modes: investigation and trial. During investigation, you gather evidence and talk to witnesses and detectives to make a solid case for your defendant. The trial portion involves ripping testimonies into shreds so you can hopefully prove to the court that you're defendant is not guilty. It's more of the same and that includes some of the flaws from the original.

It's still extremely linear and the last minute “HOLD IT!” and “OBJECTION!” come off as a bit predictable this time around. Also, there are four cases in all and there's no DS exclusive case that takes advantage of its capabilities. It's disappointing and in this case, Justice For All takes a few steps backwards.

The excellent writing remains intact however. Justice For All succeeds in weaving a compelling, and often times funny yarn. The writing basically holds this game up because in essence, you're just reading while tapping through textbox after textbox. The characters and plots are brilliantly over the top and all this is credited to the localization team. From the ventriloquist with a puppet that seems to have a mind of its own and to the clown with his god awful jokes, the localization team deserves a huge pat on the back.

Justice For All changes a couple things this time around, specifically the new health bar. Instead of the five exclamation points system that was used in the original, the damage you take is directly proportional to what's at stake. For example, if the court asks you to present a crucial piece of evidence at a crucial point in the trial, there's a chance of losing over half of your health if you screw up. On the other hand, if you present something during a relatively tame testimony, you'll lose only a sliver of health. Lose all your health and you “die”. The new health bar is a sensible and welcomed change to the series. The only way to regain health is to break psyche-locks. Psyche-locks are literally locks that appear over a character's screen if they have a secret they'd rather not tell you about. The only way to break these locks is to present evidence to them that'll make them spill under pressure. It's a minor but interesting addition to the game but unfortunately, psyche-locks only appear outside of the courtroom.

The game is visually pleasing with some great art and detailed characters. Their animations are great and their emotions are well done. However, a lot of the areas have been reused from the original game. This is also true for the characters. The characters that come back from the original look exactly the same and have exactly the same animations in Justice For All. It's odd considering Justice For All takes place in a year after the events from the original. In the audio department, there's a healthy mix of remixes, reused tunes and new music. The new music isn't as catchy or memorable as the tunes from the original but what's here is solid. There's no voice acting whatsoever except for the usual “OBJECTION!”, “HOLD IT” and “TAKE THAT!” that you can trigger in the courtroom by yelling one of those phrases into your mic or you by just tapping the command if you have no soul.

There's no real replay value but that's really more of an inherent issue with the genre itself, not the actual game. You're still looking at a 12-15 hour game here and some of the cases take over 5 hours to complete. You might also feel the need to revisit some of your favorite cases just because they're that good. And again, the exclusion of an DS exclusive case will be sorely missed.

Overall, Justice For All is a great sequel. It takes a few steps backwards in some ways but it still succeeds in telling some great stories with interesting characters and scenarios. If you didn't find the original all that fun, don't expect the sequel to change your mind. Justice For All plays it safe and gives fans exactly what they want: more of the same.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/29/07