"Justice for all.. except its predecessor."

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was a surprise hit on the DS system when it was released in 2005, and its sequel, Justice For All, inevitably has big shoes to fill. While certain elements that are uniquely Phoenix Wright are still present (the dry humor, comical drama amidst the seriousness of the courtroom and new developments in the plot to take "suspension of belief" to a whole new level, just to name a few), perhaps this sequel was too similar to the first game for its own good. The pacing of the game plummets incredibly at the last quarter and gameplay gets increasingly mired by the lengthiness of some cases as you proceed. True, the game does have some merit of its own, but most of them are based solely off its prequel and has little to its own right. Would we really want a rehash of what we have already played before..? My answer is: Yes and no.

One thing you'll know right off the bat is that you don't have to play the first game to understand this one. Put it in another way and it means that everything of the first game is explained to you within 10 minutes of playing it. The concepts and terms of the whole Phoenix Wright system are explained under the excuse of the protagonist having "amnesia", and veterans will know that little has changed. You go through testimonies of witnesses and through your cross-examination, you find flaws (or in its own terms, "contradictions") and provide rebuttals with evidence. As the investigative defense attorney Phoenix Wright, evidence pop up every now and then either through your own investigations, or as new evidence that surfaces in court. A surprisingly good eye for details and creative deduction skills are needed to piece together evidences to push your case, and the challenge is undoubtedly fun and enjoyable.

HOLD IT!

Weren't all these present in the first game..? Why, yes. So how little has changed, exactly? Well frankly, not much. The largest, most prominent addition is perhaps the introduction of the "Psyche-lock". This nifty system is an attempt to add an extra challenge by requiring you to -- surprise, surprise -- pry and force the truth out of some characters in the game who have secrets to hide with evidence. This suspiciously plays out like the regular courtroom scenes with the whole evidence-showing, and I have to conclude that this is just a deceptively new element. Yes, it does add some fun to corner characters who would never take the witness stand, but players would love to see something really new besides a recycled element of the original.

And when I said that it's a rehash of the original, I meant it in every sense of the word. I've played heaps of games and their sequels in the past and I can safely say that this game is the only sequel that I've played that looks identical to its predecessor, graphics-wise. You see the same kind of character-sprites, the same anime-like settings and character art. I know - how different can a courtroom look? But heck, at least give the game some kind of graphical upgrade. This might be a DS port of a GBA game, but it wouldn't hurt to improve the graphical aspects of the game fitting for a system that has the technical capabilities to render it (a certain recent remake of a classic RPG comes to mind..). It's not just visually identical as well, but audibly. In fact, it does feel like I'm playing the original all over again, but with different cases and new characters. True, the characters themselves are endearing and the returning cast is a likable bunch, but it sort of depresses me to see them look exactly the same after all these years since the transgression of the original.

That said, this game is very text-heavy. Very. It caters to a niche audience who likes to spend time sitting down and mulling over the tiniest details. Anything is possible in this game where outrageous claims and revelations overrule logic in the courtroom. However, this makes the game very linear as well. There's only one right way of doing things, and if you fail to achieve certain objectives (asking someone about something specific, for example), you could be stuck for a long time without knowing what you've missed. Backtracking and re-looking at your Court Record (the place where your daily evidence haul goes to) should be all too familiar pretty quickly. Repetition is the name of the game - you'll find yourself doing the same things over. While it was brilliant the first time around since the original was evenly-paced and laid out, it's unfortunately detrimental to this sequel. When you reach the last quarter of the game, you'll be scratching your head and wondering why you're backtracking so much through testimonies without any leads. It's almost as if the writers went out of their creative juice and tossed the usage of evidence aside as you go through witness' statements back and forth in a mindless cycle of trial-and-error. The regular bout of investigations is also removed and 80% of your time is spent in the courtroom by sheer inflexibility of a certain "twist" in the plot. By the end of the final case, I was throwing my arms in the air and wishing the game would end sooner and not drag it just for the sake of making it lengthier. In fact, it got downright torturous by the last stretch.

In spite of all their similarities, there's a striking difference between the two games, although not to this game's benefit at all. The original had the inclusion of a brand new fifth case exclusive to the DS port. This made use of all the DS features such as the microphone and more extensive usage of the touchscreen (besides just using it to click the forward arrow and move on, of course..) and it was a refreshing experience. If you were hoping Capcom would throw in something like this for this game, you're wrong. Simply put, there's really nothing in for the new DS players or players who've played the GBA version.

You might think I'm comparing it way too much with the original game. But with both games being so similar (or rather, identical), it simply begs for a comparison. True, this game deserves a perfect score for its out-of-this-world script and challenges that sometimes push your level of reasoning, but most of this is just brought over from the first game. Reviewing this game on its own right would leave nothing to its merit, save for the introduction of several memorable characters (an arrogant and sharp prosecutor who's a bit crazy with her whip, for one). Bluntly-speaking, it's all based on a tested-and-proven formula with nothing ground-breaking.

With its linear gameplay, there's no room for replayability. However, you can expect the first play-through to be an exhilarating experience that'd keep you at the edge of your seat.. for the first three quarters. It's something different among the mass of DS games on the market, but if you're looking for something new from the original game, look somewhere else.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/26/07