"Justice is for all, all right"

PROS: New Psyche-Lock feature adds more to the investigations; great new characters and plots; same old wonderful storyline and humor

CONS: More typos than characters; only four cases

After playing through the excellent first installment, Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney, I decided that playing the sequel, Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney… and Justice for All was mandatory. I hate to say it, but it's a bit of a letdown. However, it's still an excellent title and will please fans of the first game.

The game is still the same. Prosecutor wanting guilty verdict by any means necessary, withholding evidence, plot twists, presenting evidence, and the like. The “Court Record” is still there, accumulating evidence as you gather it from your investigation and from the trial. Is there anything new? Well, yes. But not much.

You can now present character's profiles to people, which is a bonus. Usually, you'll know when to do so over evidence- people's statements from earlier are as good as evidence, after all. Also new to this installment are “Psyche-Locks”, which only occur during investigation phases. Now, it takes some good pressing to get witnesses to babble. You need to break ‘locks' by presenting evidence and answering their questions correctly, but they usually can't see the locks. If you present something wrong, your mind gets hurt or something. This makes investigation phases more difficult and interesting, which is a plus. After you break any given Psyche-Lock, half your HP bar is restored and you can have better health going into the courtroom the next day.

The courtroom scene is exactly the same, however. If you present the wrong thing five times, you're screwed. And you lose health instead of marks, meaning you can lose it on other things as well. This makes the courtroom sessions more difficult, which is a good thing. They're still very entertaining, too. There is humor EVERYWHERE in the game, even random Fresh Prince lyrics. They never miss a step with their puns, not even with the names, even though some of them do require thinking about the pun intended.

The same wacky cast of characters is back, with several new additions. Sadly, some of the favorites from the first game are absent here, which bites. I miss The Butz especially. However, several of the new characters are awesome, including Maya Fey's cute 8-year old cousin Pearl, an insane clown, a, like, college student researching, like, parapsychology, a fabulous magician, among others. EVERYONE contributes to the story somehow in this one, and they're all well-developed. The absence of several favorites from the first game is a downside, but the new additions are very entertaining as well.

This game does have more flaws, however. There are TONS of typos in this text-based RPG, which can be funny. However, it is tragic that they didn't put the effort into translating that they did in the first game. Also, there's no addendum fifth case, which makes this game incredibly shorter than its prequel, even though the segments are longer than most in the first game. Overall, the game is shorter than the first, but it's still long enough to warrant a purchase.

The music here rocks. Tunes from the first game return, but there are several new ones. Pearl's theme even made it to my playlist. That track makes me smile, just like my girlfriend does. Lol.

If you had to choose between this game and the first, get the first one first, if you can. The first one is excellent- this one is like an expansion pack. This game's tutorial isn't as much so as the first, but it's still a good refresher. Now, don't get me wrong, this is still excellent, but it's a bit of a letdown. The first game is better because of length and well, being the first game.

Basically, you need this game if you've played the first one. The fourth case in this game is godly and enough to warrant a purchase by itself. It's better than anything in the first game, but the game's length and typos hurt it. It's still an unforgettable experience, and you'll likely need to get this after playing through the first game. Justice for is all, all right. So buy not just this but PW1 as well. Like its predecessor, it gets a 9 out of 10 based mostly on story. Of course, the interesting gameplay also help contribute to its glory… and justice. For all. Peace.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/06/07