"I am guilty... Of enjoying this game."

Ever since Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, I have been awaiting this game. The first game had clever cases, often humorous dialog, and puzzles that actually made you think. This sequel improves upon every single one of those.

Story

There is really only a bit of story that actually matters for all the cases, but it contains spoilers if you haven't played the first one, so I'm just going to talk about the cases.

Every case is wildly different- Whether it be a superstar accused of murdering his rival or a psychic accused of murdering a doctor (who was, in turn, being accused of murder). The cases are well written (I laughed numerous times during all four cases) and hardly ever get boring, which is good in such a text heavy game. Also, many different sub plots go on during the actual cases, and many can have very surprising twists (I was NOT expecting what happens at the end of Case 4).

Graphics

All the characters are great looking and have a few animations (though I wished there was more, von Karma doing the same whip snap every 20 seconds got kinda repetitive). The areas you search for evidence in are nicely animated, though not much really goes on in them, other than people showing up here and there. I never get tired of the character's surprised animations though. :D

Gameplay

And we are now at the most important part of the review- the gameplay. This is a very, very text heavy game, so I hope you plan to do a lot of reading. I actually enjoy reading though, so it was perfect. The first part of the gameplay takes place in the courtroom, with four different cases. Every case plays out like an interactive novel- characters will say their testimony, and you either press them for more information or present evidence that proves some of their testimony false. You really have to do a lot of thinking, and sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense, but I'll get to that in a minute.

The other part of the gameplay is when you are actually on the scene of the murder and surrounding areas. You look around the area and search for evidence to use in court or just information. Each case has a good variety of areas to explore, though that sometimes isn't a good thing. Say you are at the Police Station, and you need to get into the room at the back of a building, it gets tedious having to go to each individual room just to get to the one you want to go to.

Now, I just need to say this- If you do not like reading, YOU PROBABLY WILL NOT LIKE THIS GAME. It's as simple as that. Like I said earlier, the game is an interactive novel. You read what someone has to say, then try to contradict it. For example, say a person says that they saw the murder through the window their building, BUT you have a map of that building showing that their is no window offering a view of the murder. They then just say "Oh! That's right, I WASN'T there! I'm so sorry, I was actually HERE." And you continue until you break them down. While this may not sound fun, it is actually very entertaining seeing all the lies they can come up with. Sometimes, though, it can get frustrating. There were a few times I would save right before something, and just present evidence until one of them was right. A couple of those times I still did not know how it pertained to whatever I was trying to contradict.

One thing new to this game is Psyche Locks. When people really don't want to tell you something, a "lock" appears over their heart, and you talk to them and show them things that compel them to tell you, thus breaking their locks. They can have one, or up to five. Most of the time one question and answer will break a lock, but sometimes it takes quite a few back and forths to break one (I'll always remember the time you break five one with ONE piece of evidence XD).

Final

For my final thoughts, I cannot recommend this game enough. It's a ton of fun, very long, and will keep you busy for days. Pick this one up- You won't regret it.

8 out of 10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/05/07