"What do you mean 'the miracle never happen'? A sequel that lives up to the original IS a miracle!"

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice For All (whew, what a mouthful that title is) is the sequel to the surprisingly good game of the same title, minus the "Justice For All" part. Yes, Phoenix Wright, the attorney who helped declare five people innocent of murder several months ago, has now returned for four all new adventures.

So, does ol' Nick live up to his past game? The answer is "Yes". But does it exceed the first game? Er...not exactly. This is still the great game that the prequel was, but if you expect it to blow the first one out of the water, you'll probably be disappointed. (But then again, let's be thankful that the first one doesn't blow this one away.)

STORY

As I hinted above, the story to PW:AAJFA (you know, I think I'll just stick with "JFA"...) is told through four different cases. These cases are filled with the same types of twists, turns and shockers that made the first game's story such a memorable treat. Yes, there is regrettably one less case than in the first game, mostly due to there not being a DS exclusive case made specifically for this version like there was the first time around, but whatever.

The story starts with Phoenix about to take on another case. He still keeps his role as a defense attorney, and as always, he's trying to protect someone innocent from being found guility who has all the cards stacked against them. However, just as a trial is about to start, he gets clonked over the head with a fire extinguisher, causing him to forget everything about the trial he is about to take on.

Unfortunately, I can't really go into the story too much more. Since the plot is the major aspect of the game, I don't want to spoil anything. All I'll say is that like last time, each case gradually gets longer and more involving, and each one gives you a very good sense of completion once you've finished it. Unfortunately, the stories aren't tied together by a single plot like the first one was, and three of the four cases seem weaker. But I'll leave the rest of the story to you to figure out. Like PW: AA, the cases are told very well, and, even though they might not be as gripping as the ones in the first game, they can still be just as enjoyable.

One of the reasons why these stories are so well told is because of the cast of characters. Several characters from the first game return, such as Phoenix's assistant, Maya, the inept Detective, Dick Gumshoe, and of course, the Judge, who's about as sharp as a marble. But there are also several new characters, like Phoenix's newest sidekick and Maya's younger cousin, Pearl, as well as a new courtroom adversary named Franziska von Karma (who can publicly whip anyone in front of and including the Judge in court and not get in trouble), who seems to be out for revenge and badly wants to beat Phoenix for some reason. Hmmm...

And of course, there are many more characters, but I'll let you meet them as you play the game. With that being said, all the characters have something distinct about their personalities and their little quirks.

GAMEPLAY

All right, enough about the characters. Now, onto the actual game itself. There are two modes of gameplay: one mode when you're in court, and one when you're out of court. When you're out of court, you control Phoenix as you go investigate several places, such as the crime scene or the detention center where your client is being held. In this area, you have to go around interviewing witnesses about what they saw and why they think your client is the murderer. You also have to go around collecting evidence, which will eventually help you out in court. Once you've collected enough evidence and have talked to all the people you need to, the game automatically takes you to the next court sequence.

In court, the REAL fun starts. Any witnesses who you met will most likely be testifying against your client, hoping to get them the much dreaded "Guilty" verdict. It's your job to cross-examine witnesses as you go through their testimony bit by bit. From here, there are two things you can do. The first thing is pressing a witness; this is when Phoenix lets out a loud "Hold it!" and stops the witness in their tracks. He'll ask them a question that goes deeper into what they just said, and sometimes, you'll even have to press them twice if you want to go on. The other thing you do is present evidence. This is when you find a clear contradiction between what the evidence says and what the witness claims happened. This is what you'll have to do most of the time to progress through the game.

So, there's the gameplay. Repeat that throughout the whole game and it's over. Now, onto the graphics...

HOLD IT!

Wait a minute, let's read that section again. Does that sound familiar? It should, because that's exactly the way the first game played. You get it? JFA plays almost exactly like the first one. Now, you might be saying, "Wait a minute, there have to be some new things." Well, if you're saying that, you're right. The changes are nothing incredible, but they're there.

This game has a few additions to it, one of the most notable being the psyche-lock. This occurs when you're interviewing someone and you try to talk to them about something that they REALLY don't want you to know about. When this happens, you have to present evidence to them and prove that you know what they're trying to hide. These psyche locks make the investigation sequences more involving, and the fact that you don't always know if you have sufficient evidence to back up your claims will make you think a little bit harder about whether or not you can actually prove what Phoenix wants you to.

In addition to that, you can now present the profiles of people involved in the case. In other words, be prepared to answer a few "Who?" questions now as well instead of just presenting the "What?".

One more difference is the change in how health is measured. Instead of having 5 "!" points like you did in the first game and losing one every time you mess up in court, you now have a health bar, and every time you make a mistake, it decreases. You can lose health at different intervals, depending on what you did that was wrong. For instance, making a mistake about a small thing will only cost you a small bit of health, but making bigger and more important bad decisions will take away quite a bit of health, some decisions risking all of it.

These differences put together actually make the game a bit more difficult. The testimonies in this game are a bit harder than before, but due to being able to present profiles now, the amount of things you can use to contradict almost doubles. Also, messing up when trying to do a psyche-lock also costs you health. This really causes a problem, because, unlike the first game, you don't regain your health whenever the court is adjourned for any period of time. So if you lose half your health in court, you'll only have half when trying to figure out a psyche lock. Likewise, losing half when trying to undo a psyche lock will only send you into court with half a life bar.

Aside from the slight increase in difficulty and these new features, the gameplay remains pretty much unchanged. Normally, it would be a bad thing if a sequel was practically the same as the first. However, it was that simplistic and addicting gameplay that forced you to rely on your mind rather than your reflexes that made the first game so much fun. So, it's not really such a bad thing, after all.

GRAPHICS

All right, since the gameplay remains unchanged for the most part, are the graphics different from the original? Nope. Same, just like the gameplay. There are backgrounds that look very well detailed, despite being pre-rendered and the only thing you can do with them is tap suspicious parts to look for clues. There are also character sprites that look just as detailed. The sprites have their usual limited numbers of patterns and animations, but luckily, these animations usually go along very well with what's going on. Most sprites from older characters are re-used from the first game. Still, that's not a problem, because the graphics are pretty and colorful, even though they're not the most extraordinary for the DS. (But let's forgive that. This WAS originally a GBA game, after all)

SOUND

Okay, so the gameplay, graphics and story concepts are pretty much the same as they were in the first game. Is the sound different, at least? Yes...for the most part. Make no mistake about it, there are definitely a whole new batch of tracks, ranging from differnet cross-examining music in court to different investigtion music. The sound effects are pretty much the same, but they luckily match everything going on, which is all right.

Sadly, the soundtrack isn't as good as it was in the first game. There are a few all right remixes, but the music used in court isn't as great as it was in the first entry. (ESPECIALLY the "Cornered" music, although the Cornered track in the first game was pretty tough to beat) It's still good, but not quite as good when compared to the original. Still, the music will grow on you after a while, even if it's not as good as the first.

LENGTH

Well, you might think that since there are four cases as opposed to five in the first that this is a shorter game. And you may be right. The cases in this game are longer than the ones in the first game, and the added challenge may make it take even a tad longer. The game will probably last 15 hours, typically. (Of course, it sure feels shorter, because once you really get into it, you can't put it down) The length may be decent, but the replay value, like the first, is very low. Since this game is mostly plot-driven and there's just about only one way to go through the whole game with no other things to unlock or to see, there's really no reason to go back and play this game again, unless you want to revisit some old cases and go through them again. (This, I can understand completely)

PROS

+ Great story
+ Decent length
+ Nice graphics
+ Lovable characters
+ Decent music
+ VERY addicting
+ Localization done very well overall
+ A bit more challenging
+ Plays just like the first

CONS

-Plays just like the first!!
- Some music is a step down
- Replay value very low
- Extremely linear
- A ton of typos (just thought I'd throw that out there)

CLOSING NOTES

Yes, there are a few additions to this game, but due to how the game plays almost exactly like the first, JFA seemed less like a sequel and more like the same game with new cases. However, I'll let that go for the most part with JFA, because it was this exact same style of gameplay that made me love the first Phoenix Wright game. The music was all right, and the graphics were the same, so there's not much to add there.

The few things added this game really don't make a lot of a difference in the long run, although they certainly make the game more interesting at parts, which is a good thing. Still, JFA is hardly any different from PW:AA. But that means if you liked the first game in this series, then there's no reason why you shouldn't like this one. Likewise, if you didn't like the sequel, then this one probably won't be too much better.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/07, Updated 03/17/08

Game Release: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All (US, 01/16/07)