Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations

"Phoenix Wright’s final Objection is a great one."

You would think that after game three of the series was released, more people would be familiar with Capcom's Ace Attorney games. Phoenix Wright and his band of quirky friends are still relative unknowns to the mainstream gamer. Despite this, the game series had found its own niche, and that alone can be credited with its success. Trials and Tribulations, as mentioned, is the third game in the series, and the last to concentrate its focus on Phoenix Wright – the famous lawyer in blue, and it serves as a great exit to his saga.

Anyone who has played the first two games pretty much knows what they're getting into here; game play-wise, it remains virtually unchanged from its two predecessors. Each case (save the first tutorial) consists of both investigation and courtroom sessions, where our hero learns about various crimes and attempts to prove his clients' innocence. Psyche-locks are back for another round (they act as mini-courtroom sessions during the investigation portions), but in reality, there isn't any difference from game two. No new game play aspects; no new DS functionality. This probably isn't a problem to most, as everyone who is playing this game should have already spent some time with the first two Ace Attorney games (and if you haven't, put down T&T right away and track those down before you start).

Similar to the game play, the graphical offerings remain the same from the first two games. Recurring characters still have the same animations they've always had, and new characters introduced this time follow suit. The musical score, however, takes a nice leap forward in Trials and Tribulations. Justice For All's soundtrack took a dip in quality following the original game, but luckily, T&T remedies the problem by stepping it up to levels close to that of the original. While it would have been nice to hear the original Investigation ~ Cornered and Objection! themes, the replacements are welcome and fit very well into the positions they were places. You will still hear some recurring tunes, though, so don't think that all of your favorite tunes have been dropped.

Trials and Tribulations introduces five brand new cases to play through, and all of them are relatively. Even the first tutorial case hardly feels like a tutorial at all. There isn't quite as much guesswork to be done this time around, but the logic puzzles still aren't as intuitive as they were in the original game. Thankfully, they've done away with the silly one-hit kill choices that plagued Justice For All in a few places. It's also worth noting that all five cases are wonderfully told, and there isn't a stinker in the bunch. The same can't be said of the first two games that, while solid overall, had at least one case that was less than spectacular. This time around, you're treated to a selection of new stories with slight references to Phoenix's previous cases – as well as a look into the past of his deceased mentor, Mia Fey. The game culminates in one final case that weaves together story pieces and characters from all three games into a thrilling conclusion; something worthy of Phoenix's last time at the defense's bench.

If you've made your way through Phoenix's first two games, you'll likely want to finish up his story with Trials and Tribulations. It's a welcome step up from Justice For All (which was still good in its own right), and a fantastic conclusion to Phoenix's saga. Don't miss it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/24/07

Game Release: Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Best Price!) (JP, 08/23/07)