"Justice lost, Justice is Wright, Justice is Good."

Many people might remember way back a few years ago when a little game called Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney showed up for the DS. It was considered a sleeper hit, greatly rose in popularity, and now we have people over the internet yelling "Objection!" to the point where the word loses all meaning. As fast as lightning, Phoenix's story both began and ended over the course of three games the trilogy is complete. Now we make room for a new story with a new hero, Apollo Justice...kinda.

Apollo Justice feels very much back to basics at first glance. You play as a rookie lawyer again, you no longer have the ability to present profiles of different people involved with your current case, and no longer have psyche locks, a system from the previous two games which allowed you to reveal secrets that people were hiding from you. The basic game play also remains the same, you investigate the crime scene and other places related your case for clues, talk to witnesses, then you go have some fun in court by cross-examining witnesses and presenting evidence. If you've played any of the previous games you know the drill.

However, Apollo Justice adds quite a few new, if underused, features into the mix. Much like the bonus case in the first Phoenix Wright, you can now examine all evidence and do some scientific investigating. To investigate(scientifically, of course) is like playing a mini game, to put it simply. You can spray luminol via the touch screen to find blood or other important liquids(I know what you're thinking, stop), you can do a series of things to find footprints, spread powder to find fingerprints, and a few other things. But once again, I really thought that there was some wasted potential here, as you end up doing most of these things only once or twice.

Another new thing is Apollo's special bracelet. With it you can "perceive" when the witness is lying by focusing on them in slow motion and find their nervous body language. I usually found these parts to be the toughest aspect of the games, especially when they get much less obvious near the end.

As for as the story goes, it's as good as ever. You're a new lawyer, Apollo Justice. You're first client however, is a bit more surprising, the famous Phoenix Wright. For the most part, the story is well written though I found some explanations ridiculous than others. It feels a lot of the same though, whether or not that's a good thing is up to you. The judge is exactly the same, if a bit more hostile, your assistant is a teenage girl/magician in training, much like the spirit medium in training in the previous games, and people STILL have annoying speech impediments. Now the title says Apollo Justice, but not to give away the entire story, I couldn't help feeling like it could've been a little more focused on him.

Each case has you interacting with different people who usually range from fun and interesting to painfully annoying. On one hand you have the gangster wannabe Wocky who speaks fractured english and makes your life harder, and the other is the silent painter Vera who doesn't talk that much, and when she does it's not annoying to read at all. While I do like the majority of the characters, I really do miss a lot of the old characters from the previous games, we barely even get a mention of them, other than like one line, and even that isn't all that clear. I suppose this is good however for people who are new to the series, so that way they don't have to catch up with previous characters and their relationships to each other.

As per usual, the music excels being one of the best parts of the game. Everything fits, from the happy music playing in your office, to the intense music when you're accusing people with fingers a pointing in court. The sound effects remain the same as the previous games, with the bip bips when people are talking, but the new voice actors screaming "Objection!" aren't bad.

As far as replay value goes, it's well, it doesn't exist. There's four cases in the game, most of them are pretty long, but still only four when you could go for more.

Apollo Justice gives you a fresh start, but to me it really didn't feel all that fresh. More like more of the awesome formula the previous games had with slight diversions. But don't be fooled, if you liked the previous games, this one is just as good, and is bound to keep you interested if you're into a good story.

The Good: The formula still works, great story, wonderful music, good characters both new and old.

The Bad: New investigating systems are good but underused, only four cases, and where did my profile presenting go?

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

Game Release: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (US, 02/19/08)