"Justice Doesn't Start Small"

Here Comes Justice!

In a dark room, in the middle of the night, a mysterious painter sketches out a strange drawing in charcoal. He finishes, signs his name, and blows out the candle by which he was drawing. What does this drawing depict? Why, only the latest hi-jinks of Phoenix Wright, of course. It seems he's in a bit of trouble, to use his own words - namely, being the only person at the scene of the murder.

But wait! "I thought this game was about Apollo Justice, a new attorney," you say. "What has Phoenix Wright got to do with this game?" you ask. Well, in all honesty, quite a lot. Because, despite the title, this is as much Phoenix's story as it is Apollo's. But they are two very different stories. While Apollo's is his struggle to become a halfway-decent attorney (let alone an "ace" attorney), Phoenix's is about the last 7 years... mainly about the loss of his badge. That's right, Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright is now Pitiful Pianist Phoenix Wright - now, yet again, accused of murder. And, only one person can defend Phoenix... Apollo Justice, or, rather, Phoenix himself, as Apollo is rather useless in his first trial (and, to an extent... every other trial). And once that ordeal is over... he has 3 more clients to defend. Have mercy on them.

Apollo Justice is 4th game in the Ace Attorney series, but, unlike the past 3 games, carries some very significant change in its purse, most of them for the good. If you are reading this review in the hope of finding out what the Ace Attorney games are, then you shouldn't be as there's no way you should buy this game without playing any of the previous ones. Anyway, Apollo Justice sees players take control of, predictably, Apollo Justice. And, also predictably, he's not all that much of an Ace Attorney in his first trial, where he defends Phoenix. In fact, at one point in this case, the Judge asks Phoenix why he chose Apollo to represent him rather than Apollo's mentor, Kristoph Gavin, the best DA in the town. Phoenix says that the Judge, and everyone else, will soon see, but really you the player are asking this question too. Very much so.

However, unlike PW:AA where Phoenix eventually evolved into a pretty great attorney (probably due to him having to defend himself at one point), Apollo doesn't really improve much at all, and actually gets slightly worse in 4-4, where, like the other cases in this game, nearly everything is controlled by Klavier Gavin, the new prosecutor. Throughout the game, Apollo relies on being bailed out by Kristoph, Phoenix (when he was being represented by Apollo, no less!), Trucy, Phoenix's daughter who is 15 and isn't an attorney in any sense, and, even more bizarrely, Klavier Gavin, the new prosecutor. And I don't mean bailed out in the sense of Edgey helping you to win in 1-3, 1-5 and 2-4. I mean Klavier telling you what to present, virtually spelling it out for you, at insignificant points of the trial. At this rate, Apollo will be murdered himself by one of his shoddily-defended clients before he gets his act together.

Despite all this though, Apollo Justice boasts an impressive cast of characters, with only 5 returning- Phoenix Wright, Ema Skye, The Judge, Winston Payne and Mike Meekins. Each case has some really great characters- but, unfortunately, it's the main character department that lets the player down, with Apollo who is useless, Klavier who tells you what to do, Ema who, despite being loved by me in 1-5, is now annoying and bossy and Trucy, who isn't so bad but whose knowledge of court proceedings never cease to amaze me, despite having no experience whatsoever with them. Also, while we're on the topic of characters, this game also lets you play as another character as well as Apollo in 4-4, although in rather strange circumstances.

However, where the characters fail, the story positively excels. In my opinion this game's story (which is, in all honesty, not just the meat of the game but almost all of the bone, too)is better than both PW:AA and JFA (due to crappy EU release dates, TAT isn't out here yet so I haven't played it), simply because, in my opinion, every case in this game is great, including 4-1 (which is actually a real case, despite being a tutorial), whereas 1-1 and 1-2 were crap and so were 2-1 and 2-3. 4-4 is also, in my opinion, the second best game in the series (being only the magnificent 1-4) and 4-2 is the best non-final game of the series (ie. not 1-4, 1-5, 2-4 or 4-4) in my opinion. However, both 4-3 and 4-4 end very anti-climacticly, with 4-3 not even explaining what really happened very well. 4-4 doesn't even end with you having the last laugh over the killer - this award goes to Klavier, the prosecutor no less. In fact, the last time you present any evidence in the game is a good 10 minutes before the credits - and this is, in comparison to other "final pieces", rather insignificant, despite the entirety of your life-bar being the penalty.

This game is also akin to A Series of Unfortunate Events, a book series by Lemony Snicket, in that nearly every little detail is relevant in some way, and after extended periods of reading/playing can make you feel a little paranoid for some reason- as if you're being watched (which is eerily reflected in the last case). For instance, not to spoil too much, but as mentioned above, the intro to the first case starts with a painter sketching a scene which is then continued in the actual "kill" animation. You may think this is some nice touch when you see it, and you'll almost definitely forget it... until the last case, that is, when it becomes very relevant- although oddly never really explained. And don't get me started on 4-4 - I still don't really understand where everyone lies in relation to each other and who's connected with what, days after finishing it.
Also, every case is somehow connected with each other, except for 4-2.

Now, onto the changes that were previously mentioned. Like 1-5, this game boasts numerous Touch Screen features, such as dusting for prints, spraying Luminol, filling a shoe-print with plaster, X-raying a closed envelope to see its contents and more. Also, nearly every piece of evidence you find can be examined in full 360 degrees and always has at least one thing that Apollo can say about it. What's more, because the first 3 games were designed for the GBA, their graphics capabilities were limited. However, because this was built from the ground up for the DS, several small parts of this game are in 3D, such as a 3D crime scene of 4-1 and 4-2 and a 90 second 3D music video in 4-3. Unfortunately, you can't present profiles to anyone any more unless prompted beforehand, and Psyche-Locks aren't present until the last case for a short period of time. However, the Psyche-Lock replacement is Apollo's wristband, which he can use to see nervous habits in witnesses when no outright lies are present. It's an adequate change, but it isn't really used enough to be superior to Psyche-Locks. Also changed is the music, and most definitely for the better, particularly the Cornered theme. The soundtrack, as a whole, is great and rivals AA for the best.

In conclusion, this game is great. If you liked any of AA, JFA, or (I assume) TAT, then you should buy this game ASAP. After all, Apollo needs as many people as possible behind him to actually turn him into...

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Final Scores

Gameplay/Story (merged because they are simply the same thing in this game); 19/20
Music; 9/10
Replayability; 6/10 (depends on whether you like re-reading books or not, as that is essentially AJ's replayability)
Touch-Screen Capabilities; 9/10

Overall = 43/50
Overall = 8.6/10

Overall = 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/08

Game Release: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (EU, 05/09/08)