"You want the truth, you can't handle the truth"! (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS))

Member Name: dididave

Product:	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)
Date:	03/02/08 (195 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unique game, interesting, funny characters.

Disadvantages: Linear gameplay gets repetitive, no replay value.

Phoenix Wright is an up and coming defense lawyer. When his best friend Larry Butz is arrested on suspicion of the murder of his girlfriend, it is up to Phoenix to take on his first major case and defend him. Can Phoenix find the flaws in the prosecution's evidence that will prove his friend innocent?

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a unique title. You would certainly not find a game were you play a defense lawyer on the PSP. A surprise hit on the DS from Capcom, a developer more renowned for action titles such as the Streetfighter series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is what you could call a slow burner. In effect, what Capcom have served up is more of an interactive story than a game but that does not mean this is a game you should ignore.

With it's intriguing premise Phoenix Wright is a game with potential. You start the game as a very nervous novice and have to work through five chapters to make a name for yourself. Phoenix is initially a ridiculous inexperienced character and in the first chapter were he defends his friend Larry Butz, you are basically led by the hand through a well-structured tutorial of a chapter. Here you have the fundamentals of the gameplay and game mechanics explained to you by the Judge and your friend the Detective Maia. You learn how to cross examine witnesses, answer questions and examine evidence, all using the DS's touch screen.

As the game progresses however, so does the difficulty as you are left on your own to examine crime scenes, badger witnesses and finally come to your showdown in the courtroom. The idea of a defense lawyer cum detective is all a bit "Murder she Wrote" of course, but then Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is not really a game that takes itself seriously. Graphically, it is very much a two-dimensional, manga style of game. A game of colours that remains faithful to it's original Japanese roots, the characters look ridiculous, are joyfully over the top and are accompanied by forboding and cheesy music to perfectly match their personality.

As this is a game that is not trying to be a realistic representation of a courtroom drama it is quite a simplistic game to play. Everything can be controlled by the touch screen whether it be examining evidence using the stylus or presenting it to the courtroom. In a nice touch, during the court scenes, you can shout OBJECTION into the microphone on your DS at any point in court proceedings allowing you to cross-examine a witness or present damning contradictions in their statement and evidence. This may make you look a bit silly on the train to work however, so you can still do this in the old-fashioned, menu-driven way!

Although, I have had lots of positive things to say about this game there are also a fair few negatives. Depite the difficulty of later chapters, Phoenix Wright is not quite hard enough for my liking. The very nature of the game means you cannot "die" and even though you can fail in the courtroom if you present the wrong evidence to the judge more than five times, it simply restarts the case from scratch. This means that by simple trial and error (*groan* at the pun), you can simply sift through evidence and present it at various points until it is found to be containing the contradictions you have been looking for. Although, you will reach a conclusion sooner if you actually think logically about the statements and evidence in your possession, the lack of a consequence for your failures means that you have no real reason to do so other than for personal satisfaction (that and so you can pretend to be in LA Law).

There is also a very rigid linearity to this game that makes it a lot less fun than it should be. You are limited to certain locations throughout a chapter and are led to certain situations no matter what. There could have been a lot more scope for exploring in this game but Capcom choose to emphasise the characters and plot rather than the gamplay. Fortunately, the characters and story are engaging throughout and the moments of humour do make this worth the play although it has little, if any replay value.

More of a text adventure, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a decent title for the DS that comes just short of being groundbreaking by the lack of variety in gameplay. You will inevitably get bored of cross-examining witnesses no matter how funny they are and the novelty of shouting OBJECTION soon wears of. I would still recommend you purchase this if you fancy wiling away a few hours with something different. An interactive courtroom drama for a modern audience.

Summary: A unique game that falls a little short of greatness