Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney review (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS))

Member Name: Walter_Kovacs

Product:	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)
Date:	15/10/08 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Engaging, clever, fun!

Disadvantages: None

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is the first in the Phoenix Wright series. You play as the titular defense attorney, a rookie who has only just started to defend clients.

There are fives cases, each to do with a murder. They are all basically the same; the evidence points quite strongly to your client but they swear they didn't do it. So, you investigate the case, finding evidence etc, and try to win your client their freedom. Except for the first case, each chapter cycles between two different phases: The Investigation, and The Courtroom Sessions. In the investigation you go to the scene of the crime and various other places related to the key figures in the case and gather as much evidence as you can that proves your client is innocent. The courtroom sessions is the trial itself, where you will present said evidence and try and get your client off as well as finding the real killer!

Along the way you are helped by a wide variety of different characters. There's Mia Fey, your boss and mentor, Maya Fey, Mia's little sister whose a spirit medium in training, Dick Gumshoe, a headstrong detective but with his heart in the right place, and your rival, Miles Edgeworth.

Making excellent use of the DS's touch screen, you can spray luminol at crime scenes to check for blood that may have been wiped away, dust for fingerprints or examine a 3-D view of evidence, maybe even find something you didn't see before. All this makes for a very immersive game.

In the courtroom scenes you will hear testimony that may or may not be helpful to your client. Once they've finished, you can cross-examine them. You go through the testimony again, pressing the "hold it!" button on the touch screen or, alternatively, hold the 'Y' button and shout it into your DS microphone. This then allows Phoenix to question more about that specific part of testimony, with the intention of spotting a fatal flaw. Once you have spotted a contradiction that clashes with the evidence, you present the aforementioned evidence by selecting it and pressing the "Objection!" button. This is how the game moves along, with new evidence and testimony being brought forward slowly you can unravel what really happened.

The cases are very well written and are full of twists, turns and unexpected happenings. They really keep you guessing and are very engaging. The animation is bright and colourful, the characters themselves are animated mange style so you get a lot of bulging eyes, big beads of sweat, wacky fashion and over the top gestures. Despite this, the cases are harder than you might expect and require some real thinking about the facts.

Overall a quality game, full of intrigue and mystery, it'll keep you busy for a long time! A well deserved five stars.

Summary: Objection! This game is great!