Review: Pheonix Wright- Ace Attorney

Funny, we’ve never enjoyed studying the law, yet we can’t pull our selves away from the Phoenix Wright series. Genuinely one of the most enjoyable games of the last five years, and possibly the best text-based game ever, Wright never struggles to impress, even if the first case is a tiny bit shakey.

Writing this review after a whole four games are available, we seriously can tell you if it still stands up to the others and, well: Yes. Sure, the first case isn’t amazing, but it sets everything up well, and superbly introduces the characters, before bumping a couple of them off before the climactic ending.

Our favourite cases are in the later games, (Trials and Tribulations and Apollo Justice, to be precise) but you really have to start at the beginning. Many of the jokes (“Oh! Look, it’s a stepladder!”) and characters reappear in later games, and this is especially true of the superb DS-exclusive case bolted onto the game.

While all of Apollo Justice is built around the DS’ hardware, this is the only case where Phoenix himself gets a shot at fingerprint dusting, watching accurate 3D recreations of the crime scene and using Luminal Reactive Fluid to test for blood. This last case also introduces one of the main characters in Ace Attorney 4, Ema Skye, and it’s worth playing just to see her backstory fleshed out a little.

There’s also no end to the fun that can be had yelling “OBJECTION!”, “TAKE THAT!” and “HOLD IT!” into the microphone. Oddly, this is the most accurate of all four games, this one actually makes you shout like Phoenix, which might be a bit embarrassing on the bus, but it’s a good way of clearing the stress of a long day: Shouting at criminals via. A white plastic book.

Out of all five cases, it’s probably the fourth that’s our favourite, with the tables being turned and many a plot twist involved. Another nice touch is how what you believe to be plot holes are sowed up nicely, and you’ll be surprised that Capcom had anything else to play with in Trials and Tribulations.

Overall, Phoenix Wright is far better than Justice For All, the sequel, and that’s nothing to be said lightly. In the same way, we’ll repeat what we said at the beginning: This is quite possibly the best text-based game ever, and one of the finest titles on the DS.

Watching the true killer's face as they break is a great feeling, and the animation is pretty good, even if it's far improved in Apollo Justice.

Some very nice tunes indeed. You may even end up buying the soundtrack just to hear more.