Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Capcom (2005)
November 5, 2007
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is for the most part, a rather enjoyable game. Released in October of 2005 (if you live in North America as I do) this game became an instant hit and flew off the shelves. Now granted I waited two years before playing it (since then a second game has come out, and there are a third and fourth in existence somewhere) but only because I have only recently bought a DS. I have to make sure to buy my friend Dane a decorative cake for lending me his copy.
The premis of the game is straight-forward. You play Phoenix Wright, Rookie Defense Lawyer. There are five cases, each increasing in difficulty and length. The characters are generally one dimensional but entertaining none the less. It does provide a fair amount of satisfaction ripping witness testimony apart and making them weep like recently-kicked children.
The gameplay is fairly simple. It’s basically a point and click adventure. You go to locations, look for anything you can use as evidence, interview people, then co to court. When in court you rip apart witness testimony using your wits and any evidence you’ve collected. You will also learn to hate the Prosecution and their constant objecting to everything you say. Von Karma is the worst for this, and I wanted to reach into the game and throttle the creep. You also get the option of either clicking or saying “Take That!” “Hold it!” and “Objection!” There are so many times I wanted to yell objection where sadly, objection-ing is not an option.
Sadly the novelty of the court room wears off around the fourth case. Probably because the fourth and fifth cases take for freaking ever. And so much talking. Jesus Christ so much talking. By the end I found myself skipping more and more of the testimony just to get to the point. This leads to two other issues: The game is completely linear, and even if you know who did what, you still need to go through the process. Yes I am aware that this is how real court rooms function (loosely at least) but even still. It’s a game, and I’m not a retard. There is also a shockingly small amount of areas where you can actually lose the game. On top of that, you can’t start the next court date until you’ve finished your “investigation.” This can lead to many boring times spent wondering aimlessly within the games environment looking for that one thing you forgot.
All in all though, great fun and I look forward to playing the rest of the series. It’s worth picking up if only for the fun of yelling “Objection!” really loud.
8/10
Categories: Game Reviews Nintendo DS
Tagged under: 2005, 8/10, Capcom, Game, Game Reviews, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, review, Reviews