Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
by Capcom
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List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Customer Review: Refreshing mind-play when tired of hitting the "whack something" button
Summary: 5 Stars
I have managed to entirely lose the free time from three weeks of my life after picking up this first installment in the Phoenix Wright franchise. Starting with the first light, quick and easy case, I ended up going through it like a bag of potato chips - cases getting more complex as I went along and leaving me delighted at the end with a bonus case that took longer to solve than most of my mysteries take me to read.
My only frustration is unfortunately unavoidable at the current level of game intelligence, as there were several times when I would love to have been able to present items B and C together to prove allegation A, but was stuck in the possible response tree of the game figuring out that what it really wanted was item D. In most cases I could figure out something logical but every now and then chose the last possible item, to be left saying "OK, but I still don't get how that has anything whatsoever to do with this point." Overall, the game is very internally consistent and rational however, and has a delightful undercurrent of weird humor.
A vastly pleasurable escape from pressing A to smack zombies.
Customer Review: boy, was i disappointed
Summary: 1 Stars
This game could not be any more boring if it tried. I tried to stick with it and play through to the end, but, I only made it as far as the third case.
The most annoying part was the awful capcom graphics, and the constant shaking that seemed to go on.
Customer Review: Am I missing something?
Summary: 1 Stars
After reading all the glowing reviews for this game, I cannot believe how incredibly dull and tedious it was. I gave up in the middle of the third case. The only reason I got that far was that I assumed I was missing something, that surely it must get better. I did not find this game to be challenging at all, it's a matter of reading through page after page of text, clicking on everything in a room to get all the evidence, and presenting everything you've got in court. I see no comparison between this and games where you actually have to solve puzzles, like Myst or the Nancy Drew games.Customer Review: Think of Matlock, except with a good sense of humor!
Summary: 5 Stars
Reviewed for Big Boss Games by: KBN
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for the Nintendo DS is the story of a rookie defense attorney. Fresh out of Law School, Phoenix isn't quite as confident on the bench as he needs to be. Luckily, he has his mentor and veteran lawyer Mia to assist him through his first trial. Phoenix, Mia, Maya (Mia's younger sister), and a slew of other characters will come into play throughout the 5-chapter adventure. Phoenix must not only prove himself in court, but also out in the world where he and Maya must gather evidence, talk to witnesses, and finger the real culprit.
Phoenix Wright is one of those interactive story type games that are so prevalent in Japan. When at a crime scene, you must search the area for clues. Using the stylus, you will scan suspicious areas, 'borrow' vital clues from people trying to hide them, and expand your knowledge of an area for when you're in court.
The microphone also comes into play in Phoenix Wright. When in court and Cross-Examining a witness, you have the option to either call for more information or raise an objection. You can do this via the touch screen buttons, or by yelling: "HOLD IT" or "OBJECTION" into your DS system. It doesn't sound like a feature you'd use too often, but some of the prosecuting attorneys made me angry enough to enjoy yelling at them, before debunking their tower of lies!
The stylus also comes into play with the evidence itself. Often, you will be given a map or a photo in which you need to identify the flaw in a witness' testimony, or a trial-altering fact, which has been overlooked.
Phoenix Wright is broken into five chapters of play. Each one is a unique case, but fits into the overall story. For example, the murder weapon from case one will come back into play in case two, where it was again used as a weapon of murder. The characters you meet, help, and intimidate in earlier chapters will come back to help you again in later stories, and sometimes characters will follow you between stories, being a constant help or a constant hindrance. By chapter 5, you will not only be investigating crime scenes and interviewing witnesses, but you'll also be using puzzle solving, and forensics tools to help pinpoint a killer and save your client from incarceration.
Phoenix Wright is a classic-in-the-making and a game that I'll be glad to hang onto for a long time to come. The courtroom proceedings can run a bit long, so it's not a game you can really just pick up at anytime, unless you have a great memory for detail, as the game does utilize a save anytime feature. It sounds short, but can give you hours of entertainment. Sadly, there isn't much replay value. Once you figure out how the murder was done and how to prove it it's not as easy to forget. In some instances, you'll be stuck in a cross-examination when the answer suddenly hits you. After hours of thought, you're not likely to forget it, but you'll have a great sense of achievement nonetheless.
Phoenix Wright is an overall great game, worth the money to play through it at least once, and an asset to classic gameplay with a great Touch-Screen spin.
Sometimes it's hard to decide how to prove a witness is lying, even if you know what they're lying about. You need to be VERY specific at times, which can often lead to a 'Guilty' verdict for your client and a 'Game Over' for you.
Overall Score: 5 out of 5 STARS!
Customer Review: A return to classic graphic adventures!
Summary: 4 Stars
As others have observed, the Nintendo DS--through accident or design, although since the end result is the same, who really cares?--seems tailor-made for the sort of graphic adventures that so many of us grew up with before LucasArts decided to make its name churning out cookie-cutter Star Wars games, and Sierra decided to slowly and painfully kill off all of their most established titles. Of the games which have resurrected this well-loved and much-missed genre, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney stands out as a prime example.
The premise, in case it's not obvious enough from the title, is simple. The player takes control of a defense attorney named Phoenix Wright, still new to the job and quite green but with a passionate dedication to the law that knows no bounds. He's usually got an assistant of some sort--Maya Fey in the first few chapters, Ema Skye in the final chapter--who is overeager and has a tendency to get in the way, but can always be counted on to prove her worth in the end. The chapters themselves are divided up into phases: Investigation and Trial, which operate in more or less exactly the way they sound. During Investigation, your job is to visit the crime scene and other locations to gather clues and information, sometimes by questioning witnesses; during the Trial sequences, you must use what you've found in order to obtain a Not Guilty for your client. If all of this sounds as boring as watching the lawn grow, bear in mind that the game never takes itself too seriously and pretty much all of the dialogue is played for laughs.
To be sure, there are minor flaws, the main one being that the game has a fair number of spelling and grammatical errors. Also, although the game's text was altered from the original Japanese to set the game in Los Angeles of the near future, in places this clashes with the very obviously Japanese setting of the game, right down to the layout of the courtroom; the witness stand is directly in front of the judge, for instance, rather than to his left. (Worth noting is the fact that the characters' names were also altered as part of the localization process, and although they're completely different from the Japanese version, they still rely on wordplay and puns, just as the original names did.) Fortunately, these flaws are easy to overlook, and the game itself holds up phenomenally, full of humor and characters that you actually care about. The final case, which was developed specifically for the DS port (this game started out as a Game Boy Advance game that never saw release outside of Japan), is particularly well-done as it incorporates features that make excellent use of the DS's unique touch-screen interface (dusting for prints) and 3D graphics capabilities (rotating found objects along an axis to examine them from all angles).
There is, however, one fairly sizable flaw, which is that the game is at times somewhat frustratingly mum as to what you're supposed to do to advance the story, and I found myself once or twice just blindly guessing, or failing that, consulting the Internet for walkthroughs. For the most part, though, the game was challenging enough to stay interesting without seeming like a chore, and I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to playing the rest of the games in the series.
One final point of interest: Apparently, Marilyn Manson is a huge Phoenix Wright fan. Make of that what you will.