Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Review

With all these unique personalities come the countless humorous moments in the actual court room. Actually, these moments can really occur both in and outside the court room, but the funnier ones are actually during trials. But what is being mentioned here is how characters actually react and quite literally “mutate” when a) they are caught telling a lie or b) you say or show something that makes them rather angry. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see an angry person have shark teeth? How about an older lady who looks possessed by the devil? We also can’t forget about the man who literally seems to rip himself apart when caught in a lie. Whatever it may be, you will probably find yourself both laughing and extremely creeped out when witnessing things like those aforementioned.

Another neat feature about the graphics in Phoenix Wright are all the still image “cut scenes”. At the beginning of each case episode, many times throughout trials and sometimes during witness questioning outside of court, you will be treated to these. These are more or less the game’s attempt at showing off some of the DS’ 3D capabilities. They aren’t exactly presented in 3D, but just watching them can almost convince you of such. But just what are they for exactly? Well they can be for a lot of things really. Some will help push the plot forward. Some will explain certain “possible” scenarios in and out of court. Then some will show definitive sequences of what actually happened to cause the whole case to begin with. Whatever they may be, they are nice to watch and will definitely help the game’s overall presentation.

Finally we have the game’s environments, which more often than not will turn into your CSI scenes. Another incredible aspect of Phoenix Wright is all the great environments that you will encounter. You have five cases to solve in total, and each will bring you to an extremely diverse amount of areas. This can be anything from a TV show production studio to various law offices and even the normally off limits areas of the local police station. In these areas you will encounter countless pieces of useful case evidence as well as the numerous people that will offer helpful information so you can solve your problems. The most impressive feature about these environments is just how much of it you can actually examine. Even the tiniest things that you may not even be able to distinguish can be evaluated for what they are. More often than not that is exactly what you need to do in order to snag the most important evidence for your cases.

So to sum this up, Phoenix Wright is definitely one of the most impressive games for the DS in terms of graphics so far. It’s not a 3D game, as all of what is presented is in an isometric view. But the anime/manga style presentation is very unique, elaborate and just fun to interact with. The characters all have their own unique personas and ways to make the game more enjoyable. Plus what could better than seeing an angry witness show off some nasty shark teeth? Nothing really. Really the only slightly disappointing aspect was the fact that you can really “examine” your evidence much further than the surface. Most if it is just simple information that you would find in it, so it’s really a good and bad thing in terms of convenience. So if you’re looking for a DS game that will keep you immersed in the game because of its looks, be sure not to look past Phoenix Wright.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney also boasts a very impressive amount of quality musical scores and truly eccentric sound effects. When you’re actually in a trial defending your client, the music does an incredible job of keeping the action interesting. It can also really make things heat up at times. When you listen to a witness testimony, you hear a default score used throughout the whole game. Yet somehow the theme sounds like it would be played during an actual law-based show so that is a very good thing.

It’s also very exciting when you eventually begin presenting evidence that proves contradictions in witness testimonies. Especially when it’s getting down to the wire in terms of uncovering the actual truth, the music will gradually increase in dramatic effect to make it almost seem like an all-out riot is about to ensue.

Music also plays a very unique role when you question witnesses and investigate crime scenes outside of the court room. There are a handful of generic themes that you will get to listen to when questioning certain witnesses. However, some people actually have their very own theme to accompany their onscreen presence. Such characters like Detective Gumshoe and various others that you meet near the end of the game really have some great sounding background music to present their “personality”. More often than not though, when you can see various female characters on the screen when passing through an area, it’s a very kooky theme that will probably make you think of a giddy girl.