Superbuu3 reviews Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy

Alright let me start by saying this the mark of a truly great game is when you end it, you are disappointed the adventure can't continue. The Phoenix Wright trilogy was certainly one that I felt this for.

The Phoenix Wright series (Ace Attorney, Justice for All, Trials and Tribulations) if you hadn't guessed it from the title, is basically a game revolving around a defence lawyer in court. Later there are elements of investigation added in so you can try and collect and find evidence yourself to present in court. These mechanics work well and help tell the story as you go through the game. This game is probably best classed as a Visual novel, though some might consider it an RPG of sorts to.

Firstly lets talk about the story as for a visual novel this is the most important thing. The story is told brilliantly throughout the games with some interconnected elements, amazing character development. Characters who are originally unlikable you'll eventually grow to care about. The plot of the three games are generally over three years but you will see some past cases as well as have to find out about events some years before the main storlyine, making for a feeling of a much more developed world.

Gameplay involves finding mistakes in witness testimonies and trying to find evidence to support your claims, this is a lot more fun then you'd think and sometimes links aren't always as clear and you will have to think about them. The only slight flaw is sometimes you jump the gun and might be thinking two steps ahead of phoenix but you will have to go through in a stepwise fashion so the court follows, which ultimately makes sense. The only minor gripe i had was when in the investigation phases where you have to walk around and explore Phoenix sometimes does really stupid things, and makes life difficult for himself, but ultimately this makes the cases more interesting so i can hardly complain. While investigating you can look around and picking up evidence, in the 2nd and 3rd game you may have to convince people to open up which adds another element to investiagtions.

Music in the first game is amazing. It really keeps up suspense in court, the second game had terrible rehashes of the music which i didn't like. The third game had better music but could not top the first games soundtrack. The objections etc in court sound pretty cool and are just a nice touch, rather then just having visual cues.

Overall the second game is the weakest in the trilogy but has some great elements introduced. I think the first game will always be my favourite as it introduced me to the series and was when it was a completely new experience. Also edgeworth is awesome and the first game he plays a large part in. You also should play the whole trilogy in order to get the full experience and understand the story fully, there are minor recaps here and there but don't rob yourself of the amazing experience these games are as sadly once you've played them there is little point in replaying them again as you'll most likely remember how to get through the cases and the plot twists will no longer suprise you.

All in all everyone should try this game if your not instantly grabbed then you'll know if this is for you or not.