Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney



Platform: Nintendo DS

Genre: Adventure, Point and click

Developer: Capcom


I've been hearing about this game so many good reviews, but only now I got to play it. I needed a DS emulator for PC, (which you can download for free from the net) but it was worth it. This is my first game in this genre, and it was a great surprise. You take the role of Phoenix Wright, a defense attorney, and have to solve some cases. Although if you are a fan of skipping cutscenes and not paying attention to the story don't even bother to start this game. It is a Capcom game, and I am a fan of Capcom so I had high hopes.

The Good:
- The cases are interesting and you have to think ho wot solve them
- The side characters are lovable and you get to know them
- The game always introduces new elements and is not repetitive
- The story
- Cute anime style characters

The Bad
I liked everything in this game.

The game mechanics

It is  point and click game, you don't even have to use your keyboard. (If you need later to use a microphone and don't have one you can set the emulator to use a key instead). You have a couple of tehniques in your hand as an attorney. The game mainly consists of trials and investigations. On the trials part you are in the courtroom, and you have to cross-examine the witnesses. You have to press their testimonies, find the contradiction and lies they are hiding, using logic, and presenting evidence. The investigation part is a little more free, you can move around, talk to people, examine scenes, later do scientific investigation, etc. Despite that the storline is linear, (if you don't follow the script you lose) it is a pretty interesting game, I wasn't bored at all playing this game.



The story, the cases

The game consists out of 5 cases, which have to be solved by our rookie defense attorney, with the help of his cute assistants. The first case is kind of a tutorial, guided by Mia Fey, your mentor. The cases are interesting, full of surprises and objections. And there is no better feeling when you have all the little pieces of the puzzle in the end and you point out who the murderer is, and saving the innocent. Be warned that this game is full of anime-humor (which I really like), for example the geeky director in a later case.

The characters

Another great part of the game are the characters. There are a couple of important characters other than the main charcter, who constantly appear in the game, and slowly you get to know them, and get to love them. There is your mentors, little sister, a spirit medium who will use her powers to help you, Maya Fey. She is one of the most adorable characters in the game. Then there is the antagonist, Miles Edgeworth. Don't let be fooled by his serious face, once you get to know him you will love him as well. Then there is this bubbling detective, Detective Gumshoe, who is always committed to solving the crime, just not celver enough, but sometimes he can be really helpful and he gets into your heart. There are other reappearing and fun charcters as well, bu I don't want to spoil the game.

Verdict

All in all I havne't had this fun and wasn't concerned about the characters as much as in this game for a very long time. Despite that this is not a high graphics modern game, I could really imagine I was sitting in the courtroom, investigating the cases. So if you are looking for a nice little puzzle game, or enjoy playing visual novel, point and click or text based games, this is a must. Plus there are a couple of sequels to the game, so you will have a lots of fun.

Final Score:

10/10