Reviews from

in the past


A very strong start to the Great Ace Attorney with a fun cast of characters.

A little slow and functionally more successful as an opening chapter than a standalone instalment, but otherwise this is the strongest Ace Attorney game since Trials and Tribulations. Takami's writing is unbelievable in its interconnected strands, the characters are beyond delightful and the animation work is astonishing. Most importantly, it ends on an enormous high. Straight onto Resolve, let's go!

por fin.
no solo herlock sholmes, TANTÍSIMOS personajes nuevos ya son de mis favoritos de la saga
y el humor es tan perfecto como siempre
mi única pega es que más predecible de lo normal
POR FIN LO TENEMOS, JODER, estoy encantadísimo

First case is pretty fire, Second one about the same, third one is absolutely incredible and without question the best in the game, fourth is mid filler but as filler goes it's still fun, fifth is a good finish


Your bro gets replaced by a bitch who judo throws you for mistakes that aren't even your fault

Fuck this game

uh oh maybe ace attorney is not as stale as I thought

Incredible step up in every way from Spirit of Justice. From animation, to characters, to writing, to gameplay. It's such a fun game from beginning to end. A completely fresh start was what this series needed, I think. Perhaps my only complaint is I'm not entirely fond of its pacing, there's not much time for investigation and once you hit the trial you're there until it's over. Nothing goes past a day. Still, I think the cases are so enjoyable that it's not really an issue in the moment. Probably my second favorite Ace Attorney, behind T&T. Eager to start the second game.

Also I think Herlock is possibly the funniest character in this entire series, they had so much fun with his animations and writing. The type of character you go "I hate this fucking dude" and then when someone asks who's your favorite it's him, it's always him.

I am totally drawn in, won over and charmed by the world of the ace attorney games, I’ve loved every one even if the last one I played (Dual Destinies) was missing some of the crackling dialogue and cohesive world-building of the previous entries.

This one was a delightful return to form, though, and doing a period piece ace attorney was a great way to inject some novelty into the theming, characters, and casework. It’s biggest strength and weakness is the pretty slow-building way the rapport between the characters and the protagonist’s place in society grows throughout the game, it’s great and earnest and touching by the end because of that slow build but it makes it harder to crack into than the earlier trilogy. But that makes me really excited for the sequel now that our fish-out-of-water lead is more established, especially with the tantalizing loose ends this one dangles at the player at the end.

Also SPOILER WARNING??? as lovingly done as the hd remaster is I really wish I could have played this on the 3ds for nostalgia’s sake and also because the investigation phases have diorama style backgrounds (like Holme’s residence) clearly designed to pop in 3d as you look around, and especially because the last case really explicitly dofs its hat to the 3ds’ unique functionality in a way they seem to do a clever job working around in 2d but still… would’ve been cool to feel the original design’s platform synergy in that case.

Case 3 and 5 are absolute cases that subverted the expectations of what you regularly expect from Ace Attorney.
Gameplay wise, this is the next evolution of the series. The deduction sequences are beautiful to look and play at, and the jury system is a perfect addition fitting for the setting.
Overall, a great time!

This was my introduction into the beloved Ace Attorney series and (setting my British bias aside) I absolutely adored it. Every case brings a plethora of fresh and exciting characters, scenarios and damn right wacky antics. The main-stays Ryunosuke and Susato are wonderful protagonists - with the latter being one of the cutest characters OAT - and the later Iris and Sholmes are perfect companions that allow for even more of that sweet, sweet banter. [Also, the Logic and Reasoning minigame is one of the most fun I've ever played in a detective game]

I knew it was going to be a little silly, but it's astonishing how GAA can weave dark and interesting tales using such excessive and sometimes abhorrent resources, with characters looking and acting in a ridiculous manner as you unfold the mystery of a cold and calculated murder.

In all, the only thing I didn't enjoy the entire time is that some characters animations are just a little tooo much for my liking. This doesn't ruin the scene at all, I'd just prefer not to watch giant snot bubbles linger from a man's nose.

i can't believe british people are real

Fun, intriguing and creative, The great ace attorney marks one of the most fun stories to follow, with charismatic characters and interconnected cases that keep you interested until the end, with one hell of a cliffhanger, I can't wait to start the next one, I consider this one It's also a great gateway for anyone wanting to get started with the franchise.

Pacing feels a bit off throughout--the first case is at least twice as long as most tutorial cases in the series, and the final case is easily the longest case in the series that I've played (haven't gotten to Spirit of Justice or AAI 2 yet), and both of them feel like they could've been considerably shorter without losing much. Still, the change in setting and characters is exactly the shot in the arm this series needed, and the new cast is absolutely delightful. Very excited to play the sequel.

Ending made this great - the whole game is set-up for what‘s to come and only really gets somewhere at the end (obviously). The ending is absolutely fantastic though. The stuff before could‘ve been better, was still cool though.

Simplesmente fantástico. Os casos são interessantes e têm várias reviravoltas, apesar do caso 3 ser inferior ao restante. Quero destacar o subtexto. GAA: Adventures fala de politicagem, discriminação, a opressão que as mulheres sofriam na época com a falta de liberdade de expressão, como em todo sistema jurídico existe o lado obscuro, questões morais/éticas, como até onde a dita "justiça" pode nos levar, através das ações de dois personagens no último caso. Tudo isso de forma sútil e, até mesmo cômica. É extremamente inteligente e me impressionou muito. Seus personagens são ótimos. Não só carismáticos, como bem desenvolvidos, até mesmo os cômicos, que me incomodaram muito durante toda a franquia, aqui, cumprem seu papel muito bem. Sholmes é intankavel. OST impecável, direção de arte excelente, porém, a investigação ainda é só funcional e pouco inventiva, tirando os Great Deduction, se tornando o ponto mais fraco, tirando isso, só tenho elogios pra essa maravilha.

I feel like Ace Attorney games all have the same positives in that it's just an addictive and very engaging formula. It's really just the perfect VN recipe, and that doesn't change here. But, with the new setting and new mechanics, it takes so long to actually ramp up to something and go places, and even when it does go places, it usually spends way too much time there anyways. This sets up good groundwork for the sequel though, which I've heard is miles better, so I'm fairly hopeful, but this is definitely the hardest I've tried to complete one of these before. Sherlock is perfect though, I need there to be more of him.

This is a great ace attorney game. One of the best. The setting is definitely the game's greatest asset. I love the idea of a more primitive court system, and the combination of 19th century Britain and Japan. I wish there was more of Japan, honestly. (I think the third game will provide that) The cases are pretty good. It feels kind of wierd having the first three cases all being tutorial cases. The third case is my favorite. I loved the middle section of the case with absolute chaos. The other cases were really good, with the second one being a low point, to be honest. The music was really good and I liked pretty much all of the characters.

This review contains spoilers

A unique take on the Ace Attorney formula, it's got its fair share of two weaker cases (2 and 4, the causes are really really contrived in both and there's no real payoff) but two stellar cases (3 and 5, Magnus Mcgilded is like Matt Engarde done better and Gina is also great). It serves as a set-up game to the second which is alright on its own but the McGilded stuff is the real winner.

I love how when you inspect the wagon early on you can catch on to what's going on when things change later, the case is just so good.

Great Ace Attorney is a spin-off of the popular Ace Attorney series, taking place in the early 1900s (mostly) in Britain. With the change of setting, the game brings a completely new cast and even new mechanics, which makes it feel quite fresh. In terms of "gameplay", it may even be the most "fun" iteration of the AA formula IMO. New to the game are the jury system for trials (something that has been teased since Apollo Justice...) and Herlock Sholmes' "great deductions" for investigations. Both new systems add more variety to the gameplay, making it, again, more fresh and fun.

Story is, as usual for AA games, pretty good, with an overaching plot that links many of the game's cases and a ton of twists. The new cast is fun, even if it holds some similarities to the traditional cast.

If there's anything to complain about, I'd say the pace of the game is slightly strange, since the first 3 cases feel like small tutorials of each main mechanic. Case 4 is the first case in the game with full investigation and trial sections, which is a little strange compared to other AA games.

Overall, I really liked this game. I'm not sure where exactly I'd rank it compared to the standard AA games but it's definitely near the top. Completely recommended.

Note: I played the Switch port included in the Chronicles collection.

Not quite my favorite in the AA series, but pretty damn close, just a few unfortunate things that irk me.

Let's get the bad out of the way. Cases 1 and 5 drudged on for way longer than they should've, which is super lame because they have GREAT starts—just needed to trim the fat a little. What makes it worse is that the English voice acting is pretty subpar and gets especially grating during those parts, especially Ryunosuke, sadly. Case 5 at least has a satisfying conclusion, 1 and 2 have a lackluster finale. Lastly, there were a few points during gameplay where the game contradicted itself, such as needing to recheck an object before I could present it, or other annoying bits like that. Thankfully, this isn't a huge deal, and is just something the series as a whole struggles with. If anything, TGAAA is way better about this than any other game in the series.

Alright, now that that's done, let's dive into the good, and oh boy is there a lot of good. For example, the characters. The characters are VERY good. I adore this cast, they're all so colorful, charming... fruity. They're very fruity. You cannot convince me Ryunosuke and Kazuma don't have a thing going on, it's all there in the subtext. Ahem, anyway, I love this cast with all my heart.
Herlock Sholmes is undeniably the best version of Sherlock Holmes I have ever seen. He's just a big, dumb himbo that writes about his own exploits. Yes, the novels exist simultaneously with the character in this universe, it's great. Pun intended. The prosecutor, Barok van Zieks, is one of my all time favorites, just behind Blackquill. He is... a little racist, but he's so fucking funny. I would not be surprised if he turned out to be a literal vampire in TGAAR. Also, Susato? Best assistant. Not even a contest. She's actually helpful, and doesn't argue with Nick about a ladder 27 times, and is just a lovable, charming, girl. Such a breath of fresh air.
Even the minor characters are fantastic. They've all got their silly quirks, and honestly, I don't think any of them overstay their welcome. The victim in case 5 comes close, but since he's the victim, he doesn't stick around long lmao.

Another thing I wanna praise is that none of the cases in this game are standard by any means. They all do something unique and I love it. Like, one of them is just an investigation, there's literally no court. Then in another, the victim isn't murdered, they're just assaulted... I know that sounds crazy but that's really big for Ace Attorney. And then in case 3... actually, I'm not gonna say anything about case 3, it's way too good to spoil.

But yeah, considering this is a VN, there's not really a whole lot more to say. Solid story, pretty fun detective work, yeah, I can't recommend this enough if you're a fan of the series. Hell, I know people who don't like AA that liked this game. It's great, give it a shot.

Was für ein geniales Spiel.

Als ich irgendwann 2012 von meinen Eltern völlig zufällig "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations" bekam, weil es irgendwie das einzige DS Spiel war welches nicht viel zu überteuert verkauft wurde bei einem lokalem Händler, war ich anfangs irgendwie enttäuscht. Nur Text? Hä? Und dann auch noch Kriminalfälle? Das war für den zwölf-jährigen Erik DIE Definition von Langeweile.

Und dann habe ich das Spiel gespielt. Und ich liebte es.
Die Charaktere, die genau in diesem Spiel ihre Tiefe bekamen und ihren tragischen Ereignissen sich stellen mussten. Die Fälle, welche ohne Probleme in einem übertriebenen Animeplot behandelt werden könnten (und inzwischen auch wurden). Das Gameplay, welches das Erkennen, Befolgen und korrigieren einer Logik erforderte. Das Spiel ist dafür verantwortlich, dass ich nicht nur Visual Novels wie "Danganronpa", "999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors" oder "Steins;Gate" zu lieben lernte, sondern überhaupt erst für mich entdecken konnte - meine Liebe zu Ace Attorney ist aber nie verschwunden. Zwar habe ich die Investigations-Spiele als auch die letzten neuen zwei Teile, "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies" und "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice" nicht gespielt, was letztendlich an den eher mittelmäßigen Kritiken damals als auch den in meinen Augen doch sehr langweiligen Setting liegt.(Bemerkung: damals! Je länger ich mir die Spiele in den letzten Tagen anschaue, desto mehr habe ich Lust, diese endlich nachzuholen.)

Ein großes Problem, welches ich mit den letzten Spielen vor allem hatte, war dann doch das eigentlich gleiche Setting, nur leicht weiter in der Zukunft mit den gleichen Gimmicks und den gleichen Charakteren. So sehr ich diese Personen liebe, man hat sich dann doch satt gesehen, wie Phoenix und co. unlösbare Fälle lösen und das immer wieder neu entdeckte, korrupte System zerstören oder kritisieren. Was fehlte war ein wirklich neues Setting; neue Zeit, neue Charaktere (losgelöst von den bisherigen Teilen), komplett neue Locations mit neuen Herausforderungen, welches gleichzeitig auch sehr gut für Neueinsteiger geeignet wäre.

Eintritt: "The Great Ace Attorney". Bestehend aus zwei Teilen, kam "The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles" 2021 ENDLICH in den Westen. Man kann nicht glauben, dass ich fast sechs Jahre auf dieses Spiel warten musste. Es sah schon immer so interessant aus, das Setting komplett neu. So neu, dass ich gar nicht wusste was ich von halten sollte und mich wirklich ingame überraschen lassen wollte.

Die Wartezeit hat sich gelohnt.

Großbritannien und Japan sind zum viktorianischen Zeitalter / Meiji Ära eine große Partnerschaft eingegangen. Ein großer Win für Japan, da sie von der Industrialisierung, der Mentalität, den großen Denkern als auch der Macht von Großbritannien profitieren. Das ist den Engländern bewusst und machen es durch ihre Überheblichkeit und rassistischem Verhalten, insbesondere gegenüber japanischen Menschen, bemerkbar. Umso schlimmer, dass aufgrund dieser Vereinbarung in Japan alles dafür getan wird, diese frisch gemachte Partnerschaft nicht zu verletzen oder in frage zu stellen. Und Ace Attorney üblich, der erste Fall tut genau das. Zeigt, dass egal welches Zeitalter, das juristische System nur genau so stark ist wie die Politik, in welcher diese beschlossen und definiert wurde. Und wer darf es ausbaden? Wir, Ryunosuke Naruhodo, Tatverdächtiger eines Mordes in einem "Café" in Japan, einer neuen Art von Gastronomie, übernommen aus Großbritannien. Das Opfer? Ein Engländer. Man merkt: schwierige Situation. Und so fängt also der erste Fall an, mit unserem besten Freund, Kazuma Asogi an der Seite, der uns verteidigen will, aber aufgrund besonderer Umstände uns als Beratung zur Seite steht, kämpfen wir uns gewohnt durch Zeugenaussagen, Erzählungen von korrupten Menschen als auch große Logiklücken. Diese Parts spielen sich gewohnt großartig; einzeln durch die Aussagen der Zeugen sich zu durchwühlen, ihnen zeigen dass dies nicht so hätte passiert können anhand der Beweise in der Gerichtsakte als auch an ihrer eigenen Aussage (oder Aussagen anderer Zeugen).
ABER: es gibt zwei neue Elemente, die in den folgenden Fällen noch eingeführt werden. Das erste ist die Jury, welche aus zufällig gewählten sechs Personen besteht. Nach gewissen Reveals im Gericht wird geskriptet die Jury eindeutig auf schuldig plädieren. Wir als Verteidiger können dagegen vorgehen, indem wir uns anhören, auf welcher Basis die Jury ihre Bewertung abgegeben hat. Anders als in den normalen Zeugenaussagen können wir nicht jederzeit Beweise hervorholen, sondern müssen die einzelnen Aussagen der Jury gegeneinander ausspielen, damit diese sich bewusst wird das der Fall nicht hier aufhören darf aufgrund von Unklarheiten.

Der zweite, große Unterschied im Gerichtssaal ist eine Neuerung aus dem (viel zu unterschätztem Spin-Off!) "Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright – Ace Attorney": wir haben mehrere Zeugen vor dem Zeugenstand! Wenn wir jetzt die Zeugen ausfragen, kann es passieren, dass bei ihrer Aussage eines der Zeugen oder mehrere Zeugen im Zeugenstand in irgendeiner Weise reagieren. Das bemerken wir und können nachfragen, weswegen sie so reagieren, was meist darin ausartet, dass in der Zeugenaussage ein neues Statement dazu kommt oder mehr Informationen durch Beweisführung ans Licht kommen.

Als wäre dies nicht schon eine großartige Ergänzung genug, haben wir auch bei den Rechercheparts des Spiels, in welchem wir von Ort zu Ort gehen und Zeugen ausfragen und Beweise suchen, auch eine Ergänzung: mit Hilfe eines gewissen Menschen (Promo-Material zeigt schon alles, aber ich bin blind reingegangen und fand es umso großartiger, wer das ist) können wir anhand einiger kleineren Indizien gewisse Sachen und Tathergänge deduzieren. Dieses sehr kleine, stylische Suchspiel nach Indizien ist leider nicht mehr als das: klein. Eine gelungene Abwechslung, welche viele Reveals bringt, jedoch besteht das Potenzial zu intensiveren Gameplay.

Dies ist aber okay. Nicht nur ist das der erste Teil dieser (bisherigen) Duologie, auch hat man durch das Setting und den neuen Ort als auch der spaßigen und durchgeknallten Charakterisierung der neuen als auch sehr bekannten Charaktere mit "einem gewissen Spin" so zutiefst charmant. Das alles ist eigenständig Grund genug, das Spiel zu spielen. Jetzt müsst ihr euch also auch noch meine Überraschung vorstellen, dass die Geschichte durch all die Fälle hinweg weitererzählt und schon von Fall 1 aus mit Hilfe der Kamera in der 3D Umgebung Serien-artig (durch verschiedene Kameraführungen, Bildkompositionen und vielen, einmaligen Animationen) inszeniert wird, sie auch noch das für Videospiele bisher sehr wenig angerührte Setting und Themes von Ungerechtigkeit und großen, politischen Konflikten und Verschwörungen umschließt UND die Charaktere sich nicht doof anstellen, sondern selber Meinungen haben, diese aussagen und sich auch so verhalten, wie man es sich vorstellt (samt rassistischer Bemerkungen gegenüber unseren Charakteren oder Einstehen zu dem Opfern rassistischer Taten)? Wow. Ja, sehr Anime, aber ein verdammt guter! Und ich will bitte mehr davon! Hat seinen Grund, weswegen ich die Silvesterwoche nichts zu tun hatte außer diesen 30h Klopper zu verschlingen. Enorme Suchtgefahr.

The game that brought me back to Ace Attorney after the previous trilogy failed to hooked me. With an awesome setting, lovable characters, new mechanics that actually push the series forward, and some of the most engaging mysteries in the series; it singlehandedly brought the Ace Attorney I loved back.


easily one of my favorite ace attorney games up there with how cool the cases are and how awesome the herlock sholmes logic and reasoning deductions are. The characters are really great and some of them are my favorites of all time!

WOAH they made the 3D sprites look good?!

Great game start to finish and boy that last case was one of my favorite cases ever. This game is contending for my top spot in the series so I'm excited to see what the next game brings. Legit a highlight reel of the best things of Ace Attorney and improved on. The most creative game when it comes to gameplay and I loved that.

This review contains spoilers

I'm usually not doing a +/- style review, but i need to order my thoughts for myself.

+ Ace attorney needed a fresh setting, and this is a perfect theme for a spinoff. Very interesting to see how Japanese creators look back to the time when England was the big worldplayer, and Japan wanted to learn from the west to mordernize it's technology.
+ It shows how the English felt at the height of their world Empire days. They felt like they were the most civilized society, and thought of other races and places as backwards, which technology wise they kind of were. This made them arrogant. Underestimating others because of different backgrounds is a theme that (still) resonates well in this time and age.
+ Sherlock Holmes was integrated well in this game, and his deduction sequences were high points for me.
+ Game looks great, especially some of the backgrounds. I saw some reused animations from dual destinies (the first slamming from van Ziek looked the same as the blackquil ones, the way the the guy breaks down in the final case is reused form the way the girl witness falls in case 3 of dd, and naruhudo has a lot of direct phoenix animations from DD, but that doesn't distract really)
+ The OST is a great as ever, and i love the rearrangement of the famous old English Scarborough Fair song (Simon & Garfunkel anyone?)
+ Susato is my favorite assistant in the series.
+ I was a bit lukewarm about the prosecutor at first. He was capable and has a great design, but he didn't stand out that much as far as all the games in the series are concerned. The last case gives him a whole lot of depth though, so all in all he's on higher side of the prosecutor spectrum
+ i have to admit the way that music box worked and it's purpose was really well put together, i didn't see that coming.

- the simplicity of the cases. I feel this is the easiest Ace Attorney game by a long shot, and i played almost all of them. A lot of times i saw the "turnabout moments" coming from a mile away. In those cases the dramatic 'how do we turn this around?' moments miss the impact they are going for. They hold your hand a lot throughout the game with regards to which evidence you need to present as well.
- I really didn't like the second case. Can even admit i hated it. Kazuma was so interesting, he saw the importance of learning from Europe where Japan was behind, but didn't want Japan to lose it's cultural identity . He could be someone working in the background in England bit like a phoenix role in Apollo Justice. But we only see him for 1 chapter. They wasted the character of Kazuma just to let us get the same situation as in the original Ace Attorney case (your mentor is gone and they think you did it). It even lessened the impact because Naruhodo was the suspect in the first case already. Not even a trial, i love trials :( Anticlimactic end as well.
- the jury was a nice idea, but it has problems. I don't really know how they choose people for the jury, it's not really explained. Do they pick people at random, or do they pick people that were in close proximity of the murder location? It always seems like a mix. In case 4, four of the jurors had some connection to the case, and the last juror was a witness in the case before that. This stretches the suspicion of disbelief a whole lot. I mean what are the chances? It seems Capcom didn't want to make more unique sprites just for minor characters. They even joke about it in the last case, but joking it away doesn't make it less distracting.

I feel this game is like the first Miles Edgeworth Investigations (and what Apollo Justice could have been with a proper sequel). A nice template to create the new characters, worldbuilding and new systems. But the quality of the cases are not that great. Then the second game can go to new heights with all that this game worked to establish, like the second investigations did.