This review contains spoilers
Going through case by case
1-1
An alright opening case that's a lot more light than pretty much anything else in the series including future opening cases. Larry is a kind of shitty defendant but having Mia as your assistant and Sahwit being a great simple smug asshole to beat carry it. 2/5
1-2
God so much of turnabout sisters kinda fades into the white noise to me. I like Maya here more than some other cases because she has a good reason to be around and her and Nick first bonding is cool but other than Redd White and kinda April May, I don't really like most of the characters showing up here. Miles is awesome but doesn't really come into his own until the next case. 3/5
1-3
Sal Manella is a horror to behold and I despise him. I also hate Wendy but her dynamic with Edgeworth is one of my favorites because it's rare to see a prosecutor get pushed around by everyone as much as Nick. I like the culprit and Will is fun but there's so much unnecessary fucking around that kind of brings it down. 3/5
1-4
God I love Edgeworth.
To start with my negative, while Von Karma is absolutely a worthy final boss who provides adequate threat to everyone in the case, he's kind of boring especially compared to his daughter and Miles. Also Lotta is annoying.
That being said, god I love this case. Miles' arc of warming back up to Phoenix ultimately culminating with Phoenix having to defend him in court is excellent and the murder itself is super interesting, much more so than the previous three cases. Obviously cross-examining the parrot is a big highlight not just of the case but of the game. Ultimately, the big highlight of this game and a great finale. 4/5
1-5
Haha oops the game's twice as long now
look I know that's pretty much the joke everyone makes about this case but jesus christ it's so long. I like most of the new characters though Ema often does just feel like Maya lite and I don't even like Maya as much as the average person. Angel Starr and Jake Marshall are both pretty fun though I'm personally a much bigger fan of Jake because teehee cowboy. Lana feels more like a plot device than a character which I suppose you could say for plenty of other defendants but she gets in the player's way quite often which can really suck especially before the addition of Psyche Locks. Even once she finally starts to help, she's often just really dull though not in a hate-able way, and I should clarify I'm exacerbating my issues with her a lot.
I literally forgot Mike Meekins existed.
Oh yeah by the way Damon Gant is the best killer in this game and it's not even close. He begins amiable though in a way that's highly suspicious especially considering he's a high authority in an Ace Attorney game, and once you're finally on his scent he has plenty of tricks up his sleeve to try to slip you up and he's fun as hell to chase.
The fact this was made as a special addition to the DS version of this game is very very obvious from all the ways it tries to get you to use ds features and while some things like being able to fully rotate and look at evidence is really cool, Ema's forensics are pretty much all gimmicks that distract from the main attraction and often don't even function as well as you'd like.
Overall though, this is a great case that could be phenomenal with some of the fat trimmed. 4/5
Overall, as the first game of the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney certainly gives a good thesis on it's future ambitions, though it's lower scale with the exception of the last two cases merely hint at the things to come later in the series. Currently it is unfortunately tied for last place in my ranking at least until I finish replaying Apollo Justice.
1-1
An alright opening case that's a lot more light than pretty much anything else in the series including future opening cases. Larry is a kind of shitty defendant but having Mia as your assistant and Sahwit being a great simple smug asshole to beat carry it. 2/5
1-2
God so much of turnabout sisters kinda fades into the white noise to me. I like Maya here more than some other cases because she has a good reason to be around and her and Nick first bonding is cool but other than Redd White and kinda April May, I don't really like most of the characters showing up here. Miles is awesome but doesn't really come into his own until the next case. 3/5
1-3
Sal Manella is a horror to behold and I despise him. I also hate Wendy but her dynamic with Edgeworth is one of my favorites because it's rare to see a prosecutor get pushed around by everyone as much as Nick. I like the culprit and Will is fun but there's so much unnecessary fucking around that kind of brings it down. 3/5
1-4
God I love Edgeworth.
To start with my negative, while Von Karma is absolutely a worthy final boss who provides adequate threat to everyone in the case, he's kind of boring especially compared to his daughter and Miles. Also Lotta is annoying.
That being said, god I love this case. Miles' arc of warming back up to Phoenix ultimately culminating with Phoenix having to defend him in court is excellent and the murder itself is super interesting, much more so than the previous three cases. Obviously cross-examining the parrot is a big highlight not just of the case but of the game. Ultimately, the big highlight of this game and a great finale. 4/5
1-5
Haha oops the game's twice as long now
look I know that's pretty much the joke everyone makes about this case but jesus christ it's so long. I like most of the new characters though Ema often does just feel like Maya lite and I don't even like Maya as much as the average person. Angel Starr and Jake Marshall are both pretty fun though I'm personally a much bigger fan of Jake because teehee cowboy. Lana feels more like a plot device than a character which I suppose you could say for plenty of other defendants but she gets in the player's way quite often which can really suck especially before the addition of Psyche Locks. Even once she finally starts to help, she's often just really dull though not in a hate-able way, and I should clarify I'm exacerbating my issues with her a lot.
I literally forgot Mike Meekins existed.
Oh yeah by the way Damon Gant is the best killer in this game and it's not even close. He begins amiable though in a way that's highly suspicious especially considering he's a high authority in an Ace Attorney game, and once you're finally on his scent he has plenty of tricks up his sleeve to try to slip you up and he's fun as hell to chase.
The fact this was made as a special addition to the DS version of this game is very very obvious from all the ways it tries to get you to use ds features and while some things like being able to fully rotate and look at evidence is really cool, Ema's forensics are pretty much all gimmicks that distract from the main attraction and often don't even function as well as you'd like.
Overall though, this is a great case that could be phenomenal with some of the fat trimmed. 4/5
Overall, as the first game of the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney certainly gives a good thesis on it's future ambitions, though it's lower scale with the exception of the last two cases merely hint at the things to come later in the series. Currently it is unfortunately tied for last place in my ranking at least until I finish replaying Apollo Justice.