Played this for nearly an hour before deciding enough was enough. The Yamazaki team have been one disappointment after another, managing to squander the themes which made the series compelling beyond the "wow, cool mystery!" aspect.
Spirit of Justice revels in the worst excesses the franchise: bloated scripts, a fetishisation of technology and black-and-white characterisation of the cast. Add the weird orientalist feel, the setting's naïve portrayal as well as the fact that almost fifteen years in we still have to deal with fixed speed textboxes and you've utterly lost me.
It's as if every title from Investigations 1 onwards were building up to this: a complete reimagining of the series, shaped one game at a time into something alien beyond the most surface aspects. The writing had been on the wall since the gutless Investigations 2, the hints it left of things to come taking monstrous shape in the dull Dual Destinies. Spirit of Justice is just the final form of this new beast, one living in a courtroom-shaped hyperreality entirely detached from its origins.
The game enjoys a healthy rating, the series still has fans clamoring for a seventh mainline entry. As for me, if things don't change drastically going forward I can safely say I'm good, thank you. Time for this old geezer to step off the ride. You kids have fun.
Spirit of Justice revels in the worst excesses the franchise: bloated scripts, a fetishisation of technology and black-and-white characterisation of the cast. Add the weird orientalist feel, the setting's naïve portrayal as well as the fact that almost fifteen years in we still have to deal with fixed speed textboxes and you've utterly lost me.
It's as if every title from Investigations 1 onwards were building up to this: a complete reimagining of the series, shaped one game at a time into something alien beyond the most surface aspects. The writing had been on the wall since the gutless Investigations 2, the hints it left of things to come taking monstrous shape in the dull Dual Destinies. Spirit of Justice is just the final form of this new beast, one living in a courtroom-shaped hyperreality entirely detached from its origins.
The game enjoys a healthy rating, the series still has fans clamoring for a seventh mainline entry. As for me, if things don't change drastically going forward I can safely say I'm good, thank you. Time for this old geezer to step off the ride. You kids have fun.