The Ace Attorney series was something I always wanted to get into for the longest time as someone that has played Visual Novels for awhile now at this point in time of my life. I really was only interested in it mainly due to its meme status it has on modern culture and how ridiculous it seems. Well I'm glad to tell you that the first entry did not disappoint in its absurd nature.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is the first game of later on what would be a trilogy of games that mainly follows our protagonist Phoenix Wright. He is an upcoming Defense Attorney who has no prior experience before the story so we both (the protagonist and we as a self-inserted player) are introduced to the courtroom. You are accompanied with your mentor, Mia Fey who is there seemingly to guide you through your first official trial. The opposing side, the Prosecution Lawyer Winston Payne, is trying to have your defendant accused guilty of murder. You use the evidence that the game gives you and YOU need to figure out how to defend that your defendant is innocent by using context clues and finding contradictions in the witness testimony. This is where the puzzle needs to be solved with the Point-and-Click elements that is laid out for you. The first trial is more or less a tutorial but gives insight on what to do and what is to become later on.
There are 5 episodic chapters that seamlessly flow into one another to tell an overarching story. Something is lurking behind the scenes whether it being evidence that isn't always in your face, but found through bluffs to get the witness to "cough-up" their lies. The Investigations and Trials get progressively longer to unravel each case because of the nuance that goes behind it. As you could probably expect, the Investigations "mode", you could say, is where you find your decisive evidence for the actual trial for the following day or days after and this can go back and forth depending on the amount of evidence that is revealed.
I would like to think that this is a murder mystery more than anything, considering all of the cases that are presented to you are murder cases. But this is also an Adventure, which is what is tagged for this games genre. The comedic flair is there sporadically, but it isn't really what I saw from the memes I'm familiar with. The series gets more goofy as you go on, but this is just the introduction so I can see how this is more serious than what I initially expected. Although my expectations were skewed, the game is still ridiculous, but I was unsure of what since I wanted to go in blind.
Mia Fey, the person accompanying you during the first trial, is apart of the Fey clan which is a family of spirit mediums. Not much longer after the first chapter/episode is over you are introduced to Mia's little sister, Maya. Who is also a spirit medium... in training. This review will not contain spoilers so I will just say that Maya is seen more frequently from episode 2 moving forward. Mia still shows up through Maya's 'channeling' but nonetheless is replaced with her little sister, your assistant. As you could probably expect, this is used throughout the game which is just absurd in a courtroom setting, yet is very helpful when used.
The Prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth is what I would say who is the main reason what made me love the game. With him antagonizing you through every trial, minus a few, you REALLY had to think wisely of what to say and present because he will try to find a guilty verdict somehow. With that and his compelling backstory, you have a game full of twists and turns while simultaneously being an episodic thriller with high stakes and careers/lives on the line.
I've come to like the recurring characters mostly but the rest that are introduced are one-off characters that are used as plot devices. While I wouldn't consider this as a bad thing, it does show that there is a lack of a memorable cast. This is just a minor personal issue of mine, but this game is only one of many so I won't say much on the matter.
My main issue revolves around episode 5, Rise from the Ashes. Following the emotion filled and revealing closure of what is episode 4, the game went to end credits and then all of the sudden the game was like "sike bitch you thought this was over, here is a bonus chapter." Which I was kind of confused on this decision by Capcom on why they would do this. It was more or less a slap in the face and just ignoring everything that happened prior by continuing something that doesn't have much relevance from the rest of the game. And the characters that are introduced are insufferable to say the least. Ema Skye in particular is just annoying and has no common sense whatsoever. She is supposed to "replace" Maya for this chapter, but she is just a nuisance while Maya was at least funny when she was being problematic. I unfortunately cannot pretend this chapter simply does not exist when it takes up a good portion of the entire games runtime. Which was painfully boring and was not needed to be dragged out that much. I could go on and on about this, but I would be revealing too much.
From the start to the end of episode 4, the game manages to tell a compelling overarching narrative, while also being engaging by its defense attorney and prosecutor dynamic. There aren't many faults to the game, despite the existence of episode 5, and is a visual novel that everyone should experience. Visual Novels are known for its pacing issues, but this one is different. It is one story that doesn't slow down, until justice is served. It made LAW fun. While it may be unrealistic in a lot of aspects, it however doesn't change what it offers as a story and as an actual game. I say objection to the contrary and you will too.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is the first game of later on what would be a trilogy of games that mainly follows our protagonist Phoenix Wright. He is an upcoming Defense Attorney who has no prior experience before the story so we both (the protagonist and we as a self-inserted player) are introduced to the courtroom. You are accompanied with your mentor, Mia Fey who is there seemingly to guide you through your first official trial. The opposing side, the Prosecution Lawyer Winston Payne, is trying to have your defendant accused guilty of murder. You use the evidence that the game gives you and YOU need to figure out how to defend that your defendant is innocent by using context clues and finding contradictions in the witness testimony. This is where the puzzle needs to be solved with the Point-and-Click elements that is laid out for you. The first trial is more or less a tutorial but gives insight on what to do and what is to become later on.
There are 5 episodic chapters that seamlessly flow into one another to tell an overarching story. Something is lurking behind the scenes whether it being evidence that isn't always in your face, but found through bluffs to get the witness to "cough-up" their lies. The Investigations and Trials get progressively longer to unravel each case because of the nuance that goes behind it. As you could probably expect, the Investigations "mode", you could say, is where you find your decisive evidence for the actual trial for the following day or days after and this can go back and forth depending on the amount of evidence that is revealed.
I would like to think that this is a murder mystery more than anything, considering all of the cases that are presented to you are murder cases. But this is also an Adventure, which is what is tagged for this games genre. The comedic flair is there sporadically, but it isn't really what I saw from the memes I'm familiar with. The series gets more goofy as you go on, but this is just the introduction so I can see how this is more serious than what I initially expected. Although my expectations were skewed, the game is still ridiculous, but I was unsure of what since I wanted to go in blind.
Mia Fey, the person accompanying you during the first trial, is apart of the Fey clan which is a family of spirit mediums. Not much longer after the first chapter/episode is over you are introduced to Mia's little sister, Maya. Who is also a spirit medium... in training. This review will not contain spoilers so I will just say that Maya is seen more frequently from episode 2 moving forward. Mia still shows up through Maya's 'channeling' but nonetheless is replaced with her little sister, your assistant. As you could probably expect, this is used throughout the game which is just absurd in a courtroom setting, yet is very helpful when used.
The Prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth is what I would say who is the main reason what made me love the game. With him antagonizing you through every trial, minus a few, you REALLY had to think wisely of what to say and present because he will try to find a guilty verdict somehow. With that and his compelling backstory, you have a game full of twists and turns while simultaneously being an episodic thriller with high stakes and careers/lives on the line.
I've come to like the recurring characters mostly but the rest that are introduced are one-off characters that are used as plot devices. While I wouldn't consider this as a bad thing, it does show that there is a lack of a memorable cast. This is just a minor personal issue of mine, but this game is only one of many so I won't say much on the matter.
My main issue revolves around episode 5, Rise from the Ashes. Following the emotion filled and revealing closure of what is episode 4, the game went to end credits and then all of the sudden the game was like "sike bitch you thought this was over, here is a bonus chapter." Which I was kind of confused on this decision by Capcom on why they would do this. It was more or less a slap in the face and just ignoring everything that happened prior by continuing something that doesn't have much relevance from the rest of the game. And the characters that are introduced are insufferable to say the least. Ema Skye in particular is just annoying and has no common sense whatsoever. She is supposed to "replace" Maya for this chapter, but she is just a nuisance while Maya was at least funny when she was being problematic. I unfortunately cannot pretend this chapter simply does not exist when it takes up a good portion of the entire games runtime. Which was painfully boring and was not needed to be dragged out that much. I could go on and on about this, but I would be revealing too much.
From the start to the end of episode 4, the game manages to tell a compelling overarching narrative, while also being engaging by its defense attorney and prosecutor dynamic. There aren't many faults to the game, despite the existence of episode 5, and is a visual novel that everyone should experience. Visual Novels are known for its pacing issues, but this one is different. It is one story that doesn't slow down, until justice is served. It made LAW fun. While it may be unrealistic in a lot of aspects, it however doesn't change what it offers as a story and as an actual game. I say objection to the contrary and you will too.