Question: how do you make a visual novel fun to play? Not read. Play.
Ace Attorney resolves the age-old question by making you an active participant in the courtroom drama that unfolds: that is to say, the plot doesn't move until you make the deductions, talk to the right people, or point out a contradiction. It's part brain-teaser, part trying to guess the conclusion the game is trying to lead you to, and it works...for the most part. More on that later.
The highlights of this game are easily the characters. Given life by an amazing script (props to the localizers) and iconic designs, you get invested in the over-the-top sparring between Wright and Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. Every side character is distinguished with weird mannerisms, especially the culprits of each case who you get to sweat and break down over the course of a trial. The game also operates on the simplest, most theatrical interpretation of the law, but I wouldn't have this eccentric anime soap opera any other way.
As for the negatives, they unfortunately stem from the gameplay. Investigation is easily the more dull half of the game (and the trilogy as a whole), mostly consisting of point and click segments to find evidence and dialogue trees to get clues. It feels like moving from Point A to Point B and shoving evidence in the other character's faces until you hit the right flag and get to progress the plot. Compare that to the Court segments, which have an actual game over state for trying to brute force it (albeit easily circumvented by save scumming), and one clearly stands head and shoulders over the other. The court segments are much more animated and fun, but they sometimes suffer from feeling too "on rails" when you want to question something, but the game is clearly nudging you towards another contradiction that can't wait--alas, a constraint of the medium.
All this to say that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and its sequels Justice For All and Trials and Tribulations are a collective masterpiece that must be experienced for themselves. Capcom has re-released this sum'bitch like ten different ways now, so there's no excuse for not having played it.
Ace Attorney resolves the age-old question by making you an active participant in the courtroom drama that unfolds: that is to say, the plot doesn't move until you make the deductions, talk to the right people, or point out a contradiction. It's part brain-teaser, part trying to guess the conclusion the game is trying to lead you to, and it works...for the most part. More on that later.
The highlights of this game are easily the characters. Given life by an amazing script (props to the localizers) and iconic designs, you get invested in the over-the-top sparring between Wright and Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. Every side character is distinguished with weird mannerisms, especially the culprits of each case who you get to sweat and break down over the course of a trial. The game also operates on the simplest, most theatrical interpretation of the law, but I wouldn't have this eccentric anime soap opera any other way.
As for the negatives, they unfortunately stem from the gameplay. Investigation is easily the more dull half of the game (and the trilogy as a whole), mostly consisting of point and click segments to find evidence and dialogue trees to get clues. It feels like moving from Point A to Point B and shoving evidence in the other character's faces until you hit the right flag and get to progress the plot. Compare that to the Court segments, which have an actual game over state for trying to brute force it (albeit easily circumvented by save scumming), and one clearly stands head and shoulders over the other. The court segments are much more animated and fun, but they sometimes suffer from feeling too "on rails" when you want to question something, but the game is clearly nudging you towards another contradiction that can't wait--alas, a constraint of the medium.
All this to say that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and its sequels Justice For All and Trials and Tribulations are a collective masterpiece that must be experienced for themselves. Capcom has re-released this sum'bitch like ten different ways now, so there's no excuse for not having played it.