Phoenix Wright: Justice For All Review (DS)

Age Rating

12+ (PEGI)

What is it?

A detective-cum-lawyer game. Lots of reading required.

Is it fun?

Yep.

Is it worth the money? £24.99

Yes, if you like reading and don’t mind struggling with syntax problems. Otherwise, no.

Why?

The Phoenix Wright games are probably unique for their outlandish characters, odd dialogue and wild settings. You play as the defense lawyer who has to interview the most unexpected mix of characters you will ever find in a game (unless you’ve played Psychonauts). Even though a lot of the character motivations are fairly simple clichés, I love the way everyone has his or her own crazy personality quirks and manners of speaking. Even the really annoying ones have a certain masochistic charm.

Storylines for each chapter follow wildly convoluted paths and are always entertaining. The problem with Phoenix Wright games is that the true story often isn’t that difficult to figure out. It’s the technical execution that is so frustrating. You frequently find yourself sitting there desperately wanting to scream “It was the bloody butler! Look at my video!” but in the courtroom you can only present evidence at set points during the testimony. Several times, the witness has been blatantly contradicting my evidence in an aside comment but I can’t object. It drives me absolutely nuts, but for some reason I still played both Phoenix Wright games obsessively to the end. I find their train-wreck plots incredibly compelling.

IMO, the first English-language game, Ace Attorney, was the better game. The information-gathering segments feel quite different to the trials as you gather clues and piece the story together. In Justice For All you’re given items and then have to struggle with the witnesses, showing the items at crucial points during conversations in order to reveal enough of the story to trigger the trial.

If you like reading quirky stories and with bizarre characterisations, you’ll probably love both Phoenix Wright: Justice For All and Phoenix Wright: Pet Detective Ace Attorney. If you’re not into reading fantasy-fiction stories, give these games a miss.

Screenshots

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