Back in 2005 at E3, I stood alone in the corner of the Capcom booth looking at a new DS game that no one seemed to give two craps about. There were only two DS systems playing it, it had a series of still pictures driving the gameplay, which was mostly dialogue, and a yummy coffee machine with the ‘Phoenix Wright’ label sat across from it in a lonely, sad manner. If you have had the good fortune of going to E3, then you know how valuable this scenario is to a game journalist. I played that freaking game for the better part of two hours, which is an invaluable amount of reporter time for anyone taking E3 seriously. That two-hour session of alone time with the most obnoxious looking anime-based lawyer was the only thing I remember from E3 2005. It was a great memory.
Fast-forward 11 years and the name Phoenix Wright is synonymous with nearly every 3DS owner. Hell, even my daughter knows the game and she hasn’t played one of them in her life. That’s how well-known and how respected the series has become. And it deserves every bit of love that it gets from the gaming community. It’s a game of logic – pure and simple. It puts your brain to the test, calms your gamer shit down to notice little details in pictures and dialogue and sends you in a celebratory dance when things go wright…err…right.
And that hasn’t changed in the newest edition of the title called Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice .
The story goes a little something like this. Phoenix Wright finds himself in the spiritually-driven land of Khura’in, where monks praise their holy mother, glowing idols and rock out to heavy metal riffs. Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. The land has abolished lawyers, so Phoenix has that going for him. At least justice is speedy, though not accurate and our favorite lawyer doesn’t have the odds in his favor one bit. Along the way through Phoenix’s adventure, the story pulls in old faces, such as Maya Fey, who is getting in touch with her spiritual side, and some new faces that give Wright a great chance of re-establishing lawyer trust in a lawyer-less land. The story also shares time with Athena and Apollo, folks familiar to past Wright gamers. So, there are plenty of faces, places and situations to go around.
The overall structure that almost every Phoenix Wright game is built on is intact with this latest edition of the series. You get the same large amount of exposition driving the gameplay, where every little detail coming out of a character’s mouth is either a distraction or a possible answer to burning questions that potentially unravel whatever mystery Wright (and crew) are trying to wrap up. The game does a great job of balancing out the details and hiding them, almost forcing the gamer to pay attention and come up with their own theory, which leads to correct assumptions. For example, my daughter and I played the hell out of the first case, taking baby steps with the case of a young monk accused of murdering a guard. The game’s first case, which took us the better part of two days to get through (don’t worry, it was us, we’re fine with it — okay most me) had us theorizing what could have caused the murder of this man, the intentions behind the murder and how it could have been done. We were one giant Post-E pad away from going over the murder details, as we both became obsessed and drawn in to the case. The dialogue was vital to the case and paying attention to the ins and outs of what suspects were doing during the time of the murder was intense on the brain. In short, the usual jibber-jabber and left turns that come with that from suspects were firmly intact and important to the gameplay design.
Your eyes won’t be lonely with the dialogue. There is plenty to go around.
Having said that, we were laughing at the humor and pondering the seriousness of the situation through the dialogue. There were times where the case shifted gears from humorous, over-the-top video game and became something serious that magnifies the real potential of the defendant losing his/her life. It’s wonderful balance developed by Capcom’s developers that made the game far more than just logic gameplay design with an anime cover. That is the strongest part of Spirit of Justice and the part that will motivate you to keep going. The length of the dialogue and the different routes it can go will increase the length of the game, which will magnify the experience. Anytime the story draws you in and puts you on the edge of your seat, you know it’s special.
Now, that doesn’t mean you won’t want to throw this game through the window and curse the day you ever decided to own it. You will certainly have those moments and they come in waves. There were times where I had to earmuff my poor daughter so that I could let out some explicit language that was building inside due to gameplay frustration. For example, going back to the first case, the murder that occurs has someone smashing a sacred box coveted by the spiritual people of Khura’in (they hate lawyers in this land too — just so you know) over the head of the victim (or so it seems). To make the situation more than still pictures driving the gameplay, the game introduces a new system that helps solve the murders called the divination séance gameplay system. This system allows you to see the last moments in the victim’s life, from their point of view, before they die. The visuals are accompanied by words, which reverberate how the victim was feeling during those last moments. Each moment is broken into pieces, which are accessible by touching the 3DS pen to a certain blanks space that act as a playhead of sorts. The divination séance gameplay system is neat to see in motion, as it truly does provide some very important details of the murder, but it’s also a little disturbing to see in action because you sorta feel bad for the victim. It also provides a new way to add more evidence to the cases, though finding the specific evidence can be a beast sometimes.
Anyway, we (my daughter and me) were stuck on finding one tiny piece of the puzzle and kept going back and forth with the divination séance gameplay system. When we got to a point where we needed help, the game provides a one-time guidance/consultant, which gives you a hint. What we suspected might be the missing piece still wasn’t giving us anything, even though the consultation supported our theory. We spent hours trying to move this thing forward before realizing you could focus on the words in the picture, specifically on them. It was so frustratingly specific, yet the payoff of progression motivated us to finish the darn case out. Emotionally, we were spent. Triumphantly, we made it through the case and felt like we did some good. Knowing how to balance out your frustration will make this game, which is far more difficult in my opinion than Dual Destinies, will be your saving grace when appreciating the craftsmanship that went into it.
Other gameplay elements to watch out for, especially for those not familiar with the series, is the ability to go through court records, statements made by the suspects, press suspects for more information and go back and look at important articles/artifacts to help (or hurt) your case. Do not figuratively leave any stone unturned and make sure you check all the stones before trying to move forward. If you get things wrong enough times, you lose the match and have to start over (well, not all the way over, but over for the moment you lose). The rest of this backend stuff is pretty straightforward and familiar for those who have the series in their veins.
Beyond the usual gameplay elements, frustration, divination séance gameplay system and the incredible amount of dialogue that you get with the game, there are some really nice polished pieces to the presentation.
The first big one is the visuals. I could tell that a bit more love had been put into Spirit of Justice to make it more than just what typically is a still picture in motion. The first dancing sequence of Khura’in’s holy mother in the game (don’t worry, she’s not old) is majestic to see in motion. The dance is smooth, enticing and perfect for the story. You could tell that Capcom really wanted to bring you to the land of Khura’in badly and make sure you understood its culture and how the people of Khura’in have a strong belief system led by the holy mother. They did this through strong visuals and what could only be assumed is motion capture. You get a nice set of cut scenes that are colorful and vibrant, as well as the still frames of nearly motionless bickering from Wright, his crew and the antagonist that you’re used to seeing in the series.
The next big polished element is the music, which is superb in this game. It knows when to pick up to push the intensity of the courtroom scene and when to slow down to show the elegance of the composition. It’s a musical rollercoaster masterpiece that will certainly somehow make its way to Steve Schardein’s music collection when it becomes legally available online.
Both pieces of presentation help to push the gameplay content, which is vital for a game that, when stripped down to it is one step away from being a mystery novel with choose your own adventure implications.
With all this said, is the game fun? If you know what you’re getting into, it’s a blast. It pushes you to the limits with difficulty and rewards you emotionally with the end results. Its got all the brain-teasing kicking on all cylinders from beginning to end, so don’t tread lightly into this game thinking it was Dual Destinies. For those of you jumping into this murderous madhouse for the first time, check your frustration at the door and prepare for the long haul. The game’s fun equals out to a firm pat on your own back, so don’t expect instant gratification at the get-go, as that is not how this series works. In short, there is a lot of fun to be had with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, though it depends on what you expect from it before you start.
Onto the summary.
