Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a surprisingly good game. You play as Phoenix Wright, a beginner lawyer making his way into the world of law. Now, the concept of playing as a defense attorney isn’t exactly enticing to the average person, but the game comes through with hilarious dialogue, great music, and compelling visual-novel esque gameplay.

Gameplay
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, is a visual novel type game. There are two different modes: Investigation Mode and Trial Mode. In investigation mode, you search areas of interest that have to do with the crime, talking to witnesses and looking for evidence. Trial mode is where the lawyering comes into play. You must cross examine witnesses and present evidence, trying to find the true culprit while at the same time stopping your client from being found guilty. If you present a wrong piece of evidence, you get a penalty. 5 penalties and it’s game over, and you must start again from your last save point. That’s the gameplay of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

Graphics: 5
The graphics could definitely use some work in this game. There are interesting settings, but the graphics on a whole are pixely for a Nintendo DS game. The sprites are pretty detailed for sprites, albeit being pixely. You can definitely tell different body shapes apart. The graphics are great in the cutscenes, but other than that they need work. A game like this doesn’t rely on the graphics, though, and it doesn’t affect the gameplay whatsoever. This is why I give the graphics a 5

Sound: 7
The music in Phoenix Wright adds to the feeling of the game. Even when you start up the first case you can tell that the music will be spectacular. The cornered theme is great, and gives you a rush when you find something shocking out. The music tends to become repetitive during cross examinations, though. When you do not know what to do on a certain piece of testimony, the repetitive cross examination music can get in your head. There’s not much more I can say about the sound other than you have to experience it yourself.

Addictiveness: 7
This game is moderately addicting. It can get hard fast, and you just want to finish that cross examination...You might spend hours trying to crack a case. Due to it being like a visual novel, the replay value is low. On the whole, the game is pretty addicting.This is why I give the addictiveness a 7.


Story: 9
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney has a top-notch story. It turns a dull and drab concept into something wonderful and entertaining. As I stated before, you play as Phoenix Wright. Phoenix is a defense attorney that chose his job so he could stand up for those that have nobody on his side. With a diverse cast of characters, colorful settings and great character development, the story is a near 10. It’s also a nice reward to see the culprit break down when you prove him guilty. Some of the cases are a bit predictable, though. Sometimes it’s all too easy to predict who did the crime. The story on the whole is great, and I’d give it a 9.

Depth: 5
There’s not much to do other than the main storyline in this game. It’s very linear. You follow the storyline until you finish the game, and that’s it. The game has a lot of dialogue, so that adds to the depth. While the game can last a while, there isn’t much to do once you finish it unless you want to replay it. That’s why I give the depth a 3.


Difficulty: 8
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is really tough. I’m not going to lie; I had to use a walkthrough at certain parts. Sometimes you get stuck while investigating, or you’re just not sure what evidence to present during a cross examination. It can get frustrating fast, especially with that repetitive cross examination music playing while you hopelessly present piece after piece of wrong evidence. Luckily, there aren’t too many moments like this, and the rest of the game is moderately difficult. This is why I give the difficulty an 8.

Overall: 8
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is an amazing game as a whole. As I said, colorful characters and great plot lines make the game what it is. While the graphics and depth are lacking, everything else makes up for it. While I personally think the sequels are better, this is a great game on it’s own. This is why I give it an 8 overall.

Well done, Popeye! I really liked this review. You were really informative, but also pretty to the point in each category. Ace Attorney quickly became one of my favorite DS games.  Even if I did get into it because I wanted to know who would have the guts to crossover duel against Professor Layton.

Great work Popeye! I've played this game myself and for the first games in the series it's pretty good, although that's also thanks to Rise to the Ashes that was added for this version specifically. The graphics aren't that great but then again they're GBA sprites so they're just somewhat simple. If you'll play Apollo Justice you'll see the graphics have improved greatly.

That was an excellent review. Well-structure, plenty of details AND written in such a way that I would actually be interested to try The game on. I hope you write more reviews!