Overall 8.6 Graphics 9.5 Sound 9 Addictive 8 Story 9 Depth 6.5 Difficulty 8
8.5
Turnabout Sequel Itachi9695
Yikes! It's been far too long since I did one of these, hasn't it? Anyway, welcome back ladies and gentlemen to the Ace Attorney "Marathon". (Yeah, I'm dropping the month thing until further notice) So, after playing the first game, I immediately went out and bought this one. Needless to say, I have become a bit of a fanatic when it comes to Ace Attorney in the past few months. So, how does the second game in the series hold up to the first? Let's find out!Graphics The graphics keep the style of the first game and stick to sprites. Once again, the sprites are very detailed and make it easy to distinguish every character. I actually think they might have added more animations to newer characters, but that's probably because they had more money to make improvements with. The backgrounds are once again nice to look at and each setting has it's own look. It's nice to see that the art team is still going strong in this game and were able to come up with even more backgrounds. In short, the graphics are about the same as the last game, which is good.Sound Once again, the sound team brings their A-game, but to be honest, I don't find this soundtrack to be as memorable as the first's. While themes like the Objection theme, the Pursuit theme, and Edgeworth's new theme sound great, the rest of the soundtrack isn't something I go back to too often. Yeah, it's nice to listen to these songs in the game, but other than that, I'd much rather stick with the first game's soundtrack.Addictiveness I honestly don't find myself going back to JFA all too often, except maybe for the final case. Honestly, it has everything to do with the plot, which I'll get into in a little bit. Hardly anything new is introduced and we've gone from 5 cases in the first game to 4 cases in this one. I don't think that's too bad, but it means that this game has the fewest amount of cases out of the original trilogy.Story I'll be honest, this is the weakest of the original trilogy plots, but it's still pretty good, so let's talk about it. Once again, I'll be covering the opening to each case then leave the rest to you guys to experience yourselves.Case One begins with Phoenix getting hit over the head with a fire hydrant and getting amnesia as a result. So you're tasked with defending a policewoman named Maggey Byrde, who our good old detective, Gumshoe, seems to have a bit of a crush on, in a murder case involving her fellow officer. You're facing off against Payne, so don't worry about it.Case Two opens with a man you take to Maya's hometown, Kurain Village, getting murdered during a channeling session with Maya, so you're tasked with defending Maya...again. In this case you'll meet Pearl Fey, Maya's 8 year old cousin, who is a very powerful spirit medium...and she also thinks Phoenix and Maya are romantically involved. It's also in this case where you first face off against Franziska Von Karma, Manfred Von Karma's daughter, who always carries around a whip and just loves to use it.Case Three begins at a carnival, where the main star and magician is accused of killing the ringmaster. So yeah, you have to defend the magician, named Max Galactica. No one else who's introduced here makes an appearance in any other Ace Attorney game. (Well, out of the games the have been brought over to America anyway)Case Four, the final case opens with you at the Gatewater Hotel for a celebration involving to TV studio from case three of the first game. Will Powers invited you to this event, by the way. However, the man who plays the Nickel Samurai (The new Steel Samurai-type thing) has been murdered and Maya is kidnapped...wait, WHAT?! That's right, your faithful assistant has been kidnapped by a mysterious unknown man who only communicates to you via transceiver. You'll meet up with familiar faces like Oldbag and Edgeworth, but you'll also meet new characters like Adrian Andrews, manager of Matt Engarde, your client for the case.I would also like to point out that this is the only Ace Attorney game I know of that has a good and bad ending, but the game doesn't decide which one you get until the very end of the last case. I do like that aspect, but to me, it isn't worth the multiple playthroughs, my advice is to just get the good ending and end it.Depth Like I said above, this game has two separate endings, but apart from that, there's very little added in terms of depth. I honestly don't have much to say here. Let's just move on.Gameplay/Controls This game plays just like the previous game, so I'm not going to bore you by telling you all of that again, but I should point out that rather than 5 exclamation points, you have a meter. So rather than making 5 mistakes and failing, it all depends on how important the evidence you're going to present is that determines how quickly you run out of meter. New to this game are Psyche Locks. These only appear during investigations and show when a character is hiding a secret from you. In order to find out what that secret is, you must gather clues and present the correct pieces of evidence at the right time in order to break the locks, the more locks there are, the harder it will be to unlock them, with the maximum number of locks being 5.In conclusion, while I don't think this is as good as the first game, it's still pretty good in it's own "Wright" (Get it? Wright? Right?...Yeah, I'm not funny) and I think anyone interested in getting the full story should play this game before moving on. With a good soundtrack, new characters, awesome dialogue, and a decent story, I give Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Justice for All an 8.5 out of 10. Join me next week, hopefully, as I review the last game in the original Phoenix Wright trilogy, Trials and Tribulations! So until then, have a belated Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year! PEACE OUT!
Graphics 9 Sound 8 Addictive 7 Story 8 Depth 8 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 12-31-13
Review Replies: 0
8.6
Justice for the Whip Furret
I’m back with another Ace Attorney review! This time we’ll be tackling the second game in this franchise; Ace Attorney: Justice for All. It was released back in 2002 after being ported over to the Nintendo DS from the GBA alongside the first and third games, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations respectively. Like in my Trials and Tribulations review I’ll be keeping this in mind when it comes to scoring this game as the developers obviously had less room to work with. I also highly recommend you to play the original game before this one as Justice for All acts as a continuation to that game. With that said, let’s get started!
Depth - 5/10I’ll start with the most painful flaw this game has. There are 4 cases in this game, one of which is an introductory case that lasts maybe an hour at most. Cases are split into two different game modes; investigating and trials, with the exception being the first case having only trial segments. The majority of players prefer the trial segments as those are more action packed, but if you want character interaction and witty dialogue then investigating might be more up your alley. The last case is quite a long one but it still can’t make up the lost ground for having one case less than most other Ace Attorney game. As such you’ll reach the end of the game more quickly and find that there is nothing else to do. In this game especially there exists almost no replayability as the final antagonist relies on an identity trick, which you’ll obviously know about when you replay the game.
Addictiveness - 9/10This rating has to do with the third case of this game. It takes places in a circus and as you can expect, the characters you meet there have very big personalities. This makes for some fun moments but I personally find there to be a lot more frustrating moments. It’s my least favorite case in the whole franchise and it’s the only one I sometimes struggle with to complete in one setting. All the other cases are fantastic like usual and will make you want to keep playing to find out the truth. Especially the last case, that one will have you on the edge of your seat up to the grand finale.
Graphics - 10/10The main series of Ace Attorney games are all Visual Novels. In each case except for the first one you get a
select amount of areas to explore (though it’s a point and click system with 2D backgrounds). These backgrounds have neat details in them and you can sometimes see recurring jokes that will last throughout the whole franchise. The character sprites only have a few frames of animation for every pose they take but they still feel like real people. The sweat drops or the blinking of the eyes, for example, make them feel realistic and cartoony at the same time.
Sound - 10/10Like with all games in the franchise, this one has a fantastic OST. These themes are almost two decades old and you can still feel the emotion and passion in them that always blend in well with what’s happening in the story. When a character is having a mental breakdown the music will send chills down your spine. Fantastic job.
Story - 10/10The story is a continuation of the first game so you’ll need to play that one first to understand everything that’s thrown at you. A lot of old faces make a new appearance and you’ll meet some characters for the first time that will play a big role in games to come. Every case revolves around a murder and as a defense attorney it’s your job to prevent your clients from receiving the ultimate guilty verdict. Phoenix will have many ups and many downs and will have to deal with people ranging from an elementary school student to a dangerous serial killer, with many surprises along the way.
Difficulty - 8/10This game is significantly easier than the other ones in the franchise. The last case can get a bit tricky near the end but I noticed that most of the game is really linear and if you read what’s happening you’ll easily find the solution to the problems the game throws at you. A new staple of the series - psyche locks - are also introduced, but they are basically interrogations where you have to present the right sequence of evidence, kind of like in a trial. It’s still a game that will make you think a lot as there are some red herrings you’ll need to discover.
Overall - 8.6/10That brings the total to an 8.6. It hurts me to see the game drop below a 9 but I do believe that it’s the weakest one in the franchise. It’s just the bridge between the first and third games, which are both fantastic. It’s still a blast to play though and if you liked the first game you’ll like this one as well.
Thanks for reading! Feedback is always appreciated! <3
Graphics 10 Sound 10 Addictive 9 Story 10 Depth 5 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 01-09-19
Review Replies: 0
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