With the title, you know it's going to be a bad review, but I don't like to just hurl criticisms without good reason, and I certainly do not want the hacker to think this critique has anything to do with him. From what I can tell, this is purely a translation. no alterations, and even if there were alterations, it couldn't really have been that far from the original as to make it that unbearable. In fact, I think the most impressive thing about the entire game was the hacker's translation scripts. And to do that good of a job between computer language AND human language, was very professional and I give him props.

GRAPHICS: 7.
The graphics are not half bad. Though there's very little animation or activity to speak of. Mostly just an interactive book. But the artwork of the characters is unique and vibrant. I'm sure this was done by design. I don't usually like the ironic humor, but this was done with some class inserting Street Fighter looking characters, with all the poses and demeanor, into a completely serious and white collar setting like court hearings.

SOUND: 2.
The sound may not necessarily be the worst, but as repetitive as it will get reading over the same thing multiple times, it will eventually become nothing more then a screech against your ears. Honestly it got to the point where I just took my ear piece off and read it, rather then having to hear the same sounds over and over again.

ADDICTIVENESS: 1.
Now we're getting into the details, and I have a lot to say because this is actually my first real experience with Phoenix Wright, and I've wanted to play this game for a long time being interested in becoming an attorney myself. I have to say that while the game is some ways gets the feel of being a lawyer down packed, it spirals out of control into a game of bad controls, horrific dialogue, and unsatisfying gameplay.

For example, why would I want to even play the next mission, let alone the entire game over again, when every time I fail to interrupt the diatribe of chatter in-time, I have to start over? My impression was that as an rpg, you would earn momentum of some sort during each court battle. Almost like Mass Effect's speech bubbles, with varying degrees of success to them. This says a lot about how bad this game is when I have higher expectations from hentai games.

Instead it's completely dependent upon the interrupt toggle. To quickly press that whenever possible, and accumulate some random, unimportant extra dialogue. It won't do you any good. This isn't a memory game. When the time comes to give a roaring defense or persecution, you don't pick the dialogue that sounds the most accurate, you basically take whatever "evidence" the game has given you and then try to paint them a picture out of a few rubber bands and paperclips.


STORY: 3.
They would be interesting cases if the dialogue were more thought. This is another element of the game that disappointed me. Being an attorney, but having little to no control over the progress of the case, let alone being able to decide which cases you involve yourself in. It could have a lot of role-play potential that high stakes cases have great rewards and risks, hindering or escalating my credibility as an attorney. Almost like a high score and could potentially be an attribute that allows me to unlock new outfits etc. Instead, what I'm left with is a very narrow advancement, that really I don't even have to read or do anything. I just press buttons and eventually it will solve itself.


DEPTH: 2.
It's hard to ruin a concept that involves the infinite spectrum of the law and arguing for or against someone who broke it, but somehow it was managed. Even the first case seemed to go out of it's way to prolong itself. I'd rather "die" or however you want to refer to a game over then have to read the same line and arguments one more time. It's that bad. And in reality I like the character portrayals of a high tempered rookie who struggles to keep her composure but has a good heart, versus the snide, intelligent, veteran attorney who the judge has a clear favoring toward, but it's that opponent's arrogance that will be his undoing as he overlooks blatant clues and contradictions in the testimony.


DIFFICULTY: 1.
I honestly did not know how to rate this. There is no difficulty on the game's end. Only your end and your willingness to put up with it. I mean really, if you have the patience of a Saint and feel like sitting through those speech bubbles for hours on end, you'll have no problem. But for me, the patience begins to dwindle the moment I see I'm having to watch carefully every opportunity just to get a new sentence rather then any game play to speak of. I know it's not an action game, but with all the flamboyant characters, the slapstick cases, and the common reaction of attorney's losing the jury/judge, I expected a game much more involved in the player's personal choices and responses. So yes, I kind of what expecting a memory game, plus several retorts per segment of an argument, and ultimately a verdict reached within fifteen to twenty minutes.

Perhaps I set my expectations too high. After all, trying to incorporate all those things I mentioned would take time, and could never really be perfected. However, it just feels like all the potential was squandered, and if not for the fact it's such a well beloved game, I probably would not give it such a cruel review. But from what I have seen, it's tedious, it's puts you into a bind of reading over the same dialogue which is never acceptable, and it makes every attempt to take away that feeling of influence on the player's part. It's like it doesn't want "ME" to play the game... it just wants me to sit there and watch the A.I talk to itself and play against itself. If I just wanted to observe the A.I. battling itself, there are plenty of other games that can do that, and do it much better.

Jim Profit : few things to say:

- BOOO No love for this game!!!
- This game has a great concept
- This isn't a hack. It's just a translation and a beta. (I own the rom of this game and it's the exact same, except it's complete) It's only made for the GBA, if you call that hack then I take back this statement.




- THIS GAME'S SOUND IS AMAZING!!!
- Very addictive, altough I don't blame you for disliking it. Only the people who take their time into playing this know how to enjoy it.
- Why low difficulty? Because it's the first cases! Everyone who has played AT LEAST ONE Phoenix Wright/Apollo Justice game knows that the game starts with the easiest cases and ends with near impossible cases. 
-  This game's story's amazing. Opening scene for each case, everyone seems happy and then bad news. Dialogue more thought? The dialogue is amazing and at times really fun to sit and read.

And so on. In other words, I dissagree but it's a good review.

FunnyFurret : Just because some disagrees with how you feel about the game doesn't mean that he did a bad job reviewing the game. You said so yourself that he at least explained himself.

Does he have high or unreasonable standards? Maybe. I've never played this game so I wouldn't know how it is, but it doesn't mean that he does a bad job in a review. He just has a different opinion than you. And yes, I do think that you should play the game extensively before writing a review like this, but if he was able to spot out some things that he didn't like or things that would make this a bad game, then he does his job as a reviewer.

That being said, I don't know how reasonable he is.

play4fun : Well yeah, it's just I'm a big fan of the series so I don't like people who hate it. But it's a good review non the less. Good job on that