It's been a while since I wrote a review here and I sincerely apologize for my slacking off, but many things like college and this particular game franchise have stood in my way. Nonetheless, I'm back now and I figured that since the Ace Attorney franchise has been taking up a lot of my time within the past few months, I should do an "Ace Attorney Month". Seeing as how Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies comes out in two days, I figured this month would be as good as any to do this. Now for some background! Originally released exclusively to Japan in 2001 on the GBA as Gyakuten Saiban, which roughly translates to "Turnabout Court" or "Turnabout Trial", it was ported to the Nintendo DS and released in America in 2005 under the name Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I'll be honest, when I first heard of this series, I didn't think much of it. "A game where you play as a lawyer? How can that possibly be fun?" I thought, but recently I started seeing the spikey-haired attorney all over the Internet. So, mostly due to Smooth McGroove's acapella version of the Cornered theme, I decided to check it out. What do I think now? Let's find out!

Graphics
     The graphics consist mostly of sprites, though I guess it should be expected considering it was originally a GBA game, but they look very good. The sprites are very well detailed and you definitely wouldn't catch yourself confusing one character with another in this game. The backgrounds, while not nearly as detailed still look pretty good. It's a good thing too, because you'll be traveling to many different areas throughout the course of the game and having to look at so many backgrounds is far less excruciating when they all look different and detailed well enough to tell them apart.

Sound
     The soundtrack for this game is absolutely AMAZING! I find myself humming the Objection and Cornered themes quite often. Even the music that plays for certain characters is pretty catchy. The music you hear during trials is some of the best video game music I've ever heard. The music that plays during tense moments make those moments much more exciting. I even find myself moving my head to the beat on occasion. Heck, I almost shed a tear whenever I hear Maya's theme just because of everything you go through with her in the games. What I'm trying to say is that this is a great soundtrack that every gamer should hear.

Addictiveness
      I find myself coming back to this game every so often. I would probably come back even more if I wasn't trying to complete Ace Attorney Investigations in time for the release of Dual Destinies. I sometimes just go back to the first case just to relive those moments all over again. The addictive nature of these games comes from the story, which I'll talk about in a little bit. The music adds to this as well, perfectly fitting the mood of the scene at hand and giving you a bit more encouragement to continue playing.

Story
     Okay, if I wasn't afraid of spoiling the game, this section would probably be longer than one of my reviews. I'm not kidding here, the story is so interesting and well written that in order to keep myself from spoiling anything, I'm going to have to limit myself a little here, I'll only give the opening for each case and a few characters you meet that will become important later on. In the first case, you must defend your childhood friend Larry Butz (Don't worry, the weird names are far from done) who has been accused of murdering his girlfriend. You also meet Mia Fey, boss of Fey and Co. Law Offices, where you work, and your mentor. You'll also meet the Judge, who will judge the vast majority of your trials throughout the series, and Winston Payne, a prosecutor who usually prosecutes the first case in every game. In the second case, you meet and defend Maya Fey, Mia's younger sister and your assistant until the fifth case, who has been accused of murdering Mia...wait...Mia dies? I'm going to stop myself from going in full-on rage mode at the moment, but if you've played the game, you know how infuriating that is at first. In this case you'll meet two more recurring characters. Detective Dick Gumshoe, who will be the lead detective for most of your cases and isn't exactly known for his brains, but rather his aloofness and sometimes obliviousness. He works under Miles Edgeworth, the main prosecutor for this game and your rival, known for being a prosecuting genius. In the third case, you're tasked with defending Will Powers, an actor known for his role as the main character in the hit TV series, The Steel Samurai, who has been accused of murdering co-star and actor, who just so happens to play the villain in The Steel Samurai, Jack Hammer. In this case you'll meet Wendy Oldbag, a recurring character known for babbling on and on about how things were better back in "her day". In the fourth and final case of the original game, you must defend...Edgeworth? Yeah, Edgeworth's been accused of murdering a defense attorney called Robert Hammond. In this case you'll meet Manfred Von Karma, Edgeworth's mentor, a prosecutor who has never lost a case in his 40 years of prosecuting. (This isn't suspicious at all, right?) That would be it if it weren't for the added fifth case, where you defend the chief prosecutor, Lana Skye, with the help of her younger sister, Ema. This case introduces a few gameplay elements added on specifically for the DS, namely fingerprinting and examining evidence in a full 3D view. There are many characters I didn't touch up on, but there's so many story elements I didn't touch either, but this game has one of the most well written stories in video game history and I definitely recommend checking it out sometime.

Depth
     This games has a lot to offer, though it's mostly through story and evidence. You'll also visit tons of different locations throughout the game. The amount of dialogue alone is enough to give this game a ton of depth. There's also the fact that the amount of evidence you carry throughout each case increases with each case. The fifth case has you carry 3 full pages worth of evidence, with each page consisting of 8 pieces of evidence. Since I already covered the majority of what I would talk about here, let's move on to the next section.

Gameplay/Controls
     Gameplay is split up into 2 parts, Investigation and Trial. In Investigation Mode, you examine the crime scene and other places in order to find evidence for the upcoming trial. You also talk to people to gather more information on the crime and/or the people involved in the crime. Trial Mode is where the game gets really fun. In this mode, it's your job to cross-examine witnesses and find any contradictions in their testimony. You do this by doing one of two things. The first is Pressing, where you question the witness on a particular part of their testimony and sometimes have things added to the testimony. The second is Presenting, or as I like to call it, Objecting, where you present evidence at a particular part of the testimony to prove an existing contradiction and reveal new information. But be careful, in Trials, you're "health" is a set of 5 exclamation marks, which indicate how many penalties you have left before your client is found guilty and you effectively get a "Game Over". I would say that the most difficult part sometimes is choosing what evidence to present and when. Sometimes your logic will either be ahead of the game, or just flat out wrong at times. However, once you present the correct evidence, everything starts becoming more clear. I recommend saving often on your first time through so that you can easily go back and correct yourself if you make a mistake.

Overall, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is definitely a great game. While the concept may seem odd at first, once the game has you, it sucks you right in with its unique characters and story. The plot twists you encounter and the overall genius writing make hard to put down. The soundtrack is another key factor in keeping you hooked as it perfectly fits the game. With a great soundtrack, good sprite work and one of the best plots in gaming history, I give Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney a 9 out of 10. See you guys next time for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All! Until then, OBJECTION! Uh...I mean PEACE OUT!

Ah, so this is the awesome and lengthy review you made to get some points for red?

Well I must say you did an awesome job with this review, I think your organization skills and detail in this review are impeccable. I will say though, I think you should put a space in between the category and what you wrote, you don't have to , but that is just what I would do. 

You had a really good amount to say about each topic of your review which is good since some users have about 20 lines just for graphics and when depth comes in it is just 1 line. You were consistent all the way through your review which is great and one of the most important feature in a good review in my opinion.

Overall this is great, and other than the little spacing I said earlier, this review is perfect and I wouldn't change it a bit! Keep up the awesome work and keep making more great reviews like this!