Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations Review by: Furret - 9.3/10
Lots of Trials, Lots of TribulationsFigured I might as well write a review myself for the fun of it.
Graphics - 10/10Starting off strong. Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations offers graphics that really compliment its genre. The characters you meet and talk to always feel alive and filled with emotion and depth despite only getting a few frames of animation for every pose they’re in. The backgrounds always have neat little details in them despite not needing to, and the occasional black and white cg you get when some new information gets brought to light really sets the tone well. They also manage to make a zoom in of the playable character’s or the prosecutor’s face with a moving blue background look epic as hell. When you keep in mind that this game was originally built for the GBA and only later transferred to the DS that’s impressive.
Sound - 10/10I will say right now that I think this game has the single best OST of any game out there, and I will fight over this opinion. Every track is an easy 10/10. At worst you will find a 10.0/10 and at best it’s over 9000/10. The emotional tracks move you to your core, the epic tracks make you feel like you’re playing as some dragonslaying god despite only being a lawyer. The music just fits in so well. The rare voice clips (most notably the OBJECTION! ones) always send a chill down my spine, yet the game has plenty of little sound clips like the disappointment noise that make the game feel as cartoony as it really is when you look at it from a distance. Again, for a GBA game turned to DS game, very amazing job.
Addictiveness - 10/10Once you start playing you will not want to stop. You absolutely must finish and solve this case. And then when debating whether you should save the next one for tomorrow, you always think that one more can’t hurt. It’s not like these are completely separate cases either. Of the 5 cases in this game, 3 can be formed to make one big story if they wanted to. And as for the other two, one of them introduces the main prosecutor in this game and in the other you see plenty of maid costumes so it’s not like that takes away from the experience either.
Depth - 6/10I’ll be fair and say that this is the only downside to these games. They’re purely story based so once you complete them once there is nothing else for you to do. I personally replay them every couple months because I love them that much and I want to stay fresh when it comes to details, but if you’re not a superfan like me I understand how this can be a negative point.
Story - 10/10Without spoiling anything, this game’s story is off the roof fantastic. Keep in mind that it’s the third game in the series and to fully enjoy it I would recommend playing the first two before you touch this one. It’s a perfect continuation and a perfect ending to the original trilogy. You even get to play as Phoenix’s mentor a couple times and see how they met. This game easily has the best antagonist in any Ace Attorney game and taking them down is such a huge battle. What’s even better is that by replaying the game, you pick up on so many clues that were thrown at you that you had no idea were important the first time playing. Surreal how they compressed such a story to a would be GBA game.
Difficulty - 10/10I took both my personal experience and an outsider perspective in mind for this rating. Despite being a huge fan of the series, I still got caught off guard plenty of times playing this game. It never got to a point where I got a game over but enough times to make me question my thought process. I can see how for a newcomer to the series it might be a bit overwhelming at times seeing how deep you’ll have to dig for certain conclusions. That’s why these games should be played in order. The great thing about this difficulty level is that it doesn’t take away from the game. It’s not meant to be difficult, it’s meant to be challenging and satisfying. You’ll need to use your brain but you don’t have to be an Einstein to figure it out. Great job to the developers. A 10 difficulty rating doesn’t mean the game is impossible to beat, it means that it’s perfect for the game they were trying to create. Which applies to this one for sure.
Overall - 9.3/10I would personally give it a 10 but I’m biased. It’s my favorite game of all time. Name me any GBA or DS game that you find better than this one and I will tell you why you’re wrong.
Still, I think a 9.3 is fair when you take the biggest flaw of the game - its depth - into account. And giving a 10 rating for a review takes away the whole point of a review. Nothing is perfect but this game definitely closes in on perfection.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Feedback is like always appreciated and will be taken to heart.
Graphics
10 Sound
10 Addictive
10 Depth
6 Story
10 Difficulty
10