(DS) Review
Written by Orca Blademaster
When you get charged for a murder you didn’t commit, the prosecution is out to get you and the Judge is as bright as a burnt-out light bulb, there’s only one man who can save you from undeserved punishment; that man is Phoenix Wright.
In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for the Nintendo DS, you take control of rookie attorney Phoenix Wright as he goes through his first few cases in the courtroom. With a charming presentation, quirky characters and brain-strangling riddles, this game could quite possibly be one of the best fitting games for the DS so far.
The first thing most will notice about this game is that it is very text-heavy. The game is mostly a text-adventure game, with most of its important clues and actions tied closely to what a character says or what is written somewhere. As such, it requires a lot of reading, so be prepared for that if you pick this gem up.
The stories in Ace Attorney are very well done. Just about all of the cases have Phoenix defending someone in court who is usually regarded in a “guilty until proven innocent” fashion. The recurring cast of characters include prosecution attorney Miles Edgeworth, a cool-tempered but hot-headed man who also serves as Phoenix’s rival, often being his opponent in court; Maya Fey, Phoenix’s Assistant, spirit-medium in-training who can contact the deceased, albeit weakly and with issues; Detective Gumshoe, a dim-witted man who usually ends up with some sort of payout and, the Judge, a long-bearded bald man who doesn’t have much sense, and usually takes a while to catch on to things, like lying witnesses. The cases themselves extend from simple murder trials to cases of corruption in the police department. One case in particular has Phoenix defending himself in court. The first four cases are a port of a GBA version of the game that was released in Japan, so the Touch Screen doesn’t serve much of an original use in any particular case, but the 5th case was made specifically for the DS, meaning that puzzles and such use the Touch Screen and the DS’s functions to its full potential.
The game play for most of the cases have two main components. There’s the in-court component and the investigation component. The investigation component is when you get to control Phoenix from a 1st-person perspective while you have to do many different activities. These include interrogating witnesses and your client, asking them questions or presenting evidence to make them spill the beans on the truth, as well as Examining crime scenes for clues or going to Detective Gumshoe for extra information or Autopsy Reports. The in-court component has you watching the action in a 3rd-person perspective in the middle of the courtroom. Here is where you must listen to witness testimony for contradictions to evidence you may have, and then use your evidence to object to the contradiction.
The controls are fairly simple and can be done in two main ways. The original way is to do it with the face buttons. During the in-court component, the control pad is used to highlight items or options, while the “A” button is used to select them for objection. The “B” button either takes you back a screen or makes the text go by faster, making repeating testimonies go by faster. The shoulder buttons, “L” and “R” are used for Pressing witnesses and Presenting evidence, respectively. During the investigation component, the only buttons used much are the Control Pad, “A” “B” and “R” to move the curser, select an option, go back a screen/speed up the text and check your evidence/character profiles, respectively.
The second, and more traditional way is all about using the Touch Screen and the Stylus. Both components use this the same way; just hit an option with the stylus to apply said option. An extra feature takes use of the DS Microphone. For example, if you want to “Press” a witness for more information during their testimony, holding the “Y” button and yelling “Hold it!” into the microphone will prompt the game to do the same action as if you did it manually. Likewise, if you want to Object and select evidence to object with, holding “Y” and yelling “Objection!” will do the same action as the manual way. It’s nothing spectacular, but it does bring you into the game more.
The graphics and sound are fantastic. The bottom screen is usually just options to choose things to say and do, always the same, but the top screen is always vibrant with characters’ mouths moving while the text under them rolls out. When there’s an “Objection!” the word appears on the top screen in bright red letters, and then the camera zooms to the character that objected for a standard animation followed by some talking. The music fades in and out, changing with the mood of the moment. When the cases start, you hear a soft, flowing melody, which turns into a mystery theme when things go bad, and sometimes like action music when things are getting great. The best part is the reactions of the characters – when Phoenix or just about any other character get embarrassed or surprised, they usually make a strange face animation followed by a funny line, making the game seem a lot like an interactive anime more than a text-based adventure. Even better is when Phoenix points out an important aspect, where the camera zooms up to his face with a bright whooshing background, really pulling the player into the moment.
The game has only a few issues, which cause it to fall short of being absolutely perfect. For one, the original controls (using the face buttons) seem a bit cramped. This is due to the game originally being a GBA game, although it still works fine. Also, the game just seems too short; with only five cases to go through, even if some of them are quite long. And, as previously stated, there is a lot of reading involved with this game, so unless you like reading manga or novels, then this may not be the right game for you.
With fantastic characters and stories, strange interpretation of the law and manga-styled comedy, this is a gem of a game. With only 20,000 copies currently available in the U.S., finding a copy could be difficult, but it’s worth the search, so get out there and get to defending with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. 
