Vital Stats

Genre: Adventure
Players: 1
Online: None

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
ESRB Rating: T
Release Date: 10/12/05

Platforms

• DS

Phoenix Wright is a surprisingly engaging adventure game with a flair for the comedic. While the game is marred somewhat by unpredictable event scripting, it makes a genuine effort to be accessible. All told, Phoenix Wright is probably the most fun you can have with five murders.

Lying For Fun and Profit
If you read the Hotel Dusk review, you might have gotten the impression that I hate adventure games. While I think the adventure genre helped dig its own grave by replacing legitimate puzzles with augury, an adventure game done right is a truly compelling experience. The defense offers Exhibit A: Phoenix Wright.

In the game, you assume the role of its eponymous defense attorney as he deflects charges of murder from the innocent and redirects them to the guilty. Doing this requires that Wright scour the world for clues and then string them together in court. Each of these tasks is compartmentalized into its own mode, and both modes appear at least once in most of the game’s five chapters.

Crime scene investigation cleaves to the standard adventure formula. You’ll wander from static screen to screen, chatting with the locals and using the DS touch screen to tap anything you hope to use as evidence. During the first half of the game, it leads you from scripted event to event with a logical progression that keeps the game brisk and sensible. Unfortunately, as cases become more complex and evidence grows more plentiful, these segments drag out and start losing their cohesion. By the final chapter, the game is thoroughly mired in the kind of blind guesswork that plagues many adventure games as you try to guess how to trigger the appearance of critical characters or what uninteresting object you may have missed.

Trials, on the other hand, are more like extended word puzzles. As the defense attorney, it is Wright’s job to cross-examine witnesses called by the prosecution. You’ll comb through their testimony line by line, pressing the witnesses until they make a statement that contradicts the evidence you’ve collected. Then you rub their nose in it until someone cracks and admits their guilt (because it wouldn’t be a video game if any of your clients were actually guilty). The trials essentially amount to a linear trudge through lock-and-key gameplay, but tugging on small lies to unravel larger ones is remarkably compelling and most of the game’s fun comes from these sections.

However, the thing that really makes the game work is neither the trials nor the investigations, but the point where they meet. By compartmentalizing the gathering from the use of evidence, the game creates a checkpoint that ensures you have all the evidence and information you need before you go to trial. Whereas adventure game puzzles classically present you with an object puzzle where the solution might be found anywhere in the game world, when Wright goes to trial, you can rest assured that all the answers are in his pockets somewhere. So when you go to trial, you can focus on puzzling through the game’s mysteries without being baffled by its mechanics.

That’s not to say that Phoenix Wright is a perfectly designed adventure game, however. The fact that you’ll have all the evidence when you go to trial does nothing to help with the puzzles you’ll encounter as you investigate, and there’s no hint system to help you along. There are even occasional moments during trials where it seems as though several pieces of evidence could be used to refute witness testimony, and it’s largely a matter of guesswork to determine which one is “correct.” This wouldn’t be much of a problem, but you have a limited supply of hit points for each trial that are depleted by presenting the wrong evidence. Failure means reloading from your last save, and saving the game is a process that boots you to the title screen.

The game doesn’t have much in the way of replay value, either. There are no unlockables of any kind, and once you’ve solved the puzzles, there’s not much reason to retread old ground. On the other hand, the game offers about twenty hours of content to all but the most intuitive adventure gamers, so there’s enough game to merit ownership even if you never replay it.

Objection!
Phoenix Wright makes use of several of the DS-unique features. The game is probably most famous for its microphone support–when pressing witnesses or presenting evidence, you can activate the mic and actually shout, “Objection!” or “Hold it!” to interrupt. It sounds cute, but the DS microphone is a little spotty about picking it up and the mechanic quickly pales as you start drawing funny looks. Fortunately, it’s not mandatory, so you can take the feature or leave it as you prefer.

Most of the game’s interface is run by tapping menu selections, and the first four chapters feel like they were designed for the GBA and then ported to the DS with minimal tweaking. The final chapter, however, lets you lift fingerprints by tapping dust around and blowing it off, rotate 3d objects, and generally ups the immersive interactivity. It’s a pleasant departure from the norm and none of the mechanics are over- or under-utilized to the point where they feel gimmicky.

Disclaimer: Phoenix Wright is Not an Actual Attorney
Phoenix Wright touches up, if not completely fixes, some of the common problems in the adventure genre, but if the game’s story and presentation don’t measure up, then it’s all for nothing. Happily, if you can suspend your disbelief, the game delivers a hilarious parody of the legal system that’s not to be missed.

Everything in the game goes all the way to eleven. Characters punch straight through mere caricature to the absurd on the other side. From loquacious centenarian Wendy Oldbag (groan –ed) to diehard credulous defense attorney Wright himself, everyone you meet is charmingly uncomplicated unto complete irrationality. Even the judge at the trial proceedings has a sort of naïve tabula rasa persona that will have you loving and hating his relentless cluelessness. He’s a reed bending in the breeze; you just have to be a bigger blowhard than the prosecution to change his mind.

This is all bolstered by the game’s presentation. Characters are big, detailed sprites whose expressiveness is steeped in the most ridiculous anime cliché. Attorneys can hardly make a point without the background giving way to motion blur because everything is just so dramatic. Even the sound effects would be at home in a more violent game as almost every change in facial expression is accompanied by the sound of swishing blades and hard combat.

However, nothing in the game is more overblown (or funnier) than its complete miscarriage of justice. Trials are all concluded within three days and everyone is presumed guilty until you can successfully prove that someone else committed the murder. Considering the frequency with which blame is shifted and the sheer number of death sentences flying around, the only way to completely escape execution in Wright’s world is to avoid coming within six miles of a courtroom.

Testify
The five chapters slice neatly into mostly independent stories, each revolving around a murder and your investigative revelations. The investigation sections of the game build a bit of mystery as you discover clues that just don’t seem to fit together, while the trials are twisty cathartic roller coasters.

There’s a rhythmic cycle to the trials. You build the foundation of your case, pile on the evidence, and just as you’re about to top it all off, the prosecution knocks the whole thing down and you start over. The game’s synthy music keeps time with the plot, ranging from sedate to snappy techno as appropriate, and the whole thing holds together remarkably well.

The localization of the story is deftly handled for the most part, though there are a few odd homophone substitution errors. Thankfully the important part, the game’s charming sense of humor, comes through unscathed. The mysteries are mostly coherent as well, if somewhat convoluted, but the story holds together well enough that it never harms the game’s fun.

The Verdict
All in all, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a solid adventure game. It falters a bit in the investigation sections, but the game’s trials, expressive characters, and sense of humor more than make up for it. Genre fans should enjoy it a great deal, and hardcore gamers will appreciate the refined take on the adventure genre and smart writing. Casual gamers may not have the time to complete the considerable volume of content, but since the first half of the game is the most accessible, that actually works out nicely.

What It Costs: $26

What It’s Worth:

• To The Hardcore: $25 (rent)
• To The Genre Fan: $30 (buy)
• To The Casual: $20 (rent)