“OBJECTION!” ☞

April 11, 2019 12:09 PM

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Review [US Gamer] “A judicial system where literally any old scrub can practice law. A court that's apparently never heard of being in contempt. A courtroom in which playground insults can be hurled around and witnesses can be cautioned for "wanton winking." Welcome to the world of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the first three games of which have been repackaged in glorious, non-pixelated HD for the Ace Attorney Trilogy. Phoenix Wright is a detective series of games consisting of collecting evidence and interrogating suspects, as much as it is a courtroom showdown of proving contradictions and errors in witness testimonies. Practicing law in the anime world is a hell of a good time.” [YouTube][Trailer]

• I Can't Stop Myself From Telling People To Play Phoenix Wright [Kotaku]

“In the series, you play as Phoenix Wright, a rookie defense attorney and maybe the closest thing to a straight man in a relentless gauntlet of comedic characters: hilarious, intentionally overblown law-and-order and murder-mystery tropes. There’s Frank Sahwit, a man who claims he saw it (a murder). There’s a bellboy who holds an elaborate tea set the entire time he testifies. There’s a whip-wielding prosecutor who isn’t afraid to give everyone present a good smack if they waste her time. There’s the judge, a bumbling sweetheart whose sheer ability to acrobatically miss the point at key moments is equal parts charming and infuriating for everyone around him. In one case, you offer the judge a business card as evidence, at which point, genuinely moved by your politeness, he forgets where he is and offers you one of his.”

• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy: true genre classic [VG24/7]

“The ebb and flow of Wright and Maya’s adventures is just something that works in a sort of effortlessly genius way. Investigations are slow-paced adventure game action, all trawling crime scenes, chatting to witnesses and clicking on things in search of clues or more fun, irreverent dialogue. Once you hit trial, everything changes. The world Wright inhabits is still exaggerated and silly, but in trial the consequences are serious: this is an adventure game that has game-over states, dead ends (with checkpoints to go back, of course) and tense verbal shoot-outs in the courtroom. There are few feelings in gaming like the one you get when you finally begin to turn things around, not only proving your client’s innocence but turning suspicion on a new suspect. They panic and protest, you tasked with cornering them with your gathered evidence. The music ramps up and it feels great and unlike anything else in the genre. Others like Danganronpa have had success in replicating parts of this formula, but nowhere is it more potent than in Ace Attorney.”

• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Object once more, with feeling [Game Revolution]

“However, Ace Attorney‘s truly incredible writing stands out in each game in the trilogy. Every case not only has an interesting selection of twists and turns, but its dialogue is the linchpin that holds the whole experience together. Filled with puns and genuinely hilarious characters, every case winds up being memorable because of the script. The three games even have an overarching story that concludes in an explosive final case that doesn’t just add new depth to existing characters but also crafts a mystery that even Gosho Aoyama would have trouble solving. While it’s more of a visual experience, it does have some mechanics that see the player looking at evidence in order to help their case. There’s no shortage of seemingly uncrackable alibis and damning evidence that the player has to somehow use to their advantage and it’s what makes Ace Attorney so gripping in a way most other games aren’t. You have to critically think about the scenarios as you gather clues, which is refreshing since most adventure games now are more passive, narrative experiences.”

• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy: I am (still) the law! [Nintendo Life]

“As a plucky defence attorney, you’ll listen to the testimonies of each one then compare to the evidence that’s been presented to the court. By performing cross-examinations of these testimonies you’ll then have the option to ‘press’ the witness or defendant to find inaccuracies or intentionally withheld details and ‘present’ evidence that potentially contradicts their statements. So yes, it’s 'Law & Order: The Video Game', but what sets those first three Ace Attorney games apart from those that followed is creator Shu Takumi’s excellent writing. Each case finds the right balance between classic anime theatrics, disturbing crime details and moments of heartfelt levity, and while some cases really double down into that grey area where ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are blurred, its logic helps you develop a gut feeling of who to believe and who to disprove. In-between courtroom sessions you’ll be out and about conducting investigations, inspecting locations for clues, collecting information for the Court Record and interrogating suspects, witnesses and more.”

posted by Fizz (31 comments total)

These games are a blast. They're also a fun peek into the differences between the Japanese and U.S. legal systems--in particular, how Japan doesn't use juries, and how prosecutors rely heavily on confessions from defendants to make their case.
posted by Pfardentrott at 12:29 PM on April 11, 2019 [4 favorites]

I mean, there's a character called: Detective Dick Gumshoe! DETECTIVE DICK GUMSHOE!!
posted by Fizz at 12:34 PM on April 11, 2019 [7 favorites]

A hell of a good time, you say?
posted by Spacelegoman at 12:34 PM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

At this point, buying it on the Switch would be my 3rd purchase of the games... but I'm incredibly tempted.

Switch is a perfect platform for VNs: big ol' touch screen, TV support, moderate graphics capabilities.
Hopefully the trend continues, as VNs combine two of my guilty pleasures: reading badly translated genre fiction and playing video games on easy to enjoy whatever passes for a story.

As for Ace Attorney itself, I was never bothered too much by the legal system making *zero* sense. I figured it was Video Game Law to make it suitable for gaming: the endlessly looping testimony, the bizarre evidence handling procedures, etc. The inventory system in particular is not much removed from classic point-and-click adventure games.
posted by Anonymous Function at 12:40 PM on April 11, 2019 [5 favorites]

There's a Phoenix Wright / Professor Layton crossover that I feel you should be aware of.
posted by mhoye at 12:46 PM on April 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

as a prosecutor, i can confirm that we do all bring whips to work. leather passes the metal detector so no probs.
posted by wibari at 12:48 PM on April 11, 2019 [13 favorites]

"A judicial system where literally any old scrub can practice law"

is this a read @Kim K?
posted by emirenic at 12:54 PM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Um...no link to the Press Buttons 'N Talk playthrough???
posted by praemunire at 1:06 PM on April 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

There's a Phoenix Wright / Professor Layton crossover that I feel you should be aware of.
Espella Cantabella! That was my introduction to both Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton. Good stuff.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 1:18 PM on April 11, 2019

My kiddo plays a fair number of games on his PS4 but most of them bore me; shootin' things, blowin' up things, collectin' things; eh.

This looks like fun so I'm feeling like this is a good way for him and me to play together. He already rules-lawyers me 24/7.
posted by emjaybee at 1:18 PM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Phoenix Wright has also appeared in the fighting game Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. His attacks include throwing papers, sneezing and crying "Objection!".
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 1:22 PM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

I saw this on the Switch news feed and was tempted! I think this post (and the testimonies of Mefites) might push me over the edge.

I've never played any of the previous games so my impression of Phoenix Wright is mostly based on this piece of (Bizarro Phoenix Wright) fanart.
posted by invokeuse at 1:27 PM on April 11, 2019

It is my moral duty to tell you all to play The Great Ace Attorney, the spinoff series where Phoenix's ancestor teams up with Sherlock Holmes in London, and that the fan translation project recently released a completed mod for the first game on 3DS and Android.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 1:29 PM on April 11, 2019 [8 favorites]

Public Service Announcement: actual lawyering can be an even shakier job prospect than the Ace Attorney series suggests. Do not consider going to law school just because you enjoyed these games, no matter how terrible your current job(s) are.
posted by asperity at 1:37 PM on April 11, 2019 [3 favorites]

I've played these a bunch of times, and there's something so great about a game in a genre I don't really like where the stories don't make a ton of sense and there's pretty limited replay value yet I actively want to pay money to buy it again. I can't quite put my finger on why—it doesn't really make sense—, but there's just something wonderful about a game where the primary mechanic is yelling OBJECTION! and HOLD IT! at people in a courtroom when you're not unlocking horcruxes.

Also, I like showing my lawyer badge to everyone in the stupidest of circumstances and more games, perhaps all the games, should let you do that.
posted by zachlipton at 1:56 PM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

It's a really fun game, but I imagine it probably has different subtext in Japan, where apparently literally nobody is ever acquitted at trial.
posted by Naberius at 1:59 PM on April 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

J.K. Seazer: Thank you for that! I'd been waiting for but hadn't kept tabs on a fan translation of it. And that reminds me that I haven't played the translated mod of AA:MEI2 yet. Which I should do.

I am generally in a constant state of playing through the entire AA series (at least, all of them released in the US). Hell, I bought a 3DS specifically so I could continue the AA series. And if the next game is only on Switch, I'll buy one of those, too. I adore the characters, I find the dialogue expressive and lovely, and the world is both silly and dark.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 2:08 PM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

And I always keep an eye out for the inevitable ladder vs. step-ladder conversation.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 2:10 PM on April 11, 2019 [3 favorites]

There is no physical release of this on Switch in the US, but the Japanese physical release apparently supports English as well as Japanese. (This seems to be fairly common with Switch games. Bayonetta did not get a physical release in the US, instead being bundled with Bayonetta 2 as a download code, but physical copies of Bayonetta from Japan are fully playable in English.)
posted by tobascodagama at 2:31 PM on April 11, 2019

Thanks for that info, tobascodagama! Now I can’t decide if I want to import a Japanese copy or buy the digital version to show support for Ace Attorney so we get an American release of Ace Attorney Investigations 2.
posted by Automocar at 3:02 PM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

I straight-up credit the DS release of Phoenix Wright in America as the game that revived adventure games. Games before it were throwbacks; after it came out, proving there was an audience for adventure games so long as the mechanics weren't the same old moribund LucasArts rub-everything-against-everything stuff we'd seen before, we started to see increasingly bold experiments in the form, eventually leading to Telltale's The Walking Dead.
posted by Merus at 3:53 PM on April 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

I straight-up credit the DS release of Phoenix Wright in America as the game that revived adventure games.

OBJECTION: HERESY!
posted by Edgewise at 4:16 PM on April 11, 2019

I dunno if I'd describe the series as having "revived adventure games" so much as having been the only visual novel games to ever hit even semi-mainstream status outside of Japan, probably
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:57 PM on April 11, 2019

I'd never played these, and I'm laid up with a flu today, and now I'm halfway through the Steel Samurai case, and DANG this is good.
posted by aubilenon at 7:14 PM on April 11, 2019 [7 favorites]

I dunno if I'd describe the series as having "revived adventure games" so much as having been the only visual novel games to ever hit even semi-mainstream status outside of Japan, probably

They are visual novels, but the thing is that their success refuted the narrative for why audiences weren't interested in adventure games. The view was that the awkward, nonsensical puzzles in adventure games, compared to the straightforward mechanics in character action games, was why audiences lost interest. Phoenix Wright's success suggested an alternative explanation - the awkward fit between adventure game storytelling and adventure game puzzles had gradually irritated the audience. There was still a huge audience for game storytelling, so long as what you're asking players to do actually enhances the story, which Phoenix Wright was a great example of. (There's also a huge market for adventure game puzzles, which coalesced into the escape room genre, which ironically is the gameplay backbone of another semi-mainstream visual novel series, Zero Escape.)
posted by Merus at 7:38 PM on April 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

FYI the fifth case of the first game is a bit of an oddball, because it was created as a bonus case for the DS remaster, and they really wanted to make sure the fans got their money's worth. As a result, it's by far the longest case in the series, and it's full of references to the other games in the trilogy and gimmicky detective minigames originally designed to take full advantage of the DS's amazing features, like the touch screen, the microphone, and 3D graphics.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 7:48 PM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Capcom’s Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law game for the Wii is a fun little goof on the Phoenix Wright formula. Highly recommended as a toe-dip into the genre.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:38 AM on April 12, 2019 [2 favorites]

I'm amazed to see this much discussion of Phoenix Wright without a single mention of huge tsundere Miles notorious prettyboy Edgeworth, whose evolving relationship with Phoenix is a huge emotional component of the games (and of various unmentioned fanworks).
posted by one for the books at 7:29 AM on April 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

I feel compelled to call attention to the glorious spinoff/parody Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher. It is free to play and a fun homage to the source material, but somewhat educational and pretty damn hard. It was also mildly infuriating to my philosophy professor in-laws, which is a plus in my book.
posted by Diagonalize at 11:47 AM on April 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

Another good homage is Aviary Attorney, the story of 1848 Parisian bird barrister Jayjay Falcon. The main design gimmick is that the art and music are lifted directly from J. J. Grandville and Camille Saint-Saëns, and it works surprisingly well. It's a bit easy and short for the price, but the characters are charming enough that I can overlook it.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 2:44 PM on April 12, 2019 [2 favorites]

The last mainline 3ds Ace Attorney game was a great return to form. The AA/Professor Layton game was great too (cross-examining a bunch of people who believe in magic at once!) and the translated version of Ace Attorney Investigations 2 is also worth playing. Also, there is the hilarious Miike film (b-movie hilarious) and a milquetoast anime that can be found on crunchyroll and follows the plot of the game.

Incidentally, Phoenix is a playable character in Project X Zone 2, a Capcom rpg with beat 'em up inputs.

I'm not sure if the games are getting easier or if I'm getting better.
posted by ersatz at 7:24 PM on April 12, 2019 [2 favorites]