SPOILERSZ!
NUMBER 6. Dual Destinies
What..? You expected Apollo Justice at the very bottom? Nope, not in my list. After the somewhat dissapointment that was Apollo Justice i thought we would never play as Phoenix Wright ever again, when i heard this game was going to star Phoenix Wright back in it i was like YAY! But also like HUH? Didn't Phoenix just lose his attorney badge? Anyway, being able to play as Phoenix was not my main focus but because of him i had high expectations for this game but sadly it turned out to be even worse than Apollo Justice. Don't get me wrong it's not awfull as it has some good things.
3D models, 3 main characters, beautifull illustrations & anime cutscenes, no more pointless investigating areas, retry when you lose, hints. These were all good improvements however everything else was so MEHH. The first case started pretty interesting a court room bombed (not the usual murder case) a new character Athena and the emotion program which is okay, but later you find out that case 1, 4 and 5 are all directly connected to each other. So it's actually 1 full case split into 3 parts + the other 2 full cases that leaves you with exactly 3 cases in the entire game... Moving on, case 2 is probably the weirdest case i've ever played, case 3 was pretty innovative having 3 possible culprits but in the end, none of them are guilty and turns out it was "that cliche guy" again.
Case 4 made me almost give up on this game, seriously did anyone else wanted to punch Starbuck in the face with his constant yawns and tired face all the time? Not the best way to start a case, and finally case 5 is were things picked up again and is like in most AA games the best for last. The music in this game is pretty dissapointing aside from the old remixed tracks the only memorable themes are the new Cornered and Athena's theme. Speaking of Athena, she is the only NEW character in the whole game which is likeable and relatable, pretty much everybody else in this game is so goofy and are constantley trying to make you laugh by doing stupid shit and it just makes it hard to take them seriously, prosecutor Blackquil was a HUGE MEH to me, breaking his cuffs for the 10th time was a real shocker to me. Fulbright? Sucks, he fucking sucks i admit that his bigger role in case 5 was pretty good but HE FUCKING SUCKS where the hell is Gumshoe? The rest of the likeable cast are mostly old characters that are back in the game purely for your nostalgia, most of them were alright (except for Trucy she didnt do shit in this game) another problem are the anime cutscenes, yes they look cool on your 3DS but theyre so damn cheesy, the only purpose they seem to have was to try to be shocking by showing a bunch of bloody cutscenes and even those have some cheese to them. That's another thing i don't get, for a M rated game this is probably the most kid-friendly game i've ever played, like i said most of the new characters are so damn goofy and not in a Gumshoe or Larry Butzz kinda way but in that Clown from Justice for All way. The voice of Phoenix in this game makes him sound like some teenage boy, what happened to the iconic "OBJECTION!" from Phoenix? BTW i didn't even bother with the DLC episode.
Overall i think this game gets way too much credit than it deserves. I think the fans like it so much because Phoenix is back, we get some less quality time with Apollo and some old familiar characters are back as well, for me that's not enough. Like i said it's not an awfull game just an awfull Ace Attorney game it could have been so much better. Before the release of this game the creator, Shu Takumi (or some other higher up) said something like "You need to know when to end a story, Phoenix's story ended after TT". I have no objections, this game might as well have been another Apollo Justice game and it might have worked out better storywise and Phoenix could have lived on as the supporting character like in AJ or be remembered as this legendary rookie attorney who never lost a single case. Phoenix's role in this game was not bad but it didn't make the story any better and it makes the story that happened back in Apollo Justice go to waste.
NUMBER 5: Apollo Justice
Ahh, there he is! Apollo Justice the black sheep of the series that came out of nowhere. After the amazing game that was Trials and Tribulations we all wanted more and more Phoenix Wright, but the creator had actually just finished the story for Phoenix and he didn't want to stretch the story only to fuck things up like nowadays. To be honest i like Apollo Justice, it actually has a decent story and some pretty good remixed and new tracks.
The main cast of new characters were all interesting and likeable: Trucy, adult Ema Skye, Klavier, Kristoph, Lamiroir, the Gramaryes, the new Phoenix Wright and yes, Apollo Justice. The rest of the cast were pretty lame. The new touch controls and speech features were awesome! Some people hated seeing Phoenix as a grapejuice, pokerface, piano loving crack junky, but i actually didn't mind.
He was falsely accussed of forging evidence and got his badge taken away from him it's sad but he was still there helping you out and investigating his personal case like the badass attorney he is, he also fathered Trucy who lost her real parents. This game introduced me a new phase in Phoenix's life, he had to move on from his lawyer days and pass his defending skills on to young attorneys, that's really something. The real problem i had with this game is that too many of the cases here had obvious culprits, perfect example is case 3. Other than that i liked Apollo's ability to sense lies it was cool and very risky of getting a penalty the game was quite difficult at times but fun none the less!
NUMBER 4: Ace Attorney Investigations
Now this game REALLY came out of nowhere... An Ace Attorney spin off starring Miles Edgeworth and Gumshoe? Fucking awesome! This one is the real innovator, you still play the point and click style of the Ace Attorney games only this time you can actually control Edgeworth's movements and see the stage and characters around you! I love the 2D sprites in this game, makes me wonder how Ace Attorney would have played out if it started this way? The big complaint about this game is that... You don't have court battles, i admit that i was kinda dissapointed by this as well.
So the game's story takes place between TT and AJ and it really makes a lot of references to old characters of the AA trilogy, some of them are cameos and others are actually related to the cases, mostly the goofy ones which are still funny but still up to no good. You have a new logic feature in this game where you have to tie the clues together to get yourself another clue to then point out the culprit. What's seems to be a trend in AA games nowadays is that they all want to go for that Pulp Fiction non linear storytelling and this game might actually be your Pulp Fiction Ace Attorney game, just not as great. In the first case you just arrived from the air port and somebody gets killed, in the next case you are in the plane heading home and somebody gets killed, in the fourth you are reliving Edgeworth's first case as a prosecutor and somebody gets killed it goes on and on.
What i really like about this game are the different stages, the plane stage was cool, the theme park was nice and the courtroom stage was amazingly good. You really feel like a detective in this game and playing as Edgeworth, the bad ass prosecutor is very refreshing from playing as the defender all the time. Rebutal is pretty much your cross examinations from Ace Attorney games just outside of court...Yeah... Some of the new characters were interesting Kay, Lang, Sheena were nice the other new ones not so much. What really kills this game for me is that the cases take way too long to finish, like you have already proven 3 times that this guy is the culprit yet the games keeps giving you more doubts only drag on and on. Sadly this game didn't sell well enough so we never got it's sequel, i heard that there is a translated rom out there on the web but i haven't tried it yet.
NUMBER 3: Justice for All
^Everybody hates this game because of this guy^ Most people seem to remember this game solely because of the circus case. Yeah this case was weird, funny, creepy... Weird, mostly because of the characters and the stage's theme i guess. It was annoying that in this part of the game i sometimes got stuck and was pointlessly investigating every area only to then find out that i had to show this clown some item or something like that, i dont remember that well. But this case has also a very sad conclusion which i really appreciate and wish we could get more sad surprises like this one. The circus wasn't that bad it had some good parts but yeah...
However the game itself has improved the gameplay now you use a green bar which forces you to be more carefull with your claims because the closer you are to finding the culprit, the bigger penalties you'll recieve by making false claims. This game also introduced the Magatama which is some spiritual charm which let's you view the secrets in the hearts of your suspects. Using this thing demands patience, intellection and evidence cause if you use it carelessly you lose some of your green life bar which sucks. I admit that i had some tough times with the Magatama at some points i started to hate it because of how often it shows up and how difficult it gets but it's still a nice and new challenging feature of the game.
The music is not as good as the original's soundtrack but the characters are awesome in this game especially the new cast. Pearl Fey the cute but powerfull spirit medium in training, cousin of Maya Fey, who loves the Phoenix X Maya fantasy (which should have been a reality by now) The new prosecutor Franziska Von Karma, daughter of Manfred and sister of Edgworth is one sexy dominant lady who loves to whip everybodies ass. Maggey Byrde the possible love interest for Gumshoe and so on. This game also goes deeper in the interesting history and traditions of the Fey family you go over to the sacred village in some high mountain and learn that there are some family issues playing at hand which ends up with a murder, a direct relative trying to kill you? That's some crazy shit!
NUMBER 2: Phoenix Wright
"OBJECTIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!"
Sorry guys, i had no choice. This game is just...... Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is...... Where do i even start? This game is just so great. I always liked video game stories, i like games like Zelda or Final Fantasy where you do lots of reading but also explore big worlds and collect treasures and fight monsters. Ace Attorney is mostly reading, thinking and point and click.
It's a visual novel and i never thought i would like a game of this genre, hell i never imagined a game like this would even be considered a game, not a fun game at least. Ace Attorney proves that anything is possible with gaming the story, the characters, the writing, the humor, the mystery, the soundtrack everything about this game is absolute classic and not many visual novel games can capture the hearts of hardcore gamers like this game did.
This game is so fantastic that i can't come up with anything else. The only two words i can add here are...
Play it.
NUMBER 1: Trials and Tribulations
I'll let these two guys explain why this game is the perfect and absolute best Ace Attorney game...
