Friday, April 11, 2008

Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Justice For all



GENRE: Digital Novel, Mystery, Strategy, Role-Playing
PLATFORM: Nintendo DS
CREDITS: 2006 Capcom Co., Ltd.




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Description (from the Apollo Justice Official Website):
With six months experience and five victories under his belt, the name Phoenix Wright is synonymous with "success". But with newspaper headlines screaming "Ghost Commits Perfect Murder" and "Flying Phantom at the Big Top", Phoenix's new cases already seem unsolvable. And if that weren't enough, there's a ruthless new D.A. in town.


The addiction continues... >>> by skysenshi (04.16.2008)
Nothing much has changed with Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Justice for All. Like the first Ace Attorney game, Justice for All was originally released for the Game Boy Advance and it was known as 逆転裁判 2. Unlike the first installation, however, this game does not have any of the fancy investigative methods applied in the last case of the previous one.

Basically, what's left in this game is your mind-boggling visual novel. You still run around crime scenes and dissect testimonies in court. Two things have been added, though:
  1. You can now present profiles.
  2. Behold, the Magatama!

The Magatama is a spiritual artifact that allows you to see Psyche-Locks. At first, I was aghast. I mean, locks to your heart? How much sillier can one get? Only the Magatama handler can see the Psyche-Locks, which would indicate that the person you're interrogating is hiding something. Now, besides running around and picking up clues to present in court, you sometimes have to use these clues to unlock fully zipped lips. When you manage to do so, your life bar gets replenished and you'd be free to fumble your way through your case again.

I must say that the Psyche-Locks make the game a tad harder. Sometimes, the simplest piece of evidence would stare at you in the face while you look for more dramatic angles. It gets frustrating, but when you figure out how effortless the solution should've been, you could end up slapping your forehead and exclaiming, "Gah! Why didn't I think of that sooner!"

What I neglected to mention in my review of this game's predecessor is how well-developed its characters are. With Justice for All, it gets better. You not only delve deeper into the lives of the mystical Fey Family, you also get to develop a more complex relationship with your prosecutors and the utterly clueless, but lovable, detective Gumshoe. If Miles Edgeworth discovered what it means to be a prosecutor in the first game, it's Phoenix Wright's turn to discover what it means to be a defense attorney in this new adventure.

Unfortunately, there are no new cases for the DS port of Justice for All. I would've loved to use luminol fluids and aluminum dust again. I'd also appreciate an option to make the message text go faster. It's torture for us speed readers to have to wait till the text finishes typing itself out.

PLAYER STATUS:
DIFFICULTY: Moderate
COMPLETION TIME: 20 hours
HIGHEST LEVEL ACHIEVED: N.A.
RATINGS: Gameplay 9; Battle N.A.; Story 9; Visuals 10; Characters 10; Sounds 8; Replay Value 7

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