Objection!

Game Review



Console:
Nintendo DS

Title:
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Developer:
Capcom

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be a defense attorney? Well, this game does not give you THAT exact feeling, but what it gives you is an entertaining adventuring time. Yes, even if the premise of this game is to put you in the shoes of Phoenix Wright, a 'rookie' defense lawyer, but in heart it is actually an adventure game.

The game is mainly broken up into 2 parts: trials and investigations. During the trials, you mainly hear the witness testimonials and find inconsistencies in them. You could press them during their testimonials, or present evidences whenever you find contradictory statements during the testimonials. The basic assumption, of course, is that your client is innocent. The other part, the investigations part, is where you investigate around, finding clues and evidences to help you during the course of the trials and also advancing the story line. Don't worry about not finding enough evidence: the game will not let you advance through the story if these evidences have not been found during the adventure part.

The story is quite linear. It is mostly told through texts. The animations of the characters are minimal, but they are more than enough to tell the story. Some of the most interesting and amusing animations are whenever you succeeded in cornering the witnesses and unearthing the inconsistencies in their testimonies. The main character himself is quite likable. You could almost sympathize with him whenever he has to face obnoxious witnesses.

The game utilizes the DS' touch screen and microphone quite well. During the trials, you could actually scream into the microphone whenever you want to press the witnesses, or to give objection and presenting evidences (Hold it! Objection! Take that!). You could also do that with the touch screen, if you don't feel like screaming into the mic. As for the touch screen, mostly it is used to sift through the texts, but some of the brilliant functions can be found during the final chapter of the game. It is too bad that these creative uses of the touch screen is not utilized from the early chapters of the game.

All in all, this game offers a unique adventure game experience with the premise of the story, and for those longing for a good adventure game (and happen to have a Nintendo DS) should never pass this game up.