Join Rookie Attorney Phoenix Wright in his first few cases
Point and click adventures have had a bit of a downward trend of late, never being able to reach the lofty heights of those classic Lucasarts games, such as Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max. There is however hope for the genre, and the DS is a perfect place for this small revival.
Phoenix Wright is a rookie attorney, having been taken under the wing of Mia Fey, his mentor and all round babe. The mechanics of the game are relatively simple: a murder will be commited and Mia and Phoenix will take the case at the behest of the one accused of said murder, as they say they are innocent.
What follows is a hark back to the old point and click days, using the stylus to search crime scenes, ask questions of witnesses and detectives and try and work out what is going on. There are some genuinely shocking twists in the story, and the list of over the top characters grows through out the game.
The game really hits its stride, however, when you have collected enough evidence and spoken to enough people to move the action to the courtroom and begin a trial. The trial brings you up against a prosecutor, who's job it is to send the accused to jail or worse, and they do their job with extreme prejudice, often trying to win at all costs and cheating to do it.
The prosecutor will call a witness, who then gives a testimony. It is your job as Phoenix to find the contridictions within the testimony and call them out, which can be done literally. You have the ability to phyisically shout 'OBJECTION' into the DS mic, which then does the same in the game and allows you to present evidence to counter the witness's lies, however this can also be done with careful pushing of the statements the witness comes out with.
The trials can lead to the games best moments, and is most of the twists come out, and because of this they can become tense and heart pounding affairs as you spend your time trying to work out exactly what really happened.
There are four trials in total, with a fith bonus one, which brings about new mechanics that allow you to rotate a 3D piece of evidence around, dust it with fingerprint powder and blow into the mic to reveal the print, as well as other things. Its a shame that these sections are only included in the last case though, as they are a neat addition to the game.
In all Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a thought provoking game, in the true spirit of the point and click adventure, and while it obvious japanese origins and anime stylings may put some off, but they are missing out on a highly original and fun game.
