Game Commentary: Ace Attorney

OBJECTION!

Be prepared to hear that a lot.

I have had the Phoenix Wright remastered trilogy collection on my Switch for a while now but I've only recently found some time to finish the first game in the series that was aptly named Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (but I also did do a bit of the second game). So how does this game fair in this day and age? It's most definitely dated but is it still fun?

When you bring up a list of must-play visual novels, chances are you're going to run into a strong recommendation to play the Ace Attorney games. If you're like me, you'd think that the latest iteration might be the best choice here but it doesn't quite work with this series. In fact, visual novels in general can usually pass the test of time since their core gameplay mechanic is simply entertaining or evocative storytelling.

The Ace Attorney games are a little different though. It's a visual novel for all intents and purposes but the games' main gameplay mechanic succeeds what I'd call a visual novel. However, if that's the case, then surely it'd be part of a different genre?

OBJECTION!

The evidence is clear, your Honor. The game still fits within the boundaries of a visual novel. And the gameplay mechanic? Still entertaining in this day and age.

I initially gave the game demo a try on the Nintendo store (not sure whether it was the Switch or 3DS) but I found the first case presented (the tutorial case essentially) to be rather simple but still fun enough to warrant that extra 30 minutes of free time before bed. It was a long time after that before I actually bought the remastered trilogy and even more time after that until I actually started playing it at my own leisurely pace.

The game is great! I really enjoyed it. The pixel art from the original release have been replaced with crisp, HD artwork for every character and scenario in the game. They kept the old animation rendering work from the original but I believe that benefits from giving off that sought after retro vibe. The music remained in MIDI and while most people still argue against that, I just think that the tracks are super catchy. Some are as bygone as the days they come from but others (especially during the cross-examinations) are rather brilliant in composition!

The gameplay, as mentioned before, is relatively unique for the genre for its time. Nowadays, most VNs tend to have a gimmick or an actual gameplay mechanic surrounding its story heavy nature. Heck, I previously played World End Syndrome and that game was basically an open world game.

In Ace Attorney, you play the role of Phoenix Wright, a defence attorney that somehow functions as a detective and prosecutor as well. It's a whole mess and honestly, I wouldn't try getting into law school if you think you can 'OBJECTION' your way through it all.

The old pixel graphics

But it's certainly fun. Uncovering evidence to present at crucial times, scrutinising the witness' testimony, OBJECTION-ing whenever you can and succeeding no matter what. The game is obviously linear but it does a great job of making you feel like a badass lawyer, even if Phoenix doesn't quite relate. You navigate through the world and talk to various people to gather up clues to build your case for the next day. Often times, you'd have to present items to people to coax them into speaking up and you'll also sometimes find yourself examining key areas in the environment to gather up more clues and hints for the murder. I particularly like the map clues as you'd have to often discern both perspective and location when considering how the murder took place.

The remastered version also comes with an epilogue case after the supposed ending and I'm warning you now, playing that case it essentially the length of playing through the entire game again. I finished the game at around 15 hours and I'm fairly sure 6 hours went towards that epilogue. The game is by no means long but it certainly isn't short either. You can structure it in bursts of about 30 min a day and that's enough to get through a meaty chunk of the narrative. Assuming of course you do well in the courtroom sessions.

OBJECTION!

How about the localisation? Do you have any evidence to corroborate the relevancy of your retro game? As I know, games used to have some major issues with the localisation because it seems the West doesn't believe that other countries outside of America exist.

And you'd be right to guess that. Names were changed, the country was switched from Japan to America and even some of the laws were mixed around (good job to the localisation team for that I guess). Jokes were re-written but thankfully, voice acting didn't quite exist then. The only words that Phoenix would actually yell out were (and still are) OBJECTION and HOLD IT. You'll come to love how they say it. Especially Von Karma's (male) demonic voice. Von Karma (female) is too cute for my liking. I can't go supporting the prosecutor now can I!?

I'd also highly recommend you take the characters with a grain of salt. They're all incredibly...'anime'. Big reactions, stupid antics, ridiculous archetypes and you might as well replace the word 'murder' with 'bully' because the stakes are downplayed to the point of ridicule. This isn't a fault for me since I know that that's the point of the game. It isn't supposed to be taken too seriously. But still, be aware.

All in all, I would agree that if you're looking for a visual novel to sink your teeth into, the Ace Attorney remastered trilogy is the way to go and it's even cheaper on Steam if you're fine with reading from your desktop. I'd much prefer snuggling in bed with the Switch.