This week: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
Objection, Your Honour!
A warm welcome to all the new subscribers! I’m thrilled you’re interested in the games I play and my amateur attempts at humour when talking about them. I have a fuller than full plate with writing this week, but since excuses aren’t on sale lately, there is no skipping a weekly Substack post! Enjoy it and tell your friends.
“Hey, would you be interested in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy?” my friend Ash asked me a few weeks ago, “I accidentally double-bought.”
What she wrote sounded like total gibberish to me. (Yes, I am a tired young mother.) I thought she was talking about a book, but since I wasn’t sure, I replied honestly that I had no idea but it sounded fabulous.
“It’s like a Japanese sort of detective/attorney game? It's hilariously overwrought and I love it.“
Could she be offering a board game? Yay! No space for it in my small house overrun by baby toys but I love a board game!
“Haha I’ll send you the key!“
Oh, it’s a video game. This makes so much more sense. Jeez.
Basically, you all have Ash to thank for this post! Hi Ash! Thank you again!
And guys, guys. I’m possibly the last person on gaming Earth to play Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I had no idea it was a classic. I had no clue a bunch of my friends logged 50+ hours of it on Steam, for a reason.
It’s. So. Damn. Good.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney in a nutshell
You’re an attorney. You’re kinda clueless and new to this. But you’re sharp! And you want to help people. And your boss is hot and cool.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a puzzle-ish, point-and-click-ish visual novel. There are detective elements, looking for clues and connecting the dot elements, and minor puzzle-are-you-paying-attention elements.
Lots of dialogue, more cooky characters, and many, many objections to be thrown at the judge presiding over your cases.
The in-court dialogue and the battle of wits between the defense and the prosecution (also pretty hot) is the centre of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney gameplay.
Clicky click click!
The gameplay
The game starts off as not much. It is linear and does proceed as a visual novel, especially at the beginning.
The first episode serves as an introduction and a tutorial—the game opens up a tad in the following chapters, giving you more freedom to investigate and collect clues.
Investigate and click on things is what you will do. It’s not hard and surprisingly not tedious at all either. The game doesn’t try to obfuscate on purpose.
It wants you to keep the story moving and have a blast while doing it, with an occasional punch right in the feels.
From what I can tell, its focus on the narrative experience is maintained throughout. There’s room for getting things wrong at court and possibly a way to fail to defend your client, but I’m not sure!
I have completed the first 3 out of 14 episodes available in the trilogy and had plenty of opportunities to try again to be successful.
Haven’t lost a case. Yet.
A note on controls and sound
When I started playing, I couldn't figure out how to adjust the music and the sound effects volume. In case you’re wondering the same thing, “BGM“ and “SE“ in the settings refer to background music and sound effects, respectively.
Personally, I found the sound effects repetitive so I turned them off, but kept the screen shaking on for dramatic flair. If playing with a controller was an option, it would surely rumble.
Sadly, Phoenix Wright is keyboard and mouse-only, but I forgive it because it’s so worth it.
What I loved about the game
Everything?
In all seriousness, what’s not to love:
The writing. The writing is ace. Just pure entertainment. I didn’t realize how much I started caring about certain characters, and how quickly.
The gameplay loop isn’t hard but engaging, like watching a fun show that you can pause at any time. A glass of wine in one hand, the mouse in the other. The perfect Friday night entertainment.
The visuals are awesome — the character design is flawless.
Facial animations are a hoot!
I found that I need to be in a certain chill, slightly lazy, mood to boot the game up. It doesn’t ask much from the player—a good thing!—but sometimes, I just want to whack demons with a sword rather than chillax while mouse-clicking.
That said, it’s a five stars from me regardless. The game is freaking hilarious. With this writing-intensive week almost behind me, it’s going to be just what I need today.
You’re my hero, Ash!
And you're MY hero! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! And you're right - the prosecutor IS hot.