Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

An interactive court drama featuring a hapless attorney, an ageing but kindly judge and a ceaseless parade of unreliable witnesses and cruel, vindictive protectors.

It hardly sounds like the premise to one of the Nintendo DS’ most enjoyable and successful series. But, nevertheless, Phoenix Wright and his inimitable detective games have found a way into the hearts and minds of gamers everywhere.

So it seems a strange decision that developer Capcom has chosen to leave his name out of this, the latest game in the series. But have no fear. While Apollo Justice may be the new lawyer on the block, Phoenix re-appears in each and every case in the new game from the tutorial onward.

To the uninitiated, this is, as previously mentioned, an interactive crime drama in which you play as a young lawyer picking up cases, collecting clues, interviewing witnesses and suspects, unraveling mysteries and then finally facing off in the courtroom. Usually you take on cases in which the defendant looks certain to be convicted, the onus on working out how they’ve been framed and bringing the real perpetrators to justice.

Presenting evidence to the judge backs up your claims, and shouting, ‘Objection’ into the DS microphone allows you to point out flaws in the opposition’s arguments.

You have a court record in which all of the clues, evidence and profiles of characters you encounter are held and the option to press a witness or present evidence at any point during a trial is still in place. In between court sessions you move from location to location, examining scenes to collect evidence and engaging characters in conversation. The writing in the game is, as ever, superb with witty dialogue, great situational comedy and laugh out loud one-liners.

Apollo, the newbie lawyer that you play as, and Trudy, his maniacal fifteen year-old sidekick (Maya to his Phoenix) make for an excellent pairing and the narrative is as strong and compelling and the game, having been designed specifically for the DS, is graphically sharp with good-looking 3D sequences and effects to further enliven the vibrant 2D cartoon style.

Much of the gameplay is based on collecting clues then using your head to deduce facts and discrepancies from that information. When you solve one of the game’s puzzles off your own back it's one of the most satisfying feelings in gaming. But when the solution defies you (and sometimes the answers to conundrums are, um, convoluted to say the least) the game becomes a depressing case of trial and error.

Nevertheless, Apollo Justice offers four stories that are worth every second of the time it takes to play through them. In particular the final episode shines as the best in the series so far. Budding sleuths, lawyers and fans of sublime storytelling owe it to get themselves acquainted with Apollo and bring the justice.

4 out of 5