Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

 

 Got my hands on the sequel for the DS and I gotta say, it's probably the most knitted story of the Ace Attorney series I've played (with exception for the Professor Layton Crossover). Each case ties together to form a rather interesting narrative, better yet, they even reference the extra case of the first game in the Ace attorney trilogy with two characters returning from that one. First, and most obvious is Ema Skye that is this games investigating detective that was your assistant in that previous case. The second one is the police assistant that makes a brief cameo in this game. At least we tied all games together. Things that changed up is that Phoenix Wright isn't the main character in this game, actually he's the defendant in the very first case, which hardly is a spoiler. It takes place 7 years after the trilogy and almost right after the trilogy Phoenix Wright was stripped of his Attorney badge for presenting fabricated evidence in a trail. So the suit is gone and instead we have Phoenix Wrigt the bum. And he's gotten a daughter as well. The magician girl Tracy. So who is this new defence attorney? Apollo Justice... or Polly as Tracy calls him. Dressed in red... I get it, red and blue, the constant poles of Japanese visual media.

Also, on the opposite side of the courtroom we have... sadly no Miles Edgeworth, but a rather care-free rock star prosecutor named Klavier Gavin. Strangely also educated in Germany, but he got the German accent. And as someone else said, you really can't hate him. He doesn't have the flaws of Edgeworth or Von Karma that would try to win at every chance (so much that they were rumored to use fabricated evidence) while Gavin appears to be all around nice guy that just want the truth. So right of the bat you don't have the competitive nature of the previous prosecutors (Godot clearly had a grudge against you and you could feel it how he tried to insult you at every turn), but here I don't feel it... which makes it weirder due to the story since it lends itself perfectly for such a clash, but they don't go there. So it's a bit of a disappointment compared to the trilogy. Apollo himself... feels rather alright. He has the snark that Phoenix had, but for some reason he gets more in trouble which makes him more of a clown and yet he feels more professional then Phoenix. Especially in the second case. Theirs a certain crime there that just makes for perfect delivery when you carry around the evidence and present it in court. The absurdness of the evidence coupled with the squirms of Apollo makes for a great chuckle. Sadly the defendant in that case is rather annoying.

Really, it's hard to care for some of them. Only the first and last defendant you want to protect and the first is Phoenix Wright that you know from earlier games while the last is the longest case were you build up an understanding for the defendant and feels sorry for her. The second one is rather annoying and the third one you don't hardly talk to so you can't get a real understanding of him. Also, there's not like in the old games when Maya Fey was in trouble in every game or Phoenix Wright himself or his friends got put on trail. There is something similar happening, but not really. All this makes it less personal for Apollo (even defending Phoenix Wright since it comes out of nowhere and it's only due to the player knowing who he is that it feels personal, nothing is conveyed from Apollo, just that it is his job). The game has interesting story twists, but those mostly doesn't affect Apollo directly so Apollo feels a bit disconnected from the story. May have something to do with executive meddling to push Phoenix into the story. So a bit flawed, but still some fun for one play-through, not as memorable.