Ace Attorney: Duel Destinies

He's Back, the Man Behind the Badge and he's after... the truth?

So I finally finished this game which I got around I got the New 3DS. I played the intro and half the first "real case" and just stopped. Probably because it was just so absurd and the story didn't grip me, didn't help that the protagonist was Apollo together with newcomer Athena Sykes. It was just a stop until the next case which just flipped out on the crazies... although I knew who the bad guy was even before the murder was discovered.

Hey! Teacher! Leave these kids alone!

No, the big case is the third one which takes place before and after the tutorial case. It's long, but it needs that to establish characters, motivations and the drama. It tells the tale of sabotaged space program and how this games prosecutor Simon Blackquill ended up on death row. It's amazing and actually has a twist on the culprit that would have been really good... if I hadn't stumbled upon it at TVTroopes. Damn that site. So it spoiled the big shock which would have been awesome hadn't I read it since I couldn't have believed it. I also got the special episode telling the first case Phoenix Wright took after getting his badge back. Also a great episode which is very tragic in it's core story and at the same time really silly due to some of the premises. Both the last episode and this special one had a visit by Pearl Fey and it was so damn fun to see. Klaus Gavin also made an appearance and the best character of them all shows up to take the stand once again.

I broke the law and the law won!

The music, the scenery, the stories and the throwbacks to the earlier games all makes this game better than Apollo Justice. I care about the defendants, the lawyers have a personal stake in it and friends get in trouble and have to take the stand so I can save them. I can dislike Blackquill and at the same time pity him after I find out how he became so twisted and see his good sides. Apollo Justice probably suffered from having Phoenix Wright shoved into the story, but this game knew how to use all three attorney's. One final note I have to mention is that the game is a lot easier, both gameplay wise and I think as well overall, I hardly had any trouble and I didn't feel the need to... "look ahead" so to speak. The gameplay changes are that I can save and reload anywhere... which makes it possible to cheat a bit by save scumming the answers, but why bother when the game lets you restart from the final question you depleted your bar with and they even refill it. This takes away the dread from having to figure out a puzzle before you have to restart 1-2 hours of lost game progress. Quite enjoyable overall and I'm at the moment busy with Ace Investigations, the spin-off staring Miles Edgeworth himself. Oh, this is gonna be so cool.