Review: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (NDS)

Right from the start, an air of familiarity is thrust upon you. Familiar courtroom environments are made better by the improved graphics (what with this being the first Ace Attorney title made specifically for the DS) and the investigations and court drama are all identical to previous instalments. For those new to the series, the game is split into two different types of gameplay elements. The first is the investigation segments; with these, you're snooping around the crime scenes trying to dig up evidence by examining the background and talking to the cast of colourful characters you encounter. Also, the touch-screen is more prominently featured, allowing you to dust for fingerprints and other scientific things. Then there are the courtroom sections, where you have to prove your client's innocence by pointing out contradictions in the witnesses testimony.

One of the problems people had, particularly with the first and second games in the series, was that sometimes the answers to contradictions didn't exactly make much sense. The third game managed to erase most of these moments and thankfully Apollo Justice is the same. You'll get stuck quite often but, when the you realise the answer, you don't blame the game for being stupid, rather yourself for being a bit short-sighted.

New characters that have been introduced also hold up well when compared to old favourites. The new prosecutor, Klavier Gavin, is an amazing character who often interrupts courtroom proceedings with air guitar antics. Your new sidekick, Trucy, is far less annoying than the previous games' Maya and Pearl. They all come complete with witty (and even funny) dialogue, not to mention an assortment of poses, including the classic 'Objection' finger-pointing.

It's fair to say the scripts are the best thing about the series. It's very rare that a text-heavy game comes from Japan and is actually translated well into English. After all, a slight mix-up with the dialogue and it'd be very easy to lose the plot because some of these cases really do throw plenty of twists and turns at you. There are four cases in total, but any Ace Attorney fan knows that is plenty long enough. It's not uncommon for some cases to last around two hours, and the final case in particular is an epic, introducing a clever plot twist that nobody will see coming.

A new gameplay element, introduced to keep the series fresh, is the ability to see people's body language. During certain cross examinations in court, you can turn to your magic bracelet (seriously) to take a closer a look at the witness as they are saying their lines. With closer examination, you'll notice a certain habit each person has during a specific part of the sentence. It's then you'll notice that something is wrong and you can press them to confess what they're hiding from you. It works better than the last games' 'Psyche-Locks', which became quite annoying when you never had the right evidence at hand.

Rated against its predecessors, Apollo Justice is not quite as good as Phoenix Wright 3: Trials and Tribulations, but certainly stands above Phoenix Wright 1 and 2. Capcom took a risk introducing a new character; usually a new protagonist turns out to be a moaning emo teenager with a bad haircut, but not here. Apollo Justice is a likeable guy (because he is just a carbon copy of Phoenix Wright, to be honest) and even four games into the series, this still remains fresh, thanks to the clever writing and plots. The countdown has already begun for Ace Attorney 5.

Rating: 8 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver