Only a developer like Capcom – whose published game history includes a bizarre combination of Mega-men, Street fighters, and zombie hunters – would think that putting players into the role of a defense attorney for a court-simulation game would be a good idea. Aside from the role of a politician, one would be hard-pressed to find a more ridiculed, unexciting profession on which to base a largely text-driven game. Only a developer like Capcom would be crazy enough to step away from the gun-happy, attention-deficit shooters and fighters that it’s famous for creating, to make a trilogy revolving around investigations, interrogations and incriminations. And indeed only Capcom, with their extremely talented writers and localization teams, could pull it off with such style.Such style in fact, that you won’t even have a hard time convincing your friends that a game which has you shouting “Objection!” at your DS is probably one of the most entertaining experiences you’ve had in awhile. After all, how could that sheepish smile on your face be a lie? In Ace Attorney: Justice for All, you’ll spend hours searching for clues, interviewing witnesses, and cross-examining suspects for the sake of absolving your client, the defendant, of guilt for committing a crime he or she did not commit. And you can’t lose, because you’re Phoenix Wright, the brazen, passionate, yet still inexperienced defense lawyer who made a name for himself by winning trials against impossible odds in the prequel: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
Some new, but mostly old friends.
On that note, Justice for All is very much a direct, if not barebones, sequel; it directly follows the story of the original, shares almost all of the same characters, and has nearly identical gameplay. Although there are some painful plot devices present to ease players into the game (seriously writers, enough with the amnesiacs), the story places heavy emphasis on the assumption that you know who the majority of the characters are, and have some type of preexisting attachment to them. For example, the situation of Phoenix’s greatest rival, Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, and his importance to the story is almost completely lost to anyone unfamiliar with the relationship between the two, which is hardly mentioned at all throughout the course of the game.Thankfully, Janet Tsu and the talented localization team at Capcom Japan continue to deliver the captivating story of the Ace Attorney games to western audiences with an awe-inspiring amount of detail, drama, and humor – the likes of which are practically unparalleled in eastern-developed titles, let alone portable games (save for a select few Square-Enix RPGs, or Working Designs’ release of the Lunar RPGs for the Sega CD and PS One). Character interactions often provide a sense of humor that can be described as nothing less than charming – so much so that you’ll often find yourself laughing out loud, or at the very least beaming with an unexpected smile at the funny scene that just unfolded.While the game’s writing goes a long way to keep your attention, it does little to cover up the fact that Justice for All, much like its prequel Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, and sequel Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, is a direct port of a GBA game, which sadly was only released to Japanese audiences. As such, expect to see GBA–era graphics, (which by no means look horrible, but certainly do not push the system’s capabilities) and more noticeably, GBA–era music and midis, many of which are directly stripped from the original game. And although the game possesses the basic stylus controls and microphone functionality present in the original, Justice for All lacks any type of bonus case or additional DS functionality (such as blowing into the mic in order to dust for finger prints), which was the entire draw for Japanese gamers to pick up the re-release of the original.Unfortunately, the main addition to the game comes by way of the new “Psyche Locke” system, which challenges players to unravel a witness’ secrets outside of court by presenting several pieces of evidence. This is visually represented by an interwoven grid of chain locks, which are broken at each successive correct piece of evidence that the player ultimately shows the person in question. Although on the surface the Psyche Locke system might seem like an interesting inclusion, it does little more than create an artificial ramp-up in difficulty by allowing the player to fail the game outside of court by presenting wrong pieces of evidence. Although you do recover “health” for completely “unlocking” a character’s secret, you’ll soon come to find the advent of criss-crossing chain locks to be more of a burden than anything else, especially when you’re anxious to move along with that story. It’s a great example of a tacked-on gimmick, placed in a game solely to act as a bullet-point on the back of the box. (Take a look if you don’t believe me.)
The aptly named Psyche Locke.
(see, they know who I am!)
In the end, Ace Attorney: Justice for All is a very entertaining, although not completely original experience. Even though those who have played the original Phoenix Wright game will take the most away from Justice for All, the excellent story and localization will help all fans, new and old, stick to and uncover the second chapter in the trilogy of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games. And although I would suggest playing the original first, I would never object to someone playing Justice for All; jury duty’s just never been this much fun.
Overall: 4 Stars