Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All is a visual novel, original a Game Boy Advance game, it was translated and ported to the Nintendo DS. You play as the lawyer, Phoenix Wright, whose job is to defend his client and clear them of murder. The gameplay is a mixture of part visual novel, part point-and-click adventure. Phoenix will spend time investigating the crime scenes and questioning the witnesses. Traversing the various settings via a menu, you cannot progress further into the story until you have obtained all the evidence, thus you know you will always have the evidence you need during the Court sections. During the investigative segments, you have the options to talk to the characters, presenting items to trigger further conversations and examining the environments for evidence. As you talk to the characters, more about the case in question will emerge.
A new mechanic called the Psyche-Lock is introduced, which is just a fancy way of asking the player to come back until you have enough evidence in order to tease more information from the character. The court sections are definitely more exciting as this is where all the twists and turns are revealed. During these sections, Phoenix is able to question the witnesses' testimony, finding contradictions, pressing them and presenting evidence to his advantage. The "puzzles" are harder this time around, and picking the right evidence can be tough. There are often leaps of logic in order to identify contradictions and what evidence to present. Some sections, such as the Testimony, you have unlimited chances and can just keep pressing each statement to trigger the next section. Other times, you have a Health Bar which depletes if you state the wrong thing or present the wrong evidence, and can result in a game over.
Luckily you can save the game and suspend it at any time. You can play the game using either the touchscreen or buttons, although the touchscreen is a little bit more intuitive to use. The writing is the game's drawcard and its strongest point. Throughout each of the cases, heaps of red herrings and twists are revealed. There are often times where it feels like it is getting sidetracked and it stretches it a bit when trying to wrap those points back into the plot. In order to keep surprising the player, it takes a turn to the more fantastical and as a result, is harder to believe. Returning characters come in the form of the Judge and prosecutors, as well as major side characters who somehow manage to keep getting involved in murder cases. The case clients are all new characters though.
The cases are long, taking a few hours to get through each one, and even if you have a strong suspicion on who the murderer is, you don't know how or why. Justice for All blends in the perfect mix of drama and humor. There are heaps of running gags of the spineless Judge (who is easily swagged, much to many's annoyance), and the seemingly evil prosecutors whose only purpose is to get a guilty verdict on Phoenix's clients, even when it is obvious they are not guilty. Each case has plenty of highs which are perfectly matched with the adrenaline-pumping music. The thrills and satisfaction you get when Phoenix yells out an objection and expertly backs it up with logic is unparalleled. There are a total of four cases. Unlike the first game, there is no additional bonus case for the DS port, which is disappointing.
Each case takes longer than the previous. As the first case is a tutorial, it is fairly short but the last will take several hours to complete. The tutorial starts straight in the courtroom with a classic case of amnesia in order to form the excuse to guide the player through the gameplay flow and mechanics. The first case is a random murder while the second case has Maya being framed for murder. The third case is more about how the murder happened considering the situation and the fourth case is a murder that takes place in a hotel where Phoenix is encouraged to take on the client to prove them innocent. The fourth and final case is definitely one of the best with the highlight being a returning character and the fact that it ends up not turning out to be like the other cases.
The fourth case touches on an element that's interesting, testing Phoenix's integrity and the tough choices that he has to make. How the case closes was spectacular and neat, fitting perfectly with where it was going. Towards the end, it did become somewhat of a mess with the trial being dragged on for so long that you start to forget what the initial purpose was. Luckily, the time investment for the conclusion and ending of the game was worth it all. The game takes around 15 hours to finish which was approximately the same length as the first game. Overall, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice fro All is a fantastic game with an addictive story. While the majority of the game plays the same, the addition of Psyche-Locks gave it something new but most importantly, the stories of each case was addictive and captures your attention, hooking you until you've seen it through to the end.
----------------------------------------------
For other game reviews, have a look at this page.