Review for All!!!

 

I am on one heck of a Phoenix Wright kick right now, lemme tell you!  About five minutes ago, I finished my play through of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Justice for All.  If you read two posts back, you can find my review of the first game in this series.  You will notice that I praised it quite highly, and I'm gonna be honest with you, expect similar praise in this post!  I won't be going over most of the game play detail though, as Ace Attorney, Justice for All, plays very similarly to the original Ace Attorney, minus the DS feature touting fifth case.  Ugh, I hated that case.  But alas, onto my Justice for All review!

 Justice for All takes place where the last game left off, and thus spoilers will be abundant in this review.  Keep that in mind if you ever plan on playing these games.  I will, however, try to be decently vague.  

As the first case begins, you are without your normal assistant, Maya, as she left to go train and hone her Spirit Medium skills at her home in Kurain Village.  This first case, which acts like a tutorial of sorts to those who have not played the first game, also introduces a new feature to the series.  You may now present peoples profiles as evidence, allowing for a crap ton of extra scenarios in the court room.  This is fun, yet difficult to keep track of if you are used to the last games system of only presenting items in the court record as evidence. 

During the second case, one more new aspect to the game is introduced.  You get an object from Maya in Kurain village, (yay, she came back!) that allows you to see peoples lies.  That may sound weird, so let me explain.  When someone lies out side of the courtroom, chains wrap around their body, and locks, called "Psyche-Locks" appear.  Each lock represents a layer of defense the person has over their lie.  each lock must be shattered by means of proving the suspects lies as what they are.  After all the locks have been removed, the person under scruttany will reveal the truth behind the chains.  It should be noted that, if you fail at breaking locks, you lose health, which is also restored upon a successful "Unlock." Oh, thats right, you now have  health bar!  gone are those 5 "!" marks in the top right of your screen.  You now have a green bar that represents 100% health.  If you screw up during a Psyche Lock challenge, or make a mistake in court, you lose a certain percentage of health.  The bigger the slip up, the bigger hit you take.  Some mistakes will completely wipe out the bar!  If the bar is depleted, its game over.  This is much nicer than the previous 5 strike system, as it is more challenging (the bar does not refil unless you finish the case or beat a Psyche Lock Challenge, where as the last game replenished your "chances" between segments of the trial) while at the same time giving you more chances to slip up.  It is an interesting and refreshing change to the series.  

Justice for All is also much more story based, despite the first game already having many plot points.  You may recall that Edgeworth "chose death over being a Prosocuter" at the end of the last game.  This fact comes back, along with an extremley intense scenario involving Maya getting kidnapped in the final case of the game.  Out of the 9 cases in the series so far ( 5 in the first, 4 in the second) this is by far the most dramatic.  Phoenix is forced to make some unbelievably morally gray choices, choices that will surely make the player question their own motives in the game.  It was very impressive how deeply the game makes you understand the weight of your choices in the final case, and I must commend the creators as there were points where I stared at the options screen for up to half an hour, debating a choice.  Whats more, the choices you make are not pre-determined, as there are good, and bad endings to this game, both are interesting and should be checked out.  The good ending, however, brought tears to my eyes, and is one of the best endings I have experienced in recent memory.

The game maintains all the humor of its predecessor, and brings back a few old characters, as well as introducing new ones.  The game, despite having one less case than the last one, is quite long, and thus gives a lot of play time, making it worth the money you would pay for the game.  

This game is a must buy for the DS, though I highly recommend picking up the first Ace Attorney, as it is pretty important to understanding a lot of the story elements in Justice for All.  Still, if I could suggest any game that a DS owner just has to play, it is this one.  Ace Attorney, Justice for All, is probably the second best game I have played on the DS, second only to the unbeatable and outstanding "Lost in Blue." Don't Object to this one, please, give Phoenix Wright a chance, and I promise you shall not regret it!  

See you soon for my Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Trials and Tribulations review!

But for now, I suppose I should give this AWESOME game its score...

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Justice for All: 8.5/10

... I hope to get that 4th piece of evidence soon ...