Phoenix
Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies
Now before
we kick this review off I just want to have it stated on record that I
absolutely LOVE the Ace Attorney
series, and yes that dose include both Apollo Justice Ace Attorney and Ace
Attorney Investigations, so you can probably guess the sheer joy and I felt
when I heard that Capcom where not only making Ace Attorney 5 but also localising
it for western release – though as a download title only. However one overhanging
question remains and that is, is this latest edition in the Ace Attorney
franchise enough to stand up to its original trilogy on the DS (and iOS)? Well
the answer to that indeed a yes, Ace Attorney Dual Destinies is an amazing game
that I instantly fell in love with the moment I started playing it, though in
fairness (and in the interest of me not sounding like a total fanboy) the game
is not completely flawless.
Starting
from the top we start with the true strength of the Ace Attorney series, the
story, we see a wonderfully gripping script from new writer Takeshi Yamazaki (taking
over from original creator Shu Takumi) who gives us an Ace Attorney game with a
darker twist than any of its predecessors in the series while at the same time
retaining the humour, and horribly puny names, that the series is almost famous
for (though let’s face it, the true thing the series is famous is people
screaming OBJECTION! at the top of their voices) and quite possibly the best
story seen in the franchise since Phoenix’s last game ‘Ace Attorney: Trials and
Tribulations.
The story itself sets off 1 year
after the previous game Apollo Justice:
Ace Attorney and kicks off in magnificent style with the bombing of a courtroom
and the trial of schoolgirl, Juniper Woods, who is charged with the crime. It
is with this case the player starts on an intricate story that will see the
player take control of not only Phoenix Wright (the games namesake) but also
his apprentice Apollo Justice (from the previous game) and the newest lawyer to
join the series Athena Cykes. Unfortunately however the story still suffers
from a certain predictability which will leave players waiting for the
characters on screen to catch up, a trait that has existed in all the games in
the franchise so far. And while I’m at it another gripe I have about the story
is the lack of resolution for the plot threads left over from the ending of
Apollo Justice, almost as if Capcom has completely forgotten about them…or are blatantly
baiting for Ace Attorney 6.
What’s a story without characters though?
I think it’s about high time we talk about the cast of this game and starting
things off we have Phoenix Wright, the boss and a legendary attorney who has
just gotten his badge back after being disbarred 8 years prior to the start of
Dual Destinies and thankfully is back to full strength as a character after his
brief stint as a drunken, sarcastic, arse of a hobo in Apollo Justice and is back
to being as awesome as ever and more than a bit wiser as well. Next we have
Apollo Justice who is a lawyer at the agency, apprentice to Phoenix, protagonist
of the last game prior to Dual Destinies (Apollo Justice Ace Attorney) and
though still a rookie by many standards he has shown a fair amount of growth
throughout the story of Dual Destinies - a nice change of pace after he spent
his time being pushed around by everybody and then some in his own game. After
Apollo we have Athena Cykes, newest member of the Agency and making her début
not only to the franchise but also to the world of law as a freshly barred lawyer,
it doesn’t end there however as Athena is quite possibly one of the most
interesting characters of the whole game as well as the introduction to a brand
new mechanic never seen in the Ace Attorney franchise, by using her AI ‘Widget’,
her super sensitive hearing and her vast knowledge of analytical psychology she
can gauge a person’s emotions and unlock the secrets they keep in turn breaking
a witness’s testimony - an ability that Phoenix and Apollo find invaluable
throughout their court cases. Lastly we have the new prosecutor of the series,
prosecutor Simon Blackquill, who may be just as interesting as Athena. He also easily
earns his rank of great rival and fearsome opponent. Seriously, he will
frustrate you, and the characters on screen, to no end with his near constant
ability to bring your arguments crashing to the ground with seemingly more
force than any prosecutor to date, though this in turn makes it all the more
satisfying when you get one up on the smug sounding gitt.
A different writer and new members
to the cast aren’t the only surprise change for the series however as the gameplay
and graphics have seen a complete overhauled to fit into the graphical
capability of the 3DS. It also seems that while they were doing it they made
the gameplay sleeker as well, especially for the investigations sections where
the player hunts for clues to help them in the following days trial. It is also
here that the new interface shines through as now the player can rotate the
camera to different points around a crime scene in order to dig out those all
important clues which in turn make the crime scenes feel much grander than they
have otherwise been in the past. Also while I’m at it I can’t continue until I
give a brief mention to the updated ‘examine’ mechanic in the game as Capcom
have now added a cursor that glows red when hovered over a point of interest
and I’m sure there are those of you out there that a now thinking, “oooo a
glowing cursor, big deal” but to you I say YES, yes it is a big deal because I
cannot even BEGIN to express the sheer frustration of going around every
location in a case while scouring EVERY.BLOODY.PIXEL in the search of that one
piece of evidence to move the investigation along only to find the clue in the
most inconspicuous of places or a clue so small that you have to be Superman to
see the wretched thing…though that being said however, there is one thing I
miss about the old examination system and that is the ability to use it on
every location in your investigation which would inevitably lead to some funny
dialogue from the characters or getting some more information about the in-game
world…usually both. I suppose that I should also give a passing mention to the
new ‘Notes’ system that is now implemented in the court record (aka. your
inventory) which now allows you to see what you have done and what you need to
do next during your investigation. Now I can see why this may prove useful if
you have large periods of time between playing the game or get lost during the
investigation but personally I never found much of a use for it.
Finally there is the courtroom
gameplay which, unsurprisingly, hasn’t changed at all from the courtroom gameplay
of the original Ace Attorney. You still listen to the witness testify, you
still question them under cross-examination and yes you still get to scream
OBJECTION at them when you notice an error in their testimony before shoving a
piece of evidence in there face and then getting shut down by the smart arse
prosecutor. All in all, the gameplay of Duel Destinies is as strong if not
stronger than ever – oh and on a side note, would it kill Capcom to get a proof
reader for their localisations…seriously the spelling and punctuation in Dual Destinies is almost as bad as mine is in these reviews. And for a final boost of
AWESOME to the improved gameplay we now have anime cutscenes scattered
throughout the game, much like the Professor Layton franchise, which to me is a
dream come true.
And now my friends, we finally reach
the last section of this review, and quite possibly my favourite, as we now
take a look at the music of the game and oh GOD do I love the music in this
game. For Dual Destinies we see a fully orchestrated soundtrack as well as the
return of Phoenix’s original objection theme [Phoenix Wright Objection (2001)]
which has been lovingly brought up to date. We also see a return of ‘A New
Chapter of Trials’ [Apollo Justice A New Chapter of Trials] and a special
variant caller ‘Apollo Justice – I’m Fine’ for Apollo as well as a return of
The Great Revival from Ace Attorney: Justice For All. It doesn’t stop there
though as the composer of this game didn’t just remake the classics, we see a
whole slew of new scores such as ‘Athena Cykes - Courtroom Revolutionnaire’
(Athena’s objection theme) and ‘Simon Blackquill - Twisted Samurai’
(Blackquill’s objection theme) and quite possibly one of my all-time favourite
game scores, ‘Dual Destinies - Pressing Pursuit’ which simply blows me away whenever
I hear it. 
And now, with all these things in
mind, I take a moment to think upon this game as I consider its final score. For
all its good side I have to concede that there are also a few things that need
to be addressed for future releases such as the plot threads left undone from
the last game and some of cases being a smidge too easy to figure out at times
which lowers the impact of the great reveals somewhat, and while I’m at it also
have to consider the games replay ability since a visual novel is as liner as
you can get with a game.
However I also have to consider
that on the other hand that Dual Destinies only costs £20 [$30] on the Nintendo
eShop (at LAUNCH I may add) and for that you get great story, enjoyable
gameplay, brilliant characters, fantastic music and 5 cases that add up to
about 15 – 20 hours of gameplay AND there is still a DLC case to come and you
get a costume pack free with the game. And considering that most 3DS games cost
at least £30(+), with many not being half as fun as I found Dual Destinies to be
it seems like one hell of a deal and because of this, because you get so much
from the game for a fraction of what a normal 3DS title is as well as all of
the plus points I have mentioned throughout this review I can only find one conclusion.
My final verdict on Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual
Destinies is a very strong…
8/10 - Awesome.
And with that I CAN'T WAIT to see what Capcom is going to do with the franchise of Ace Attorney but here's hoping all future instalments are just as strong as this one.
Court Is Dismissed.
