Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

The writers clearly had a ton of fun westernizing a straight out Japanese concept and design. Along with the infusion of the over-the-top Anime-style humor, the localization team had a field day poking fun at some elements that probably weren't a part of the original Japanese text. The game doesn't go beyond a rigid "paper doll" animation for its story presentation, so it's particularly humorous to see the writers make fun of, say, calling a Bellhop to the stand when he's the same exact bellhop sprite used at the hotel…complete with tea set in hand. And there are quite a few laugh-out-loud passages in the script and dialogue, and it's really hard not to smile at the "fighting game" style of the trial process; you'd expect Phoenix Wright and the Prosecution to trade blows in a 2D Street Fighter game with the way the transition plays out between witnesses.

On the downside, even as well written as the game is, it's clear that the localization team had to dumb down the script in order to make the stories work. This isn't a justice system simulation, and you don't have to sit through a semester of law school to find some flaws in the logic and convenient contradictions in the story. Sometimes you just want to smack the judge around a bit for being as na¿ve as he acts when the prosecution presents his findings as fact, but then that just makes it all the more satisfying when you present the proper evidence that shows how stupid he was for believing the witness to begin with.

But Phoenix Wright boils down to one particular issue: it's extremely linear in design. The chapters follow a specific script that can't be strayed, and the puzzles aren't really all that tough because players are encouraged to simply stop a witness's statement at any time without penalty. Only by slipping incorrect evidence or objecting to rock-solid prosecution will lose favor with the judge -- essentially the game's "power bar." And it's not like this game can be played multiple times because once the story's been successfully played through, you already know the dialogue tree to get through it a second time.

The game tries to inject a bit more energy into the adventure by implementing voice recognition. Pressing a button down and speaking "Hold it!" or "Take that!" in the microphone is supposed to press for more info or present evidence, but since the voice recognition is so wonky and because it's a simple matter of touching the screen to do the same command, it's a silly little gimmick that gets lost in the presentation.