More legal puns than you can shake a gavel at
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Or is it Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice?
Either way, Apollo Justice is the sequel to the surprisingly popular Phoenix Wright series, or the next entry in the Ace Attorney series. After three games following Phoenix Wright, rookie defense lawyer, and his spiritual medium assistant Maya, Phoenix has been replaced with a new rookie defense lawyer, the titular Apollo Justice. The first game designed specifically for the DS, Apollo Justice introduces some new things to the familiar games, including prettier sprites and some new game mechanics, giving the player a chance to mess around with various bits of forensic investigation and perceive nervous ticks on witnesses to help break down their testimonies. Apollo Justice is a fun game, with four interesting cases, a good plot, and a great cast of characters. Unfortunately, Apollo Justice is also a game of transition, and, especially for people familiar with the Phoenix Wright games, there may be some waiting for Apollo, the character and the game, to get out from behind Phoenix's shadow - something that never really happens.
Apollo Justice is a rookie defense lawyer, of course, and apprentice of the brilliant, cultured Kristoph Gavin. Under Kristoph's watchful eye, Apollo is given his first case - defending a restaurant's pianist, and expert poker player, from murder. The defendant's name - Phoenix Wright. And thus does Apollo find himself tangled up with Phoenix and his adopted daughter, the adorable stage magician Trucy. Apollo, a loud, passionate young man who wants nothing more than to be allowed to practise the law, finds his life a lot more complicated after the outcome of his first case, and he finds himself inadvertently uncovering the mysteries that brought Phoenix and Trucy together seven years previously, the events that lead to Phoenix leaving the legal profession, and developments in the legal system hinting at a need for change and lingering corruption in the system.
The formula's all very familiar, but in many ways it's very unlike the Phoenix Wright games. Apollo is a better lawyer than Phoenix, who doesn't believe that his job should involve playing at detective - although he always ends up having to go chasing down information on his own, for a variety of reasons - and, unlike Phoenix, /his/ friends, rivals, and allies don't go around getting accused or murder at the drop of a hat. It puts Apollo a bit at a distance from his cases, but after the perpetual drama of Phoenix's legal career, it's nice to see a defense lawyer who doesn't believe the world will end if he loses a case. Apollo definitely isn't a Phoenix clone, even if he does have silly hair. And his assistant in most of the cases, the bright and silly Trucy, isn't Maya, but a surprisingly bright young woman who sometimes figures out things faster than Apollo does, and is delighted by the prospect of playing detective, dragging Apollo after her. Even the prosecutor doesn't fit the formula set by Phoenix - Phoenix was verbally abused, whipped, and had things thrown at his head - but in court, Apollo faces off against Klavier Gavin, the younger brother of his mentor, and a cheerful young man who spends his nights as the front man for a wildly popular rock bang. Klavier isn't interested in crushing Apollo beneath his heel - he's interested in justice and the truth, and more often than not cases become Apollo and Klavier working together to break down the killer on the stand.
The judge, however, remains the same, and the occasional violations of logic, human rights, and proper legal procedures continue enthusiastically and, at times, to levels Phoenix Wright could only have dreamed of.
It's a good game and an excellent job is done of bringing in new characters to act as supporting characters instead of just trotting out Phoenix' old cast. Unfortunately, a bad job is done of making the game /feel/ like Apollo's. Especially in the last case, things still feel very much like it's Phoenix's show. The big mystery winding throughout the cases does, eventually, turn out to have a connection to Apollo, but I have to wonder if it really counts if Apollo doesn't /know/ about it. A great chunk of the big plot the player puts together is known by Phoenix and other characters, while Apollo remains oblivious. I almost want to say maybe they should have just made a new series entirely unconnected to the old games, except in terms of gameplay, but I can't quite do it - the new, scruffier and smarter Phoenix is a delightful character I wouldn't want to see replaced. I just wish he hadn't dominated the last case so much, especially when the climax Apollo /did/ get was dreadfully anti-climatic, disappointing when compared to previous final cases and with an undeniably rushed feeling.
People who played the previous games and enjoyed them should still enjoy Apollo Justice - it's basically the same system, the same sort of smaller cases linking together to tell a larger story - with a few caveats. The first is that the differences between Apollo and Phoenix /do/ give Apollo Justice a bit of a different feel. It's not huge, but it's there, and if you don't like Apollo as a character (I loved him - I thought he was adorable) you may find yourself more reluctant to deal with the more frustrating aspects of the game. The second is that, in all three Phoenix Wright games, one of the most interesting things was the history and relationship between Phoenix and his rival/friend Miles Edgeworth. Whether you read it as sexual or platonic doesn't change the fact that the relationship between the two characters, and Miles' evolution over the three games, were one of the most delightful parts of the game. Apollo doesn't have that with Klavier, being interested in the law for the sake of the law, and not as part of a plan to stalk a childhood friend and be reunited with them. This is probably a side-effect of Apollo not really coming into his own in the game - maybe he'll have his own version of the Phoenix/Miles rivalry/friendship in the next game, if he gets one, when Phoenix isn't constantly peering over his shoulder. But it's something players should know going into it, lest they be disappointed by Apollo's ... not being a crazy, potentially gay, stalker.
Despite the occasional disappointment, Apollo Justice shows the potential to be a worthy successor to Phoenix Wright. Fun and sometimes frustrating, if you thought the previous games were worth buying, this one probably is too, and if you think the game length doesn't merit dropping forty bucks, then it's at least worth a rental. Hobo Phoenix Wright is definitely worth the cost of renting the game for a couple of days.
Or is it Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice?
Either way, Apollo Justice is the sequel to the surprisingly popular Phoenix Wright series, or the next entry in the Ace Attorney series. After three games following Phoenix Wright, rookie defense lawyer, and his spiritual medium assistant Maya, Phoenix has been replaced with a new rookie defense lawyer, the titular Apollo Justice. The first game designed specifically for the DS, Apollo Justice introduces some new things to the familiar games, including prettier sprites and some new game mechanics, giving the player a chance to mess around with various bits of forensic investigation and perceive nervous ticks on witnesses to help break down their testimonies. Apollo Justice is a fun game, with four interesting cases, a good plot, and a great cast of characters. Unfortunately, Apollo Justice is also a game of transition, and, especially for people familiar with the Phoenix Wright games, there may be some waiting for Apollo, the character and the game, to get out from behind Phoenix's shadow - something that never really happens.
Apollo Justice is a rookie defense lawyer, of course, and apprentice of the brilliant, cultured Kristoph Gavin. Under Kristoph's watchful eye, Apollo is given his first case - defending a restaurant's pianist, and expert poker player, from murder. The defendant's name - Phoenix Wright. And thus does Apollo find himself tangled up with Phoenix and his adopted daughter, the adorable stage magician Trucy. Apollo, a loud, passionate young man who wants nothing more than to be allowed to practise the law, finds his life a lot more complicated after the outcome of his first case, and he finds himself inadvertently uncovering the mysteries that brought Phoenix and Trucy together seven years previously, the events that lead to Phoenix leaving the legal profession, and developments in the legal system hinting at a need for change and lingering corruption in the system.
The formula's all very familiar, but in many ways it's very unlike the Phoenix Wright games. Apollo is a better lawyer than Phoenix, who doesn't believe that his job should involve playing at detective - although he always ends up having to go chasing down information on his own, for a variety of reasons - and, unlike Phoenix, /his/ friends, rivals, and allies don't go around getting accused or murder at the drop of a hat. It puts Apollo a bit at a distance from his cases, but after the perpetual drama of Phoenix's legal career, it's nice to see a defense lawyer who doesn't believe the world will end if he loses a case. Apollo definitely isn't a Phoenix clone, even if he does have silly hair. And his assistant in most of the cases, the bright and silly Trucy, isn't Maya, but a surprisingly bright young woman who sometimes figures out things faster than Apollo does, and is delighted by the prospect of playing detective, dragging Apollo after her. Even the prosecutor doesn't fit the formula set by Phoenix - Phoenix was verbally abused, whipped, and had things thrown at his head - but in court, Apollo faces off against Klavier Gavin, the younger brother of his mentor, and a cheerful young man who spends his nights as the front man for a wildly popular rock bang. Klavier isn't interested in crushing Apollo beneath his heel - he's interested in justice and the truth, and more often than not cases become Apollo and Klavier working together to break down the killer on the stand.
The judge, however, remains the same, and the occasional violations of logic, human rights, and proper legal procedures continue enthusiastically and, at times, to levels Phoenix Wright could only have dreamed of.
It's a good game and an excellent job is done of bringing in new characters to act as supporting characters instead of just trotting out Phoenix' old cast. Unfortunately, a bad job is done of making the game /feel/ like Apollo's. Especially in the last case, things still feel very much like it's Phoenix's show. The big mystery winding throughout the cases does, eventually, turn out to have a connection to Apollo, but I have to wonder if it really counts if Apollo doesn't /know/ about it. A great chunk of the big plot the player puts together is known by Phoenix and other characters, while Apollo remains oblivious. I almost want to say maybe they should have just made a new series entirely unconnected to the old games, except in terms of gameplay, but I can't quite do it - the new, scruffier and smarter Phoenix is a delightful character I wouldn't want to see replaced. I just wish he hadn't dominated the last case so much, especially when the climax Apollo /did/ get was dreadfully anti-climatic, disappointing when compared to previous final cases and with an undeniably rushed feeling.
People who played the previous games and enjoyed them should still enjoy Apollo Justice - it's basically the same system, the same sort of smaller cases linking together to tell a larger story - with a few caveats. The first is that the differences between Apollo and Phoenix /do/ give Apollo Justice a bit of a different feel. It's not huge, but it's there, and if you don't like Apollo as a character (I loved him - I thought he was adorable) you may find yourself more reluctant to deal with the more frustrating aspects of the game. The second is that, in all three Phoenix Wright games, one of the most interesting things was the history and relationship between Phoenix and his rival/friend Miles Edgeworth. Whether you read it as sexual or platonic doesn't change the fact that the relationship between the two characters, and Miles' evolution over the three games, were one of the most delightful parts of the game. Apollo doesn't have that with Klavier, being interested in the law for the sake of the law, and not as part of a plan to stalk a childhood friend and be reunited with them. This is probably a side-effect of Apollo not really coming into his own in the game - maybe he'll have his own version of the Phoenix/Miles rivalry/friendship in the next game, if he gets one, when Phoenix isn't constantly peering over his shoulder. But it's something players should know going into it, lest they be disappointed by Apollo's ... not being a crazy, potentially gay, stalker.
Despite the occasional disappointment, Apollo Justice shows the potential to be a worthy successor to Phoenix Wright. Fun and sometimes frustrating, if you thought the previous games were worth buying, this one probably is too, and if you think the game length doesn't merit dropping forty bucks, then it's at least worth a rental. Hobo Phoenix Wright is definitely worth the cost of renting the game for a couple of days.