Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations is completely different fare to what you expect from CapCom, a company usually associated with arcade action games like Street Fighter and the horror series Resident Evil. The game is a visual novel legal thriller with elements of the supernatural. The story atmosphere is a perfect mix of dark mystery and lighthearted comedy. This series is created as a counter culture to edutainment games according to the creator Shu Takumi because of how boring they are by design.
You play as Phoenix Wright, a defense attorney, his mentor Mia Fey, and as Miles Edgeworth, a childhood friend and courtroom rival. This allows you to delve into the characters personal pasts and backgrounds. The character development is pretty good. You see how cases affect the characters and make them re-evaulate their values and also how they became the persons they are today.
The gameplay tutorial helps you understand the story and mechanics if you are new, and also a recap of who the characters are if you are not familiar with them. As a lawyer your job is defend your clients and you need to presume their innocence. Regardless of whether your client is guilty or not, you are still going to have to defend them to the best of your abilities.
The characters in the series are over the top and multi layered. The prosecutor Godot is a coffee addict and very slick with his methods. He is always one step ahead of everyone during trials and presents himself as the best prosecutor in the country. He is incredibly intelligent and he can use his skills to back up his cocky nature in court. He always has all kinds of hard questions to make the defendant squirm and he has no patience with fools. He has a vendetta against Phoenix and you learn more about the rivalry as the game progresses.
The villains in the game all have multiple goals and their complex plans are never fully clear only until the end of the case. Some of criminal can be quite sympathetic with seemingly valid reasons as to why they chose a path of crime.
Miles and Phoenix were childhood friends but their different career paths is what made them rivals in court. Miles used to be really arrogant and stuck considering that he was mentored by Manfred Von Karma, the main antagonist from the first game. Unlike the other prosecutors, Miles is by the book and has a good sense of right and wrong and seeking justice is his only agenda. The most notable thing about him is his unwavering belief that the truth will always come to light through natural means instead of using any underhanded tactics. He uses evidence to convict criminals. He uses the law for protection of innocent people and believes that the law should use a suitable punishment depending on the crime.
Miles is now humbled by his court losses and is now unconcerned about the win records because its meaningless and awards does nothing but boost the ego. Miles and Phoenix are both on the same side of justice and they both share the same goals and beliefs but just that one is a prosecutor and the other is a defense lawyer.
Phoenix Wright is one of the best defense lawyers in the business and his investigation techniques are second to none. He is always willing to go out on a limb to defend clients. He is very notable for his determination into proving clients innocence and also his sense of right and wrong. He never lets the insults or dirty methods of the prosecutors get to him and instead uses hard facts, evidence and logical explanations defeat the prosecutors and win the case.
Playing as Phoenix Wright, you are assisted by your paralegal Maya Fey during trials. She gives you clues on where to go and what to do next and also how you should proceed whenever you are stuck. Maya Fey is incredibly helpful for the most part and her spiritual powers and the magatama allows you to explore the psyche of the people you are interacting with and also even communicate with the dead. Her biggest downfall is her clueless nature and just about almost anything she touches can be easily destroyed. However, she is highly moral and she wants nothing but the best for justice to prevail and to be like an older sister to her cousin Pearl.
The character designs and art style are really great. Expressions were believable and nicely animated and the graphics and background design was really detailed and even in today, are still fantastic. The series is notable for its’ over the top characters and scenarios. Everyone has their own personality and quirks.
There are 5 chapters in the game played out as tv episodes. This is when the games started have more cases as at that time, technical hardware specs limited the contents of the game. You can replay cases anytime after completing the game. Each case is part of an overarching story where everything is connected at the end. The gradual pacing of the series means it takes time to build up the many different plot twists and arrive to their logical conclusions.
The game is fairly long. The musical and audio is very high quality and one of the best for the DS. This game has one of the best localizations I have seen in a video game. It still contains its Japanese elements. The dialogue is really good and the script is well written and feels authentic. Countless quotes from this series is referenced in many games especially the widely beloved dialogue lin