Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies Review

Title: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies

Format: Digital Download via Nintendo eShop, cartridge for Nintendo 3DS

Release Date: October 24, 2013

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Capcom

Original MSRP: $39.99 US

MSRB Rating: M

*Author’s note: Due to the heavy amount of story that takes place in this game, I will only discuss events that take place between cases 1 and 2, to refrain from any huge spoilers.

All the Fun of Being a Lawyer, Without the Lawsuits!

                I want to open this review by saying that I am a big fan of the Phoenix Wright series. I picked up Ace Attorney about a year ago, and have been running through them off and on for about a year. I finally got around to the newest game in the series, and I felt right at home.

Game play: If you’ve never played a Phoenix Wright game before, this one may come as a bit of a shock. Here’s a quick synopsis to give you an idea: you play as Phoenix Wright, a defense attorney for the Wright and Co. law offices. Your job it to prove, through investigation and questioning of suspects and persons of interest, that your client is innocent. Each case typically consists of two parts: investigation (in which you gather information and clues as to who the real perpetrator is), and the trial (in which you use your evidence gathered to prove your client innocent). These games are HEAVILY story driven and require the player to pay attention to the actions that take place, with Dual Destinies taking no exception to this rule. With this being the fifth game in the main Ace Attorney series, it’s almost expected.

The Phoenix Wright series takes its influences from the old “point-and-click” genera, where you have to find specific pieces of information that are relevant to the case at hand. The games are quite challenging, forcing you to think outside the box multiple times in a section. You will have some help, though. In the newest game, you team up with Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes to help you out. Apollo is a rising attorney in your firm, and Athena is your partner for most of the trials. Athena specializes in analytical psychology, and her power to pull out the full story of a witness’ testimony. Confused? Don’t worry: the game lays everything out in an easy to understand way, teaching you as the story progresses.

Apart from a new partner and a new ability to use, not much else is new in the way of game play. You are still going around and figuring out the mysteries as to why your client was found guilty. It is a very rudimentary method, but it works. Although there’s not much new in the vein of game play, the narratives are spectacular. After the first five minutes I was locked in, spending several nights staying up late to finish off a trial so I could see what happens next. If you really need to sleep, there is an option to save your game at any time.

Visuals: With this being the first game on the 3DS, the visuals have gotten an immediate face-lift. Although the 3DS’s screen isn’t something to brag about, the guys at Capcom do their best to make the characters look as good as possible. Visual animations of every character are unique, the scenery has improved, all new locations (and improvements on older ones) look sharp, and there’s now animated cut-scenes at the beginning and end of most every case. Considering the power limitations of the 3DS, the game looks great. The 3D isn’t half-bad either. I could stand having it on for most of the game, but there were still moments where I needed to take a break because it was too much of a strain on my eyes.

Apart from the visual upgrades, the character models have improved significantly. No longer are they pixel-animated characters like in the past games. These new models have a much more fluid movement. You can tell the animators took a lot of time on the new models, as there is an actual transition from face-to-face, wherein the past everything was its own separate animation, similar to a bad .gif file or a glitching program.

Audio: The Phoenix Wright games have always had a good soundtrack, and Dual Destinies is, once again, no exception. The courtroom music is catchy and inspires vigor when your assumptions and accusations are correct. You end up looking forward to certain situations just to listen to the conviction music, as well as the song that plays when you may be in trouble. The music is composed by Noriyuki Iwadare, who has worked on the previous Phoenix Wright games, as well as the newest Kid Icarus game for the 3DS. If I were to put the soundtrack into a specific musical genre, it would have to be classical techno pop. It’s so damn catchy.

Online/Multiplayer: There is no online multiplayer for Dual Destinies, but you can StreetPass with other players. There is also DLC content available for download. It is an additional case that retails for $6.99 on the Nintendo eShop.

Conclusion: Go buy this game. Seriously, if you have a 3DS and like problem solving games, quirky Japanese acting, or story-based games, pick this one up. If you’re unsure about the price point, you can find the other four Phoenix Wright games pretty cheap for the Nintendo DS. The only real gripes I have about this game would be the inside jokes that are mildly common, some of the pixel hunting that takes place isn’t quite perfect yet, and the inability to speed up the text when I want. Apart from that, this game is perfect. Go buy this game.

Final Score: 9.25/10

Next week: Strider for PS3/PS4/Xbox360/Xbox1

Don’t agree with the review? Have a game you want me to look at? Want to throw a bottle of ketchup at me? Let me know on Twitter @AdHocMan. I’m also on Google+, but I still don’t know how to Google+ yet.

Review written by Zachary Hockin