Review #019: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 5 – Dual Destenies (3DS eShop) review ~ How Do You Feel?
So, it has come to this. This case is the hardest to crack. I want to prosecute this game and get a “Must Play” verdict. Yet, I’m up against some serious competition. So, let’s see. What is in my court record? A lot— What? Oh, that’s great! You have the perfect man for this job? What’s his name? Reviewer NekoJonez? Okay. We will give this a shot!
16 november 2013 – 9PM
NekoJonez’s Gaming Room
Ahn, mister Introduction. What? You want me to review this new game on the eShop I just finished? Okay, I was planning too… What?! This review’ll aid for your verdict? -Gulp- Okay. I hope that the comments will tell me how they liked this article and or the game…
Opening statement
So it has come to my attention that this game’ll receive DLC around the time the new Zelda game is going to be released. Yet, I have to study as well. So it’ll be a busy period for me as a reviewer. Yet after several years of absence, how ironic that Phoenix Wright was also absent from the story in the last games, Phoenix Wright is back. In this new game he shines. Like I made clear in my first impression article of this game.
Now that I finished it, I’m going to review it. After looking to a disappointment in the first place, which is the DLC, I think I’m going to take that back. A totally new case is going to come and I’m rather excited for it. As usual, I’m trying to read up as little as I can about it. Here is Nintendo World Report’s article about the new case.
In this game we get 5 new amazing cases. Each with their unique story like all previous Ace Attorney games. Capcom’s writing is again top notch here, and it’s surely a prime example to visual novels and adventure games. Yet, I have to point one thing out that kind of bugs me.
So, this game takes place 8 years in the future from all other games. But somehow the humans evolved to killing people using the “stab-y stab-y” method. Come on writers, I know you can be more creative! Gunshots, pushing people over the edge… are just examples of what you could have used. I just wish the DLC isn’t going to be a case where the victim is going to be stabbed. Another thing is that in most of the cases, the prosecutor is the same guy. While it does help get the personality of him very well explained, I felt like he was overused. And that the returning characters got underused. Like Pearls or Edgeworth. Such a wasted potential.
Yet, every returning character is presented in a beautiful way. The story is now supported with anime cutscenes which makes the game as beautiful as -bleep-. I extremely enjoyed reading them all. And I do admit that I often presented some of the wrong evidence since the reactions can be so extremely funny.
Whilst you get more out of the game’s plot when you played the previous games, newcomers won’t be weird-ed out by it. Since they explain a lot of things with flashbacks or “This reminds me of…”.
It’s quite clear that the character development is quite up there. Yet, some people found Athena Cykes a boring character. I tend to disagree. She is a well developed character. And the case where she is the attorney is one of my favorites in the game. Yes, in this title you don’t play the whole game as the same attorney. That makes up for the prosecutor flaw. But let’s leave it here for the story, since otherwise we are still here tomorrow. But let’s not forget several typo’s in the game. Hopefully they patch this!
New yet not better
So, the new gameplay mechanics. The mood matrix is such an interesting idea. It adds to the game a lot. It’s less difficult then the locks from Phoenix or Apollo’s bracelet. It’s something I actually imaged coming to the series while playing the previous games.
Taking the lessons learned from the Miles Edgeworth spin-off games, the whole scene is now searchable. But this time in stellar 3D graphics. You can turn and move around easily and the controls are extremely nice.
The game presents beautiful locations in each and every game. And they are all really interesting since we haven’t visited them in the previous entries in the series. Like a murder in college. It blew my mind. Ugh, I’m talking again about the story.
I have to give credit where credit is due. The user interface is above amazing for this game! Now you have a save button right in front of your face. Also you can skip the dialogue from the get-go. I do admit, this brings the possibility that you miss some dialogue. But Capcom has thought about that, they have a button where you can check on the past dialogue.
A change that has mixed opinions for me is the fact that you can “try again” right if your meter drained. But you get a full bar, and you start at the question you failed at. While this takes away the problem of spending too much time with re-playing the case, it does take away from the difficulty. Yet, I have to admit, I saved all the time before these kinds of questions. So, it’s like I said, a mixed feature.
I truly missed the feature where you can view evidence in 3D. It’s not present in this version, only once or twice. But the features which are present are lovely. Like a notepad where they keep a sort of “To Do” list. So, getting stuck isn’t a problem anymore. Also, now they inform you when you are completely done with a scene. So, missing anything isn’t a problem any longer.
But enough about the gameplay mechanics and such, next!
B-E-A-UTIFUL
If you play this game without the 3D slider set to max, SHAME on you. The new graphics are beautiful and aid a lot with the new feel of the game. While for some critics, it feels a bit too different from the old Ace Attorney games, it’s still top notch. What I am saying here is that it’s one of the best looking games in the series but not the best in terms of story.
In the cutscenes, the beautiful graphics continue. And the attention to detail is amazing. The animation of this game has blown me away. And how lovely that you can view the cut-scenes again when you 100% completed the game. So, you don’t have to play through the game to see the cutscenes again.
Speaking about the animation. It’s superb! The attention to detail is amazingly well done. And the game feels much more alive now. And the animation is so much better in 3D. You feel like you are really there.
The sound effects help an awful lot with it as well. They are tight and on the spot. And they feel new and not stolen from the best sound library around.
But the music is something you can applaud this game for. The Ace Attorney games always had amazing music and this game isn’t an exception. The tracklist has some new and old remixed tracks which make this game a blast to play.
So, the game’s length is extremely decent. Around 20 hours of play, you’ll get more then the crazy price they ask on the eShop for it. Which is at the moment of writing only 25euro’s.
So, let’s go on with the conclusion right here. Since this game deserved a longer review, and if I would write it to the length I wanted it to, I would be still writing till I go to sleep and we don’t want that right?
Conclusion
The bad
– Some spelling issues.
– Mixed “Try Again” feature.
– Underused characters.
– STAB-Y STAB-Y STAAAAAAAB.
The good
+ Extremely improved UI.
+ Great length.
+ Lovely music.
+ Great story.
+ Nice voice acting.
+ DLC is better then I expected.
+ Graphics that put the 2D ones to shame.
Final thoughts:
So, this game is perfect. Some minor flaws but we can’t rip a game apart for it right? It could have been a lot better story wise for me but it was still a better story then the last visual novels I played. (When I don’t count Corpse Party, that is.)
Let’s keep this final thoughts short. When you love Ace Attorney, play this game. Otherwise, play it. This is a must have gem on 3DS! (And let’s ignore that I totally blew the theme of this article in the second part since I wrote this over two days).
Score: 95/100
