The Phoenix Wright series has been popular for some time on the Game Boy Advance in Japan (under the name Gyakuten Saiban), but it wasn't until late 2005 that the United States took an interest in the series. Capcom was apparently so unsure of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney's success that they produced very few copies, not prepared to meet the huge demand later. Given the large appeal for the first title, Capcom has now repackaged the second game in the series onto the Nintendo DS in the form of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All. For the people who enjoyed the first title, Justice for All will bring more of the deep, investigative courtroom drama to the table, but it may be a bit difficult to get past the recycled nature of the game.

Justice for All continues the storyline from the first Phoenix Wright. As the ace attorney himself, you'll go through four different cases, battling in the familiar courtroom setting as well as investigating the scene of the crime for clues and evidence. In the first case, you are introduced to the courtroom mechanics as Phoenix comes down with a case of amnesia, but after the first case, we can see the story picking up a year after the events of the fourth case from the first game. Maya makes a return, Edgeworth makes a mysterious disappearance, and new prosecutors aim to take Phoenix down in the ever popular attempt to maintain their perfect win record. For the most part, the story is very similar in nature to the first Phoenix Wright and contains some of the same, if not tired, plot twists and fake-outs.

Things also play exactly like the first title. In fact, you'll probably get a sense of déjà vu, because Justice for All recycles just about everything from the first Phoenix Wright, from the art work to the above mentioned plot twists. There are new characters and some new backgrounds while investigating crime scenes, but it is amazing how much is used from the first game (well, maybe not that amazing considering this is Capcom we're talking about). Phoenix, Maya, Detective Gumshoe, and all the other returning characters all have the same animations; backgrounds like Phoenix's office and the courtroom haven't changed at all, and some of the elements used to generate surprise in the first game, like someone objecting seconds before a verdict is called, are only predictable here.

Maybe what is more disappointing is that there are no real new additions added into Justice for All. Capcom treated the first Phoenix Wright right by adding in a fifth case complete with features that utilized the DS's capabilities. Here, things are very much like a barebones port of a GBA game, with the only features added being the ability to yell "objection" into the microphone and a few other minor tweaks. Any touch screen functions used in the last game's fifth case are gone, and the only new addition to the game play is the Psyche-Lock feature, which is nice, but it essentially applies the courtroom mechanics to the investigative portions of the game and isn't exactly something worth writing home about.

Having said all that, fans of the first game will no doubt get a kick out of the game and get past the recycled nature of it pretty quickly. Each case has its share of surprises and plot-twists, maybe some that are a little too thought out, but things are still fairly exciting. For a text-based kind of game, Justice for All does manage to generate enough suspense to make it feel like some sort of detective novel or even movie. Of course, those not very big on reading while playing games won't feel at home here, and truth-be-told, some clues and evidence are so ridiculously vague that I had to put the game down out of frustration a few times. There's no question that Justice for All will make you think, however.

And now we get to one of the same reasons why I gave the first game a lowered score: very linear game play and not much else to go back to after completion. To its credit, Justice for All is a fairly long game, with some cases lasting a good few hours. The last case alone must take at least five hours to work through, and that's not counting failures and backtracking. However, if you're really crazy about Phoenix Wright, you'll probably play through the game as quickly as possible, and after that, there's not much left to do. Also, like the first title, things work on a very linear note. You might talk to everyone available and search everywhere, but until you examine this one insignificant area, you won't be able to move onto the next part of the story. Granted, this is probably to avoid missing key evidence, but it also leads to a lot of backtracking.

When I reviewed Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, I gave it a rent because of the reasons mentioned above, but I still felt conflicted because I did manage to really enjoy it. With Justice for All, however, I have fewer reservations about giving it a lowered score because it is just too similar to the first game. I've still managed to find a good game underneath all the recyclables, but honestly, after getting an extra case in the last game, Capcom could have done so much more with the sequel than include some cheap finger-pointing stylus. Phoenix Wright fans will definitely want to pick up the game, but when it's all over, many will probably feel that Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All comes up a bit short of its predecessor.

Feb 22, 2007 | 2 comments
Chris Massey