Review: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Nintendo DS game

Nintendo’s DS handheld console has become home to a number of unusual but compelling games over the past few years.

One surprise success was Capcom’s conversion of an old title, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. This odd game, half graphic novel and half courtroom drama, sold well enough for the company to transfer both its sequels to the DS, then commission this completely new chapter for the new console.

The previous three Phoenix Wright games had neatly tied up all the loose ends in a long and somewhat improbable saga involving all the main characters, so this new game sees you take charge of an entirely new fictional attorney lawyer: the improbably named Apollo Justice.

Armed only with a ludicrous haircut, a teenage assistant who happens to be a magician, a magic bracelet whose provenance is never really explained and “chords of steel” vocal training, you must take on four cases and in each defend a client as they fight against a strange judicial system and the possibility of a death penalty.

Despite being developed entirely for the more powerful DS, this latest game is remarkably similar to those originally designed for the Gameboy Advance.

A few new touches have been added, such as the ability to examine evidence in 3D and some video sequences, but for the main part gameplay is the same as ever: examine the scene of a crime to find evidence, then use this to find fault in the evidence given by prosecution witnesses.

The cases themselves are as ludicrous as ever but for the most part – the exception being the odd role of a pair of “magic panties” in one investigation – they come across as charmingly outlandish rather than ineptly plotted.

A critical eye will find the same faults as in previous games: some sections are insanely difficult, and the plot is linear, so the player is to a degree simply clicking through a story. But, like the previous titles, these facts are easy to ignore when you’re caught up in attempting to get a blind pianist, for example, acquitted.

Anyone with a DS should give the Ace Attorney games a try, and anyone who liked the earlier chapters will find plenty to enjoy here.