Really,
without Professor Layton and the Last Spectre, I probably wouldn't have played
Phoenix Wright. Not because of the clear influence from the Phoenix Wright
games, nor to be better able to understand the crossover game should it get a
Western release, but because I'd started Phoenix Wright a while back, and
decided that if I was going to play any other games on the original DS, I'd
finish it first. And probably the only game to bring me back to the DS - rather
than waiting in hope of a remake - is Last Spectre. So first, I had to finish
Phoenix Wright - a fairly lengthy game.
I
have to say it's an unlikely hit. A remake of a Gameboy Advance game, until its
very final chapter (original to the DS) it really doesn't seem like it belongs
on the DS at all. Mostly sprites with limited animation (albeit very nice ones)
and some snatches of digitized speech, it most certainly shows its age. It's
also a difficult game to translate, being ostensibly rather American but full
of Japanese cultural references, from zentai shows to onigiri and very
Buddhist-looking spirit mediums - not to mention everyone being out to work on
Christmas Day without comment. There are quite a few spelling mistakes - the
judge even at one point says 'trail' instead of 'trial' - and I got the
impression this being a big hit was as much a surprise to the localization team
as anyone else.
But
it works because it is very silly and charming - and because of that nice
sprite-based art actually being able to make some very attractive anime-style
girls. Maya and Ema are two of the sweetest assistants a defense
attorney/detective could ask for.
Phoenix
Wright is a criminal lawyer who specializes in defense. Or so he aspires to be,
at least - the game begins with his first-ever trial, and he's in at the deep
end, defending his friend from a charge of murder. In fact, all his cases are
defending someone accused of murder, which allows for much hilarious melodrama.
His nemesis, Edgeworth, is keen to get his prosecutions, but Wright finds
contradictions and clues and slowly the truth is unraveled - and each time, his
client is of course innocent. All of the main characters of course have tragic
pasts or other events in their childhoods that mean they have particular
hang-ups about the law - including Phoenix himself, as well as Edgeworth - and
lots of angst comes pouring out to temper the comedy in that very manga-esque
way.
The
game is really very easy. It's at heart a visual novel with an unusual play
mechanic, and as such you are largely just led through the story with no real
possibility of failure. Towards the end it becomes annoyingly necessary to
press every single statement a witness makes, and sometimes it was very
annoying to figure something out but to have it be called irrelevant until some
intermediate point was made that allowed you to then proceed to the assertions
you wanted to make minutes before, but it all usually gets to the crux at just
the right speed to let you work things out. Simple, effective and full of great
supporting characters, I had a very enjoyable time with it.
