Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS)

Title: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Platform: Nintendo DS
Price: $29.99
ESRB Rating: T for Teen (13+)
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom

Age Range: 13+. ESRB rating very appropriate.

Buy?: Depends. If you've been following the Ace Attorney series from the Phoenix Wright games, you will get your money's worth. However, if this is your fist Ace Attorney game, it will be more worthwhile to start at the beginning with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

Summary: The sequel to the three-game-long series Phoenix Wright in which a new attorney named Apollo Justice takes the spotlight in four new cases. Like its predecessors this game is an interactive novel.

Family Factor: All cases are murder cases and with that comes investigating crime scenes that usually have blood. One character gets shot and shortly thereafter dies in front of you, but not in an overly dramatized way. One case involves a panty thief, who steals girls panties off the clothes lines (when the thief is discovered you find his intentions aren’t perverted or in any way sexually deviant… just misguided and bizarre). Game involves an interesting underlying theme of ethics.

Review:
An Ace Attorney game without Phoenix Wright?!

OBJECTION!

All cheesy lead-ins aside, the passing of the torch from one rookie attorney to another went surprisingly smooth (which is way more than we can say for the 2008 Olympic torch). Probably because the lovable Phoenix Wright himself was brought into Apollo Justice, and helped foster this transition from his legacy to Apollo’s shaky beginnings.

To all the wackiness and outlandishness that is traditionally attached to this series’s storyline, the game had a fairly solemn underlying theme, which is an oftentimes-elusive creature in videogames. The Phoenix Wright games focused on finding and presenting the right evidence to determine the truth—in the fictional court, evidence was everything—the only thing that can prove your case. Apollo Justice, however, toys with the idea that the law should not be as absolute, and evidence alone may not be enough to determine rightful decision of innocence or guilt. It’s an interesting point and one I hope to see more of in sequels.

And that’s about where the seriousness of the game ends.

Crazy characters and the most twisted turnabouts are definitely back in full force, even with a few heart-warming cameos and throwbacks to Phoenix’s days. Apollo Justice’s cast of characters are even quirkier and in some cases, more obnoxious than Phoenix’s former entourage. For example, there’s the pretentious grad student who can’t say anything in less than five full boxes of text and the overly-aggressive, gangster wannabe Wocky Kitaki, who has the same tendencies as the grad student but in a louder and more irritating way.

Before I launch into a full critique of the main characters and make this into an analyses rather than a review, I suppose I should move on to gameplay and the other important things that make the game tick. Continuing with the traditional model, Apollo Justice cycles through periods of investigation and then the subsequential day in court. The simple, point-and-click investigation gameplay is unchanged, except you can’t present character profiles to people anymore. Court gameplay hasn’t changed much either, except the logic puzzles that call on you to defend your case can be aggravatingly easy. In only a few instances did I not know the exact answer or piece of evidence I was supposed to present. More gimmicky tools are used to solve cases—a soundboard and an assortment of “scientific” solvents and devices—but fail to add any difficulty. The penalties for answering these puzzles wrong have been significantly reduced, as the game replenishes your penalty counter almost every time you re-enter court. Although this allows you to gloriously skate your way through the game, there simply isn’t as much joy in an easy victory.

Courtroom gameplay receives a slight amount of redemption with the new ability to “perceive.” Perceiving allows Apollo to hone in on a witness’s nervous tics and twitches, and to use these telling signs to reveal information they might be hiding. This is used mostly with witness testimonies that have no outright contradictions, circling back to the theme that evidence can’t prove everything. Perceiving is interesting and fun, and the only source of difficulty in the game.

In my humble opinion, no other Ace Attorney game has been able to match the music established in the very first game. Those songs and sounds blended seamlessly with the story. But I stand by this opinion as Apollo Justice’s soundtrack was often hit or miss. Sometimes the music gelled perfectly. More often it was so-so. And more than a few instances it was, “can someone remind me why there’s such happy, upbeat music playing while I’m investigating this murder crime scene? Anyone?”

Apollo Justice, while staying true to an original, winning formula, has some pitfalls that prevents me from recommending it to people not familiar with the series. It might be more beneficial to purchase the first Phoenix Wright game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

Related games: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Sonic RPG

Bioware for a younger audience?

Waking up at the crack of 12pm, I found something very interesting waiting for me on the Internet: according to the latest issue of Nintendo Power, there is a Sonic RPG, called Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, on the horizon for the Nintendo DS. From what videogame website and community NeoGAF summarized about Nintendo Power's article, the game takes after the same stylus-controlled adventure the Zelda: Phantom Hourglass showed us last year. Sonic RPG departs from Sonic's traditionally bright, well-defined graphics and goes for a more of a watercolor, hand-drawn effect. Bioware Corp., the same developer that brought Neverwinter Nights and the award-winning Mass Effect, will be producing the game. If Mass Effect was any indication of what Bioware can do, this will be a very interesting ride.

The gameplay combines several aspects of play from other games, but I think what surprises me the most (or maybe this isn't so surprising considering this is a handheld system) is the turn-based battle system. RPGs on pretty much every platform have moved away from traditional turn-based fighting because real-time fighting is considered to be more fun and taking advantage of the advanced gaming technologies we have now. Of course, in line with other gaming trends, there is more than one game genre intertwined with the game-play. Sonic RPG will have rhythm-based special attacks (think Elite Beat Agents or Ontamarama) and also team attacks (like in Crono Trigger), according to NeoGAF.

Eleven characters will be available for play, but so far, we've only had seven characters confirmed: Sonic, Tales, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Rouge, Shadow, and the Big Cat. Each character will have their own unique out-of-battle ability (for example, Tales can float over obstacles). You can have up to four characters at a time on your party, and choose which stats to increase when you level up. You can also buy and level up special attacks. Some instances in the game will call for you to split up the party to complete separate missions (always a fun, nerve-wracking RPG element).

And even though Sonic is transcending genres (as popular videogame characters often do), some aspects of the game are making sure he's still in touch with his roots: remixed classic Sonic tunes, the typical Act 1/Act 2 level set-up that hearkens back to the oldest of Sonic games, and Rings, which act not as an extra-life giver, but as money. By looking at the last screenshot below, you can see Sonic still has his super-speedy loop-the-loop abilities.

Not a whole lot is known about the storyline, but it does involve Sonic's archnemesis Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik), Knuckle's getting kidnapped and the 6 Chaos Emeralds going missing. What is particularly mysterious is that Eggman is not the main villain and there is a "twist on something between Sonic and Eggman that goes back to the earlier games." These hints make me think there might be some darker aspects to this Sonic storlyline, especially since the second half of levels "take part in a darker world."

If there ever was a time to get excited about a Sonic game released since the 90s, this is it (because let's face it, those 3D Sonic adventures with awkward hedgehog voiceovers just don't cut it). There are some really interesting elements of this game that are very promising, as long as they don't get tangled up and trip over each other in gameplay. A reputable franchise in the hands of a reputable developer? I have some high hopes for this game, but mostly just a hope that Sonic can return to Nintendo with a game that won't flop (*not-so-conspicuous ahem at Olympic Games*).

Here are some screenshots/scans from the Internets:



These graphics are super-enticing to me. The scenery is reminiscent of Odin Sphere's art style, but toned down to portable dimensions.

DS Holiday Games

Handheld Holiday

The Nintendo DS--easily the most kid-friendly system out there (aside from the Wii, maybe) with plenty of safe games to choose from. Here's a list of DS titles, old and new, the whole family can enjoy for the holidays.

+Nintendogs
You may have finally found an answer to, "Mommmmm/daaaaad, can we please get a puppy?" This game has all the responsibility and fun of owning a dog with none of the mess. The DS's microphone allows you to give voice commands to your puppy.

+Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The latest installment in the Zelda series that gaming publications have been raving about. Zelda games are always a good ride--I've been playing them since I was eight or nine. This continues the story established in Zelda: Wind Waker, as Link sets out to sail the ocean again guided by your touch screen and stylus.

+PokeMon Pearl/Diamond
Another safe bet, especially if your kid loves PokeMon. This is the most expansive handheld version of the game yet, and with wireless/online capabilities you can battle or trade PokeMon your neighbor or someone across the globe.

+Zoo Hospital
It's Trauma Center for the little ones. Kids get to play veterinarian for zoo animals. Where was this game when I was six years old?

+LEGO Star Wars the Complete Saga - $29.99
Good, fun Star Wars adventure. It has cooperative modes, so 2 people who have DSs and copies of LEGO Star Wars CS can play together.

+Animal Crossing: Wild World
It was released two years ago, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a great gift. ACWW is addictive, fun and has wireless/online capabilities so you can play with friends near and far. Think of it as a mini-MMO for kids (well, ACWW can appeal to anyone, but it's kid-friendly for sure).

+Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
This might be too much for younger kids, but it's way too fun of a game to not put on here. You play rookie attorney Phoenix Wright as you defend various clients through five different court cases (FYI: All cases in this game are murder cases). You sleuth around crime scenes to gather evidence and then use your gathered information to pick out lies and contradictions in witness testimonies. The game is heavily text-based (the whole story is progressed by character dialogue), so it's a fun way to trick people into reading.

+Draglade
A fighting/action game hybrid from Atlus (who I know for their hit-or-miss quirky games). Previews look interesting, but wait until the game's release on 12/4 for more info before you buy.

+Ontamarama - $29.99

+Elite Beat Agents

These are all of the suggestions for now; check back later for more!