I know I'm reviewing the series out of order now. However, for some reason, Apollo Justice: Ace attoney (AJ), the fourth installment in the Ace attorney series, got released in Europe BEFORE the third! I'm not entirely sure why, but I will give my thoughts on that in the third installment's review. For now, let's review the games in the order I played them. Or rather, was practically forced to.
The Ace attorney fanbase if kind of divided when it comes to this game. Some liked the direction it was taking the series in, others hated it. I guess I'm somewhat in the middle. Let's get down to the details.
Unlike the previous three games in the series, this one features a new protagonist. You play as Apollo Justice, a lawyer fresh out of the bar exam. Where's Phoenix? Don't worry, he's in the game too. Just probably not how you expect him to be. That's all I can say for now.
The game takes place 9 years after the first game. Why this sudden timeskip? I guess you can say the game gives its reasons, but honestly, it feels unnecessary and kind of forced. Capcom had probably recieved complaints that the installments in the Ace attorney series was too similar to each other, that there was little to no innovation. That's not always a bad thing to me. A lot of games reuse the same formula with little to no difference and they can still be fun to play. All you ever do in God of war is kill various monsters and gods in a brutal way, all you ever do in Mario kart is race around a track three times, but these games are still lots of fun to play. Why fix something that's not broken? My guess is that Capcom just wanted to give the series a new and fresh start without having to reboot the series and ingnore all that happened in the games. Then again, knowing how people in the gaming community are, this doesn't always end up with universal critical acclaim. I still remember how people reacted when Solid Snake was replaced with Raiden in Metal gear solid 2.
I do have a significant complaint in this while time skip thing, but I'll talk about that a while later. Actually, type about it, but whatever.
The only tweak to the gameplay is new buttons and different backgrounds for the lower screen. This game is not a port of any kind, it was specifically made for the DS. Now you can look at pretty much all your evidence in 3D like you did in case 5 from Ace attorney 1. The music and graphics are of significantly highter quality, although not HD. The minor complaints I had about the other Ace attorney games were pretty much about the graphics and sound quiality, so I'm very glad that this has been upgraded somewhat. I especially like the 3D function to the evidence, it's something I've greatly missed. For some reason, the recycled sound effects, like the lightbulb noise or the "objection-shing", are of lower quiality than they do in the other games. Don't know why, but I figured they should be able to recycle the sound effects they have done pretty well a few times up to this point (although Ace attorney 2 and 3 have a different light bulb effect than the other two). Play Ace attorney 1 and AJ directly after each other and you'll understand what I mean.
The soundtrack is...ok. It's the weakest of the entire series, but at least the music is of better quiality than the other games, that's a plus. It doesn't save the soundtrack from being kind of bad at times. I do like that they use some of the older songs and remaster them a bit, and they sound pretty nice. Unfortunately, it's outwheighted by songs like Guilty love. Just ugh. Capcom, what is wrong with you?
WARNING: HERE BE SPOLERS!!!
Now to my REAL problem with this game, a problem that kind of ruined the whole franchise. Not for me personally, but for Capcom (seriously, they haven't released an official sequel to this thing yet, only minquels and spinoffs).
First, Phoenix Wright. Between this game and the third, he has lost his badge and adopted a daughter. He is oftenly called Hobo Phoenix by fans (although I think he looks like an old, fallen rapper who happens to be colorblind) and by good reason. The Wright we all love is pretty much gone and replaced with some next to unlikable person who speaks like doesn't give a damn about anything and even forges evidence. In the very first case of the game, no less!
The reason he lost his attorney badge is because he used forged evidence in court. However, that time, he was set up. He didn't knowingly present illegal evidence, and I doubt he ever would. At least not the Wright from the previous game, this Wright forged evidence in the same case he appeared in, and he wasn't even an attorney in that one, he was the defendant.
My real problem with this is that the case where he loses his badge is also the first one he does after the end of Ace attorney 3. I.e. after his mentor said that she had nothing more to teach him and that Wright started to go to his trials by himself and not have his assistant with him (this is evident of Maya's complete absence in this game, including the flashbacks to the case where Wright lost his badge). This means that Wright fucked up the first thing he did after becoming "a full fledged attorney" and recieving his mentor's blessing (kind of). And he looses to some euro rock stereotype with no real personality other than the fact that he likes rock who was fresh out of lawyer school (I know that's probably not the real term). Sure, Wright defeated the most experienced of attorneys in his career, but at least they had done more than 13 cases unlike Wright! I can't understand what the wrighters of this game thought when the made this part, nor do I understand why Capcom greenlit this.
Have I mentioned just how unnecessary the whole timeskip thing is? Like I've said, I can understand Capcom for trying something different and wanting to take the series in a new direction, but the endresult is rather unimpressive. Especially since this creates about a hundred plot holes of continuity. Most of them being "What happened to [insert character here]?", I personally wonder mostly what happened of Iris, Maya, Edgeworth and Morrigan. Iris admitted that she was Phoenix's girlfriend and not Dahlia like he though, Maya was Wright's assistant and then she disappeared without a trace (the camo in Investigations doesn't count), Edgeworth was such a central character I'm suprised he just simply disappeared, and Morrigan because she was kind of a mastermind behind a few cases and is the closest this series could get to a final boss asides Dahlia.
I confess, most of these complains, if not all, can be regarded as nitpicky and just fanboy complains. I agree to some part. However, when there are so many things to be nitpicky about, in the end it becomes a pretty big problem. Many small rives run into big lakes, as we say in Sweden (though roughly translated). If this timeskip was ignored and the game was a direct contunuation, this game would have been a lot more enjoyable.
Did I mention that Apollo is really uninteresting?
SPOILERS ENDS HERE
Despite its flaws (the timeskip), the story is quite honestly told pretty well, and you do want to find out what's going on and continue the story. Keep in mind, though, some of your favorite characters will most likely not be in this game and are only referenced to at best. Some of the new characters aren't some of the series finest, either. Although I do like the main villain. The game is still full of it's quirky humor and sarcastic comments, so no complains there from my side. The last case was suprisingly good, too. Good thing they saved the best for last.
Can't say I truely recommend this game to anyone. This is not a good introduction to the series, and those who already have played the other games will most likely be disturbed at first with the changes to the overall plot. However, the game itself still playes like an Ace attorney game and sounds like an Ace attorney game and do have it's moments. If you have played the other games, you can give this game a try but feel free to ingore it as Capcom seems to be ignoring it themselves. To all other: Go find a copy of Phoenix Wright: Ace attorney, it's worh every penny as upposed to this.
Summary: Fans will be distracted at first by the new setting, but will most likely see that this is still a pretty good game in its own right.
Grade: 7/10
All images found via Google and are copyrighted by their respective owners.
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar