Once again we step into the world of law and order only this time we are no longer Phoenix Wright.
In Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney you play the role of Apollo Justice (the guy in the tittle of the game so you know he is going to be playing a major role in the events) who is the apprentice of Phoenix Wright who was the lead role in the past three Ace Attorney games.
The plot/story to Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney has you taking part in case or Turnabouts. In these Turnabouts it is your job to defend your clients against the charge of murder. You work for the once famous Phoenix Wright who is now a retired attorney after unknowingly falsifying evidence. He now along with his adopted daughter Trucy Wright, run the Wright Talent Agency.
There are four Turnabouts in this game and these will lead you through the story as you make progress:
Turnabout Trump:
Phoenix is accused of murder. You as apollo work to set to clear his name with the help of Kristoph Gavin. But not all seems to be ring true...
Turnabout Corner:
In this case having joined the Wright Anything Agency you set out to solve three separate, but simultaneous incidents. They seem to be unrelated at first but with the Ace Attorney games you will soon find out that things never stay unrelated for long.
Turnabout Serenade:
In the third case Klavier Gavin, Kristoph's brother and the attorney in Turnabout Corner. Send an invite to Apollo and Trucy to a concert for his band, the Gavinners. Things do not go to plan as during the concert there is a murder and it is your job to defend the main suspect Machi Tobaye.
Turnabout Succession:
In the fourth and final case, things come to a head as Apollo defends Vera Misham, who has been accused of poisoning her father, Drew. This leads to all the ends being tied and gaining the truth to what realy happend to and the events around Phoenix Wright.
With the base line of the story coverd and out of the way it is now time for me to talk a little about the gameplay. There are to forms of gameplay in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. One is the Investigation Mode and the other is the Courtroom Mode.
In the Investigation Mode you will look for clues by selecting the actions they wish to engage in. These range from Examine, Move, Talk, or Present. Using these the player can converse with non-player characters and move around the game world by selecting the locations they wish to travel to. The information gained during Investigation Mode can be used during the Trial phase of the game and items picked up can be used as evidence.
Now when moving around and looking you will not be able to move from the Investigation Mode to the Courtroom Mode without first exploring all the options there is to find be it talking, finding evidence or looking at the evidence for clues or talking about the evidence you have found. You need to work out how it all fits and try to solve the crime or atleast have a handle of what is going on before you hit the Courtroom.
In Courtroom Mode you have to listen and then cross-examining the witness testimonies. As apollo you can either press or Present evidence to try and clear the path to the truth. Pressing will force the witness to expand on a previous testimony and may unlock new segments of the testimony. while Present is used to present information either in the form of evidence or profiles that contradicts the witness's testimony.
Also in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney you are able to use a new system known as the Perceive System. With this system you are able to look for motions or actions made by witnesses that show nervousness, similar to a tell in poker. Once you find what you are looking for apollo will say "Gotcha" and thus more infomation will come to light.
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney came out in japan on April 12, 2007, north armerica on February 19, 2008, The UK on May 9, 2008 and in australia on May 22, 2008. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is a Nintendo DS game.
So with a few final words to this review i would like to say if your a fan of the Ace Attorney games and you have not yet played this one then now might well be the time. If on the other hand you are new to the Ace Attorney games it will not hurt if you play this game before the other three. Who knows you may even get the other three as well.
And remember in times of need all you need to do is shout:
OBJECTION!!!!!