Being all but impossible to find a copy anywhere now, this truly is one of the hidden gems for the DS.
The Nintendo DS has been home to some quirky, innovative titles that could only call the DS home. This is the biggest flame in my passionate fire of love for my DS. It's games like this that make gaming fun...And this is about as far from a standard game as possible. You play a defense attorney, the titular Phoenix Wright, and have to piece together evidence to solve crimes. Sounds simple enough, but there are some spots that get quite tricky. Those other children from my era might remember the novels that had different paths you could skip to depending on which page you read next...That's kinda how parts of this game pan out. Your choices really do affect the outcome of the trials.
Fantasy courtrooms aside, the game isn't really true to the legal system. I don't think that's all due to translation, either...But a real courtroom wouldn't make for a very interesting play. Phoenix Wright is mostly text driven, which can some may find disenchanting, or be put off by, but I found it quite unique and expressive. Visually, there isn't a whole lot to be seen. The characters have a handful of positions they change to depending on mood, and there are a scant few cutscenes and such. The real meat of the game comes from investigating.
Unfortunately for the game, the real investigating gets interesting in the last trial (albeit a LONG trial). You have to spray luminol fluid to find traces of blood, take fingerprints and some other neat things I won't get into. Using the stylus for clue searching is quite ingenius, actually. To dust for prints you touch the screen to sprinkle powder down then blow into the mic to blow the dust off. It's small touches like these that make it quite thrilling.
The game is kind of linear, since you can only go as far X until you do Y. Then so on and so on. This is good, but sometimes gets frusterating going back and forth to every place to try to figure out what you didn't do yet to open up the next scene. Still, challangers are good, and it's especially good that the game makes you think...Not only in court, but outside too. Getting to the bottom of the cases isn't easy, nor is it obvious some of the time. There were a handful of times i had to save every few minutes in case I messed up to go back and start over. Despite that, it didn't really feel like trial an error...It was more like you had a hunch which was the best choice, but you needed to check out your other options just to make sure.
While the game may not hold much replay value, it is still fun to go back and try out alternate ways of getting to the end of the trials. And being so hard to find, it's worth owning a copy for bragging rights, if nothing else. The story is top-notch, the graphics are bright and pretty, the sound is ace...This whole experience has really won me over. I was completely engrossed with the game and played for hours on end. Very few games grab me like that anymore, so for that, Mr. Wright...I thank you.
TAKE THAT!