A satisfying end to the Phoenix Wright Saga: just don't expect anything new.

User Rating: 8 | Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Best Price!) DS
Phoenix Wright 3: Trials and Tribulations, goes back to Phoenix's and Mia's past to explain their career path of defence attorney. This game is good, with a revamped soundtrack and interesting characters, and fans of PW (like myself) will enjoy it, but it does leave something to be desired.

Graphics: Same old, same old as the saying goes. The character models are all recycled from the previous 2 games, and there are some new backgrounds, but nothing spectacular. If you didn't know, all 3 games are GBA advance ports, which does explain the basic graphics, so it can be forgiven. That said, the character animations still raise a laugh, especially watching Phoenix get outwitted or bullied.

Gameplay: Nothing at all new, the only difference is in the last case where you use a metal detector for one scene to find metal objects with your stylus, apart from that, nothing new at all (Ace Attorney's Final stage proved that this could be done, however, so I was surprised to see no innovative gameplay). Its still the same as always, explore, collect, talk, and pick apart testimonies in the courtroom. The formula works relatively well, though its getting a bit jaded now, especially when you have to nitpick people in the cross-examinations (like what weather it was etc.) Its starting to get a bit repetitive.

Soundtrack: This is where this title makes up for other elements: the soundtrack is updated, with the courtroom music being more ominous, character themes being more appropriate, and the exciting rush of finding the truth in each case demonstrated excellently by an epic score.

Conclusion:
Overall, this is not a bad Phoenix Wright game, and is the second best of the series (no.1 being the best), as you get to use different characters like Mia and... well, I dont want to spoil it for you. Just to say that the new characters are awesome (except the ones in case 2, they are just plain annoying) and many are genuinely hilarious. Case 5 is overall the best as it ties everything up. If you like the series buy it, if you don't I'd recommend you start from scratch.