While this may be a graphical text-adventure game at heart, its exciting story and likable characters make it a winner.
The gameplay in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is split into two major modes:
The first mode is when you are in a courtroom and you are cross examining witnesses trying to find contradictions in their testimony. This is done by pressing them for information or presenting evidence that proves the contradiction.
The second mode is when you're out on the field trying to find evidence. You have four central commands in this mode: Move, Examine, Talk, Present. Move lets you move to key locations of the case. Examine lets you point out a place on the screen with the stylus to further investigate. If somebody is present at your current location, you can Talk to them or Present evidence to them to learn more about it.
In either mode, you can bring up an evidence screen that lets you examine your evidence or bring up a list of profiles for everybody involved in the case. By having these clues handy, you're better able to formulate your theories as to how the cases are unfolding.
There are five cases in all. The first case is rather short (entirely in the courtroom) while the last case is extra long with additional features such as examining 3d mockups of the evidence and using special investigation equipment.
There's two big things that appeal about this game. First, the characters are all likable and the plot as cases unfold often contain startling twists and turns. The scriptwriters of this game were geniuses, it seems, as there's many exciting moments of suspense and chagrin in this game. Second, this is a game that heavily rewards deductive reasoning, and when you're able to wrap your mind around the situation it's really satisfying to see your sleuthing pay off.
Sometimes I got stuck, but in these cases I just went over to GameFaqs and looked up a walkthrough. The only real way you can lose this game is by managing to tick off the judge five times during a phase in the trial by presenting wrongful evidence. Losing the game results in having to repeat the last branch of the chapter you were on.
The only other gripe I have about this game is sometimes it's a little too picky about what evidence is acceptable. To an extent, the ambitious endeavor that Phoenix Wright tries to be - one that rewards good deductive reasoning - is limited by the computer medium in that it cannot fully do justice to the creativity of the player. Still, this is only a minor speed bump, and the game is overall pretty decent.
Again, I'm really glad I had the opportunity to play this game, and I eagerly look forward to GameFly shipping me the sequel (Justice for All) even though I hear it's not quite as good as this one some ways.