Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Reviews

I really wanted to like this game because the concept is fantastic but I found it incredibly frustrating to play and found that I wasn't having fun pretending to be a kick-ass lawyer like I envisioned. The game is incredibly linear and rigid, you HAVE to present evidence at the CORRECT time and in the correct order. I found this incredibly frustrating because there were plenty of places where I felt it was appropriate to present evidence and the game would punish me for it, only for the very next set of dialogue to be the 'proper' place to present it. I found myself stressing and losing progress after being a decent chunk of time into a trial because I started second guessing myself about presenting evidence too soon vs. missing the opportunity to present it at all. For me, that level of frustration did not match the reward when the story was successful and could continue. Maybe if it got more rail-roady further into the story once I was more invested in all the characters it would have been more tolerable.

stellar. fantastic. amazing. masterful storytelling. one of the few games to feature miles edgeworth, therefore everyone should own a copy of it. and that phoenix guy is there too i guess

Finally played this well-loved game that I've been hearing so much about for so many years, and I cannot say I liked the experience. If you liked Danganronpa you would probably like this as well, I didn't enjoy Danganronpa so I barely stomached through this game. While I prefer a more grounded and realistic experience, I also get that this is a videogame "court room adventure"; and fictional works usually require some artistic license, and suspension of disbelief from consumer's part. However, this game outright requires a "dispelling of disbelief" and total disregard of reality to play. Are you really trying to convince me that Japanese police are so incompetent that they would miss all the important pieces of evidence? That no proper crime scene investigation is done at all? That I have to point out in court that a fingerprint examination is warranted for the bottle of sleeping pill found on the scene that the police missed during their investigation? Also, the attorney can just illegally enter places and search for evidences that should not be admitted into court and somehow the court just believe what he says?? "OH I found this spying device in her room, trust me bro" and the court just goes "I believe you" like wtf? And EVERY SINGLE witness is committing perjury and contempt of court and there is absolute no consequence whatsoever??? That a prodigy public prosecutor believes every criminal defendant is automatically guilty; and would falsify evidence and instigate witnesses to commit perjury??????? I have to turn off 99.9% of my brain so I can stomach through all these ridiculous and jarring things the game throws at you and leave just enough brainpower to click through all the dialogue options and interactables. And speaking of clicking through things, why is the outdated UI not changed for this "HD remaster" at all? I get that the original game was old and designed for console but why is the remaster not changing the terrible UI at all? Who considers "entering the wood cabin of Studio 2" "leaving this place"?? Why am I clicking through so many menus just to exit from Studio 2 wood cabin to the front gate??? The game is also often a slog to playthrough. The game isn't played based on logic, instead, most of the time you are just trying to read the dev team's mind. You have to trigger event in a fixed linear sequence, the exact condition of event triggering or what the game considers "time passed" is just an exhaustive search/investigation of scene that requires unreasonable backtracking, i.e. without the prior knowledge that "something is about to go down there" or "something will be triggered if I go there" then there is no reason to revisit and exhaustively investigate a scene. So you end up just backtrack every scene through the outdated UI and click on everything interactable and then skip the dialogues you've already seen so you could haphazardly trigger the new event. Court room scene is also annoying to play, obvious contradiction could have no dialogue option for you to present evidence or objection simply for the sake of anime style dramatic twist, and it plays like an insult to the player's intelligence in a game that is supposedly mentally stimulating. Also some testimony scene is worded like you could present some evidence to prove contradiction but instead is designed to have you exhaust the "press" option, look incompetent and cornered, then the scripted twist comes. You also have to be able to read the dev's mind on the exact order what evidence to present to a super obvious contradiction, and by then it's not about what happens in game but a meta game of "based on previously how this kind of scenes played out, I think the devs probably want me to present this piece". I don't know why the police wouldn't just have a bunch of grown and able psychics help them solve the cases by summon the spirits of the murdered, surely not every victim was unconscious and doesn't know who actually killed them. If you are someone who's accustomed to the style of ridiculousness I think often found in Japanese visual novel and games and animes, and have the ability to totally disregard the jarring incongruities between this game and real life, then I think this game can be a cool mental exercise for you with not-so-capturing twists and stories. I, however, have a strong natural distaste for deliberate incompetency and find no enjoyment in the forced ridiculousness.

Been here since the DS, still staying strong. Always found it ironic how I don't like "press A to progress / visual novel" games but then love this series. Anything this game does keeps me hooked. Each episode having exciting stories, the music that serves to hype you up every time you enter the courtroom, characters being able to express their personality through one line of text? Now that's just unbelievable. Worth the full price.

i love the soundtrack, visuals and the characters especially! i just love this game in general tbh would totally recommend:))

Unfortunately, there really isn't much to say when it comes to these games. I have been playing this trilogy since they had released on the DS. These are adventure games are lives off of how you enjoy the writing and puzzling solving. For me, the first game stumbles with the first two cases and the second game has a case I still cannot get behind. But, overall, this is one of the best trilogies I have ever played. It's very hard for me to truly give a proper review as I find these games to be absolutely enthralling. The music, visuals, writing; everything in these games work together to make the perfect package. To put simply, if you like puzzles and adventure games, this trilogy is an absolute no-brainer to pick it. It's a classic and there is a reason it maintains a strong fanbase to date. You cannot go wrong picking this assortment of games up!

Recommend playing it in one sitting. A very well told story that didn't get boring for a second.

TL;DR it's fun and worth it on sale if you're looking for some legal drama and goofy characters. I think the expectations for this game is important for your enjoyment of it. This is not Columbo or Knives out where you can find the clues to the truth and figure out the twists and turns potentially from the first 10 minutes. This is BBC's Sherlock Holmes, where you are Dr. Watson and your big tiddy ghost GF is Sherlock, getting Deus Ex Machina'd in basically every case with information and options that you had no way to find or present yourself. This is not a logic and reasoning based lawyer RPG where choices matter and reality has any bearing. This is a goofy, insane and interactive legal drama with some logic and reasoning puzzles. I still find myself struggeling to come to those terms, mainly being frustrated at the writing, blatant lies, hypocrisy, double standards, rigged system and impossible demands to not only clear your client but also find the real killer that requires at least 1 Deus Ex Machina per trial, sometimes multiple. But despite my issues, I'm still playing and it's got me hooked. I want to see what comes next and what insane BS they will pull out of their asses next. So yeah, absolutely worth it on sale.

Fun story, awesome soundtrack, recommend. Stay away if you hate reading, 90% of gameplay is through text.

"A perfect game to play late at night with a meal, where you enjoy solving an intriguing case. The atmosphere helps you relax and focus on every detail of the investigation."