Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Nintendo DS) Preview

I never would have imagined that a lawyer game could be fun, if truth be told. Again this was one of those games that I opted for, as nobody else seemed overly keen on taking it under their wing. Really, thinking about it now, being such a big fan of John Grisham novels, maybe this should have been a little higher up my 'Most Wanted' list. However, it was not and I approached the DS pod in the corner with great hesitation. In fact, it was placed next to another weird (yet wonderful, more on that in another preview) DS game, Trauma Centre: Under the Knife from Atlus. Nice how the people planning the layout had put the two crazy games together!

Thing is, though, that that corner was where I spent most of my time later in the afternoon. Unfortunately I never got to sample Capcom's other DS title, Viewtiful Joe Scratch, but after touching on the surreal Killer 7 it was intriguing to find what I was in store for with the amusingly titled Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Stepping up to the DS pod, I was greeted by some crazy characters, stacks of text and some very impressive anime-style graphics. Sure it took far more concentration that I would have appreciated at the time, but it turned out to be more than worth it. After a sufficient amount of time with the Western version of Gyakuten Saiban, reading text and clicking a screen has never been such fun!

For each trial you are faced with the main details of the case at hand, such as who the victim is, who the supposed perpetrator is, what witnesses are available to quiz, which pieces of evidence are most relevant for the gruelling hearing and what apparently happened at the scene of the crime are provided to you so that you can analyse anything you think might be necessary. Once done, you will practically be ready to head into the main trial and try to pick holes in the opposing side's testimony. You are in charge, you are Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney! The problem is that you are simply a rookie, a small fish in the wide ocean of mass litigation and you have definitely been dropped in at the deep end. Thankfully, Mia Fei, your boss, is there by your side to make sure you do not make too many major cock-ups.

In the demonstration version presented to us, which was exactly the same as the one shown at E3 in May, the whole shebang starts with details of a murder that took place recently, with a woman being killed by an uncouth man by the name of Mr Sahwit. However, this man has not been named as the guilty party, with your friend Larry Buttz being fingered for the dastardly deed instead. Therefore, knowing that he is completely innocent Phoenix feels it his duty to prove Larry's innocence. Time to get cracking on that defence strategy then! All of the action tends to take place on the top half of the screen, with conversations and stylised character reactions appearing there. The bottom screen is basically used as your file, where you can sift through evidence and check various reports that may contradict the testimonies of witnesses on the stand. Using the touch-screen you can easily navigate through what you have on file and offer it up as proof something fishy is going on.

To start with, as the Judge realises you are in your first major trial, Mr Wright is tested with some pretty easy questions to calm his nerves. For fun, though, when asked who the murder victim was I chose Mia Fei as the answer, which invoked a hilarious reaction from her, standing across the room with her arms firmly crossed against her chest. There is a great sense of humour strung throughout the game, but also a large amount of intrigue, most of which was not really available in this very short demo. For instance, here all the evidence was provided, you knew who the killer was and you had all the time you wanted to examine Mr Sahwit's 'story'. Therefore, when he began to recount the events from his point of view, stating that he saw the dead body at 1:00pm, I was able to jump into my file and spot that the autopsy report said otherwise, with the time of death being between 4:00pm and 5:00pm. Once found, this can be presented to the court in order to expose Sahwit for the liar and scumbag he really is.

But he quickly tries to cover his tracks after that, changing his story to say the victim must have been watching a video recording of something that announced the time as being 1:00pm...Possible, but highly unlikely. So once again you delve into your piles of data and lo-and-behold your instincts prove to be right once again; there was no power in the apartment block between the hours of 1:00pm and 6:00pm! Bingo, time to fry this fish...Yet as this was indeed a short demo, that was all that could be done. A great little taster of what will surely be one of the finest DS games on the market to date.