QJ reviews the court record on Phoenix Wright 2: Justice for All

 

I was actually one of the lucky hundred-somethings who were able to wipe retail shelves devoid of any Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All boxes during the first weekend of its release. After playing the first game, you could have bet your bottomest dollar that I was raring to get my hands on the second game. (Not to mention see more of my latest video game crushes, teehee).

Now, instead of giving you the 411 on Justice for All, let’s skip all that and go directly to what’s new, what’s different, what’s familiar, and what’s the same. Besides, even though you’d surely enjoy this installment without prior exposure to the series, I still recommend you pick up the first game. And I’d assume you already have. So, I consider any further introduction to the phenomenon that is Phoenix Wright as redundant (please forward all objections to incompetent lawyer Mr. Winston Payne).

So, let’s start with the familiar: you’ve got some returning characters, gameplay aspects, and overall look and feel. Graphics were only improved in the sense that there are a couple of short CGI cut-scenes here and there.

We’ve got the rest of the review waiting behind the “Full Article” link below. Wanna find out how the new and the old? And what’s the final verdict? Click below to read on!

 

I was actually one of the lucky hundred-somethings who were able to wipe retail shelves devoid of any Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All boxes during the first weekend of its release. After playing the first game, you could have bet your bottomest dollar that I was raring to get my hands on the second game. (Not to mention see more of my latest video game crushes, teehee).

Now, instead of giving you the 411 on Justice for All, let’s skip all that and go directly to what’s new, what’s different, what’s familiar, and what’s the same. Besides, even though you’d surely enjoy this installment without prior exposure to the series, I still recommend you pick up the first game. And I’d assume you already have. So, I consider any further introduction to the phenomenon that is Phoenix Wright as redundant (please forward all objections to incompetent lawyer Mr. Winston Payne).

So, let’s start with the familiar: you’ve got some returning characters, gameplay aspects, and overall look and feel. Graphics were only improved in the sense that there are a couple of short CGI cut-scenes here and there.

Lawyer jargon and legal procedures remain the same, but one of the new things you’d find out early on is the ability to present profiles as evidence to the judge. This makes the game a whole lot more complicated and open with more possibilities, but thinking back to the previous game, this feature would have made certain cases in the past a heck of a lot easier.

Another new feature is the incorporation of Psyche-Locks. It mystically activates itself whenever someone is hiding something during the investigation, and your goal is to hack at their secrets. It works pretty much like cross-examinations, but instead of trying to whittle down a witness’ testimony, you’ll be presenting some evidence to the tight-lipped fools and make them spill the beans.

Connected to this is the “health bar” (in the previous game, you had a set number of five exclamation marks to mess up). Here, it’s actually a gauge. This meter will likewise reduce every time you present the wrong evidence to the judge or the person with the Psyche-Lock, and what’s more of concern here is that your health bar actually carries over from the court scenes to the ensuing investigation (but be refilled at the turn of the day).

An interesting thing about this health bar is that, depending on the situation or what’s asked of you, total “damage” varies. It’s not fixed. So sometimes, if you make an astoundingly wrong claim that could make-or-break your situation, you end up losing the entire case to a Guilty verdict. This is what puts you on the spot with a sense of urgency (if you take out the fact that you can save and reset the game any time you wish, of course).

Story-wise, I could personally say that a lot has improved. The plot twists always leave me stunned to the point of forgetting to breathe. The last case, most especially, had me gripped tight and unwilling to put my DS down until everything got resolved. The story line that threads all of the cases together is more apparent, with an underlying conflict among Nick and (so as not to reveal any spoilers…) “the gang.”

As for humor, well, let’s say things have gotten wackier this time around. Running gags get interjected sometimes and help bring some comedic relief during those tense court room moments.

While I thought Wendy Oldbag was annoying as hell in the previous game, she was nothing but hilarious here (especially with her alien space suit, ray-gun zapper, and “You shall not pass!” line). The judge is just as spaced-out as ever, but made one of the most LOL-inducing lines ev4r (i.e. “What’s this a business card? Why thank you; here have mine!”).

I was expecting there be something new like finger print powder or luminol later on in the game, but to my dismay, this wasn’t the case. Thinking about it though, what the game lacks in investigation tools, it makes up for with how the courtroom drama unfolds.

You’ll be amazed at how far you can stretch your “out-of-the-box” mental processing. To say that some cases were a battle of wits would undermine the actual experience of trying to figure stuff out for yourself. I think I even smelled a couple of brain cells getting fried at certain times.

Overall, Capcom‘s Justice for All is one of the rare titles that’s better than its predecessor. At the rate that the series is going, there’s definitely a lot of stuff to look forward to in the third game (if it gets released *crosses fingers*). And as a stand alone, this game does justice… Justice for all, that is.