[Review] Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice Demo

The Plot

Spoilers for the demo and the first case of the full game. Skip to the next section if you wish to not know what will happen

In a nutshell, Phoenix has ended up in the mystical country of Khura’in, wherein they believe that death is not the end for someone, and that their soul can be communed with by those with the correct spiritual power.

One of the few people that can do this is Rafya Padma Khura’in, the Royal Princess of Khura’in. Since she can commune with spirits, she can see their last moments, meaning that, in the courtroom, there is no need for attorneys. This forms the basis for some of the new mechanics.

During his visit, he takes a tour from a young boy called Ahlbi Ur’Gaid, who, before long, is arrested and accused of murder! Why is this? You’ll have to find out by playing yourself.

The plot, in the demo, has parts cut out to not fully spoil the story, which does leave a few questions unanswered. However, I can look over these since it is, well… a demo.

The Wright-ing (I know, that was Debeste pun)

The writing is on par with previous entries. The new characters, such as Rafya, reflect an aura of superiority, and this works well to portray the strange sensations Phoenix has to endure whilst in a foreign court. Speaking of the man, Phoenix is also great, boasting a sharp and witty inner monologue yet speaking very maturely, and it’s great to see the writers ensure his character hasn’t changed since Dual Destinies. Gaspen Payne also returns, with his vile and snarky demeanour, which is also neat. It’s great to see him slowly break down as Phoenix starts to dismantle his case, bit by bit. Each character felt pretty unique and I’m interested to see where they take these characters (namely Rafya) in future cases.

The pace of the demo is pretty good, as it keeps the action going, swiftly going from Cross-Examination to Divination Seances to make the case interesting and to not make it stale and boring. I can’t comment much more on the writing for now, since the demo is, at most, 30 minutes long. Needless to say, it seems good.

The Elephant in the Room; The Mechanics

Whilst features that are slated to appear, such as the Magatama, Perceive and Mood Matrix are not featured in the the demo, the latest is; the Divination Seances. These are where Rayfa performs the Dance of Devotion to summon the spirit of the recently departed to re-visualise what they saw, heard, smelled and felt in their closing moments, before Rayfa interprets the results. You may be thinking, “well, isn’t this conclusive?” And, yes, it should be.

But, no, with Phoenix, it isn’t. Of course there’s some contradictions. In this case, Phoenix has to determine if there is any contradictions between Rayfa’s interpretations and the victim’s last moments, as shown through a big water mirror. The way in which you do this is simple; you navigate to the Insight that you believe has something contradictory, wait until the offending sensations (as each sense is shown as words, with the bigger word indicating a bigger presence) is shown in the water mirror, and then pick the sense that you believe is incorrect, given the selected Insight. If you get it wrong, you are punished (which is good).

I like the Divination Seances, as they allow for a degree of complexity not seen in other mechanics in the games. They’re easy to understand, and quite enjoyable to figure out. It’s quite neat to see Phoenix try and break down what should be conclusive, and, furthermore, it’s great to see Rafya break down after realising her Insights are just a little bit faulty. I’m interested to see where future cases take the mechanic.

As usual, cross-examinations also make their return, and they’re exactly as per previous instalments. I won’t both to go into too much detail about these, as they’re exactly as before. You can press and present evidence; simple enough. I can’t really say much, since I enjoy cross-examinations anyway.

In the demo, you only do one cross-examination, strangely enough.

The Visuals and Soundtrack

The visuals are fantastic, and definitely a step up from Dual Destinies. Not only are they more stylised, but, they are of a higher quality, featuring more detail and crisper textures (especially when it comes to the character models). They are definitely more interesting to look at, and a nice change from an otherwise drab courtroom. The only drawback to this is that some people are reporting frame drops during the game, however, I didn’t personally experience this.

There is voice acting during some lines in the game (namely when Rafya is about to perform the Dance of Devotion), and they are very well acted. The classic ‘Objection!’ and ‘Hold it!’ sound just as good as before, and new exclamations such as ‘That’s enough!’ also sound great. Really shows how much effort they’ve put into the game, and I hope to see more great voice acting from Apollo, Athena, Maya, Ema and all the other characters in future cases.

The soundtrack is also amazing. Whilst we only see a handful of track during the demo, I can say that they’re all very well composed and fit their scenarios very well. ‘Objection! 2016’ is amazing, especially with the choice of instrumentation, and the Moderato version of the Cross-Examination theme is really tense and reflects what is at stake for Ahlbi during the demo. I’m looking forward to future character themes in later cases.