Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice Review: The Wright Balance
Author’s note: This review was originally published on Creators.co on October 5, 2016.
After six games, two spinoff series, and a one-off crossover with Level-5’s Professor Layton, the Ace Attorney franchise has amassed quite a hefty history of plot points and game mechanics. Even in the mainline series alone, typically headlined by defense lawyer protagonist Phoenix Wright, the serialized courtroom drama’s long history looms over each new entry like a criminal lying in wait. The baggage of the franchise’s past has never been more apparent than in the newest addition to the series, the burdensomely titled Nintendo 3DS exclusive Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice. As its loaded name may suggest, Spirit of Justice often feels encumbered by longstanding story threads and gameplay gimmicks, but it manages to avoid collapsing under that weight by shedding the depth of previous games, to mixed results.
Since the original Ace Attorney trilogy came to an end with Trials and Tribulations, each entry has showcased a new gameplay gimmick to set it apart from the tried and true bifurcated formula of investigating crime scenes and collecting evidence, then subsequently cross-examining witnesses in court and presenting evidence. When the main series jumped to 3D with 2013’s Dual Destinies, there was a reduced focus on investigation and evidence gathering, and a new spotlight on psychology, embodied by newcomer attorney Athena Cykes. This time, rather than directly following up on the mostly self-contained plot of Dual Destinies, the story centers more on its ostensible protagonist Phoenix Wright, and the return of his best friend, former assistant, and spirit medium Maya Fey. Phoenix’s adventures in the kingdom of Khura’in — where Maya’s hereditary spirit channeling technique originated — make up the bulk of the game’s story, with Spirit of Justice’s new gimmick introduced within the confines of the kingdom’s lawyer-unfriendly courtroom. Unlike the familiar domestic court setting of the preceding five games, the Khura’inese court has no need for lawyers, preferring to rely on the testimony of the deceased over evidence presented by the defense. This testimony is gleaned through the divination seance, with its Insight presented by the kingdom’s Princess Rayfa. Rayfa initially grates as a courtroom foe, but eventually comes into her role as something of a stand-in for the series’ established assistant role, as well as an integral, sympathetic participant in the primary plotline.
While the game’s main story — mostly anchored by titular hero Phoenix Wright, told in the three odd-numbered chapters of the game’s five court cases — is engrossing and fresh thanks to the new characters, setting, and court mechanic, this unfortunately leaves the remaining homeland cases feeling a bit lacking by comparison. This is unfortunate, because both cases shine in their own ways. Apollo Justice, former successor to the headlining slot, gets a much-needed continuation to the characters and plot of his own game, but not without some teasing of a still-unresolved dangling thread. This gentle nudging at a still-hanging, nearly ten-year-old story arc may make players excited for a likely sequel; on the other hand, it can also be frustrating to veteran fans anxiously awaiting a resolution, and confusing to new players unfamiliar with the series’ long canon.
The agency’s other junior attorney, rookie lawyer Athena Cykes, also gets a brief shot at the spotlight, but she ends up being overshadowed by her unlikely assistant, who showers unwelcome advice on the player; it ends up feeling like a tutorial trial, despite being the penultimate case of the game. Overly handholding courtroom segments were a common criticism of Dual Destinies, and it’s unfortunate to see that kind of gameplay return directly alongside that game’s main cast addition. Each of the younger attorneys’ subplot cases — typically decried as “filler” by series fans — do genuinely feel like successors to their respective prior games Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney and Dual Destinies, but their brevity may leave the player wanting more, or worse, wondering why the game is spending time away from Phoenix and the main Khura’in story at all.
In addition to the abundance of dangling plot threads from the game’s trinity of ace attorney protagonists, each lawyer brings their own unique gimmick to the gameplay, with varying impact on the overall experience. The most effective mechanic, ironically employed by the lawyer with the least influence on the story itself, is Athena Cykes’ Mood Matrix psychotherapy program. Just as in Dual Destinies, when Athena is on the defense team — either as assistant to Apollo, or lead defense lawyer — she can interpret a witness’ memories through the lens of an emotional spectrum not unlike that of Nintendo’s Super Princess Peach. In the Mood Matrix, the player must find the contradiction in the witness testimony not based on evidence, but via abnormal emotional expression. While these therapy sessions still feel a bit easier than the series’ normal evidence-based cross-examination, Athena’s specialty is more fully realized than those of her co-counsel. Apollo Justice’s divisive “Perceive” mechanic returns in as limited capacity as it was featured in Dual Destinies (in which its limitation was justified by Prosecutor Simon Blackquill preventing Apollo from using it in the courtroom), making its inclusion feel like a concession to the continued role of Apollo in the overall plot. Players don’t seem to like playing a literal eye spy game to find a witness’ physical tic, and, with the notable exception of its final usage, the few times Apollo is tasked to Perceive feel out of place and ultimately unsatisfying. The same, sadly, goes for the series’ oldest extrajudicial gimmick: Phoenix’s own Psyche-Lock system. A mainstay of the series since its second entry, Justice for All, Psyche-Locks were originally an innovative way to bring courtroom evidence presentation into the interstitial investigation segments. After a near-disappearance in Dual Destinies (until being more fully re-instated in that game’s DLC case), Psyche-Locks are back, but sadly lack the impact they held in the original Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy. Due to Spirit of Justice juggling various supplementary mechanics — in addition to the Mood Matrix, Perceive sequences, and Divination Seance Insights, there are a few half-hearted forensic investigations led by Detective Ema Skye, making a welcome return from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney — rather than a welcome break in the monotony of investigation, Psyche-Locks end up blurring into a constantly shuffling mix of gimmicks.
Despite the overabundance of distracting mechanics, the core evidence-based courtroom drama is as strong as ever. In a welcome change, contradictions are more difficult to determine than in Dual Destinies, and for the most part, assistants no longer obviously point to the right piece of evidence before the player has a chance to figure it out on their own. Despite this, the difficulty is still easier overall than the original Phoenix Wright trilogy. While some of this is thanks to the gameplay streamlining of Dual Destinies — marking investigation spots that have already been checked, guiding players more linearly through investigation setpieces, discarding unnecessary evidence — it still feels like the truth of the game’s cases is easier to work through than older entries. Part of the feeling of difficulty reduction comes from the multiple choice quiz sequence, introduced in Dual Destinies, that comes at the end of each court case. Rather than pinning the culprit by finding a crucial piece of evidence, the lead attorney goes through the details of the case, asking the player simple questions via inner monologue, working towards the solution. While it’s interesting to solve the trial’s last remaining question and pin the crime on the true culprit via an observable stream of logic, it reduces if not removes the feeling of agency of the player solving the case on their own. Although these sequences are mandatory, an integral storytelling tool in how the end of each case plays out, the player is able turn off the game’s intrusive “consultation” hint system; despite the increase in difficulty, seasoned evidence-presenting veterans are still likely to encounter little obstruction on the path to truth and justice.
Spirit of Justice also features optional paid downloadable content, some more worth the cost than others. 99 cents gets players a costume pack for Phoenix, Apollo, and Athena — they’re not as well-designed as the costumes from Dual Destinies, and it’s unfortunate that the new game isn’t compatible with those, but it’s worthwhile to see Phoenix dressed up like his Trials and Tribulations doppelganger Furio Tigre. There are two “Asinine Attorney” non-canon story vignettes which retail for $4 each, paired with a 3DS menu theme, but the brevity of the stories isn’t worth the cost, except for die-hard fans or 3DS theme collectors. The shining gem in the DLC offerings is the $6 extra case “Turnabout Time Traveler.” Without spoiling the plot, it perfectly compliments Apollo and Athena’s aforementioned cases as a worthy filler case successor to the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy. It makes the game’s second and fourth cases feel less out of place as throwbacks to previous games, and is immensely satisfying for longtime fans craving a new case that truly feels like something out of the series’ early years.
As a sequel to Dual Destinies, its immediate predecessor, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice is simultaneously an improved iteration on that game and a welcome return to form for the courtroom drama series. When taken as an entry in the Ace Attorney series as a whole, especially as a game bearing the Phoenix Wright name, the newest installment is held down both by the modernization of the previous title and the weighty burden of the entire series’ plot and gameplay hallmarks. Despite its shortcomings, Spirit of Justice is a worthy successor to the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney name, which is more than can be said of its forerunner. The plot is engaging and humorous as ever, especially in the foreign and pun-filled Khura’in kingdom. Tasked with telling a story that’s not just a sequel to the Phoenix Wright trilogy, but the standalone Apollo Justice and prior 3DS title Dual Destinies, the Ace Attorney team wrote and designed a game which successfully juggles elements from all five of those games, albeit not without leaving some balls out of the shuffle. With at least one game left in the series, hopefully Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney continues its rise from the ashes and goes out on a high note while not losing what made the series great in the first place.
