Pace Paw Print

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is the fourth installment in the Ace Attorney series and the first game to star new lawyer Apollo Justice along with a mostly new cast of characters. While it is sad to see the old characters disappear, the new story and continued use of the series trademark courtroom puzzles more than make up for it.

The game follows rookie lawyer Apollo Justice being hired by disgraced former attorney Phoenix Wright for his "anything" agency. From there, Apollo defends clients with the help of magician-in-training Trucy Wright while slowly discovering the story behind Phoenix Wright being disbarred.

The gameplay from previous Ace Attorney games has remained unchanged for this rendition. The first half of each level is spent going to different areas related to the crime, interviewing people and examining the areas for evidence that are used later to defend the client. This part of the game does not provide any real challenge, but does present a large part of the story.

The second half of each level is spent in the courtroom listening to a witness give testimony, then using the evidence gathered in the first half to point out contradictions within the testimony. This part of the game is much more fun; it always feels good to look through the evidence and notice the subtle but decisive differences between what the witness saw and what actually happened.

Previous games always had some trouble with evidence not really contradicting what the witness testified. Sometimes there would be multiple pieces of evidence that could contradict the testimony, but due to the linear nature of the story only one piece of evidence could be used and figuring out which one to use became a guessing game. Now though, either through a fluke or better writers, this game rarely has such a problem. Most of the testimony always has one point that is clearly, but not obviously, contradicted by a piece of evidence.

The story is also a very enjoyable part of the game, if not the most enjoyable part. The small cases are entertaining enough, and the overarching story, while complicated at times, does not get so confusing that it becomes impossible to follow. At first it may be hard for returning fans to like the new cast of characters and wish for the old ones to return, but the new characters are for the most part just as likable as their predecessors and fill their roles nicely. The main cast is funny and interesting and never makes the story become tedious. Also, now that there is a new cast that has only some connection with previous games, new players can finally pick up the series without having to have played the previous games.

Previous Ace Attorney games were originally Japanese games for the DS's predecessor the Game Boy Advance that have been translated into English and ported onto the DS. As such, they never really take advantage of the DS's touch-screen ability or its improved hardware. This game, though, was designed with the DS's abilities in mind to some extent. The game occasionally uses 3-D models to recreate crime scenes and the characters appear to be much better drawn.

The game uses the DS's touch-screen by having Apollo use forensic science equipment in his investigations such as dusting for fingerprints, making foot molds, or using chemical sprays to detect liquids. Unfortunately these actions are not really a challenge. The game could have done them on its own without any real loss in entertainment. The only really interesting use of the DS is when Apollo uses a mixing board.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney continues to show that it is possible to make an entertaining, though unrealistic, game above the justice system. Hopefully more people will start the series with this new game. A-

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