"I'm Apollo Justice and I'm fine!" is the new catchphrase of the lawyer Apollo Justice in Phoenix Wright 5 (Dual Destinies). I had been waiting 5 whole years for this game and in that time have been through 3 girlfriends, graduated uni and lived what has felt like a few regenerations.
But enough of me! Was it worth the wait? Even including the 2 weeks I had to wait between the release of the main game and the dlc case? Absolutely. Was it better than Trials and Tribulations? (Phoenix Wright 3, by far the best in a brilliant series). Of course not, that's like saying any Zelda was better than Ocarina of Time (except Majora's Mask which I consider the dark world of OOT therefore the same game).
But it was amazingly good!
What made the game so amazing then? The usual things that make the Phoenix Wright series amazing: awesome and varied characters, good designs as ever Capcom, a lot of humour but also a lot of depth and feeling for characters and situations, interesting cases and of course the brilliance of the courtroom dynamic.
Let's start with characters who stuck out for me first.
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| Juniper Woods- an old friend of Apollo's and she looks very much like she could be a Studio Ghibli character! |
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| Bobby Fullbright- a copper with the catchphrase In justice we trust! |
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| Simon Blackquill- the new prosecutor and a convict |
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| Athena Cykes- newest member of the Wright Anything Agency, she's a lawyer! |
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| Apollo Justice- returns with a badass new jacket! |
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| Phoenix Wright- it's been a long time, welcome back to law Feenie! And how dapper you look! XD |
I can't really go into the depth of the plot or anything because this is a spoiler free blog entry. So now let's get to the cases themselves. As ever the cases in phoenix Wright 5 are varied. We get a courtroom bombing, a village of people who believe in yokai, a legal college drama set in a legal academy, a space station and my personal favourite: an aquarium, where you meet an orca who you have to defend in court!
So it's a great game, but does it add something new to famed courtroom dynamics the series is known and loved for? Yes! There is the obvious 3d effect which is quite fun. I wouldn't play it entirely in 3d again, I just did it to immerse myself. You can no longer click on random things when in an investigation section, which is a shame given that was part of the appeal of the games being able to click on things and get entertainment from the comments. However that is compensated with moving details here and there.
On top of the 3d effect, there is something else, used only in the courtroom sections: the mood matrix. This is an extra element brought in by the new lawyer Athena Cykes who can use a technology which can detect emotions of people on the stand in order to get truth from them.
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| The Mood Matrix |
That's all I have to say about the brilliant game because
Now for my regular guest, Norman Osborn!
Thank you very much Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Apollo Justice being alreet!
