Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- Justice for All [DS]

Court is once again in session and wackiness is presiding. Ace attorney Phoenix Wright has returned to the Nintendo DS, adding four new cases to his docket, ensuring there is more than enough Justice For All.

A cerebral adventure, Justice For All has players digging up clues, talking to suspects, gathering evidence, and building a case. The game has two separate and distinct phases, one in which the defense attorney Wright investigates a mystery and the second in which he attempts to defend his client in the courtroom. Its play relies heavily on chunks of text and tapping the DS' touch screen to scroll through them. At once, the game is not well suited for those with little patience.

It's an acquired, taste, then, but not one without a genuine amount of charm and wit. The protagonist Wright, though only appearing in static cut-scenes and a few, limited courtroom animations, manages nonetheless to emerge as a classic, likeable boob. He'll wince repeatedly when whipped (no lie!) by a female prosecuting attorney, shrink in sullen anguish when one of his gambits is crushed, and grandly stretch out his left arm to point an accusing finger while bellowing his patented "Objection!" to take issue with questionable testimony. He's at once straight man and hero, cavalier and clod.

Aiding the defense's case is some nifty dialogue. Although there are some glaring typos and grammatical butcheries, the translation from the game's original Japanese to English has been deftly done, and among the seemingly endless yappiness, there are some genuine gems to be had. "What is it?" Wright will ask after frightening a small child. "Is it my hair? Is it too spiky? Not spiky enough!?"

Fans of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the first Wright game to be translated to the North American market, will be familiar with the game's basic play. Hardly anything has been altered from the first game, and the developers have made more than a concerted effort to include characters, situations, and repeated references to Ace Attorney.

A new psyche-lock system allows Wright to see when people are lying or withholding facts, but only during the game's investigation phase. He must then, none too subtly, use evidence he's collected to shatter a series of locks to reveal the hidden secret. The more locks, the more tightly guarded the secret, and it's all too heavy-handed to even approach the vicinity of clever. Giving Wright the magical ability to "see" lies takes away all the fun of putting two-and-two together. There's no need to use logic and reasoning to spot a witnesses' falsehoods, because the game does it for players. It also adds an unnecessary bit of extra psychic mumbo-jumbo to the game; Wright's assistant Maya is a psychic of sorts, so giving the defense attorney extra-sensory powers as well seems pointless.