Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy is the second trilogy of remasters for the Ace Attorney franchise. Following on from the stories of only Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice follows a protag of the same name as he becomes a student of and pseudo replacement for Phoenix. Adding more and more allies to Pheonix’s wardrobe, this trilogy features one of the last 2D entries with Apollo Justice before the shift to 3D in Dual Destinies. Originally released around 2007, 2013, and 2016, this trilogy sees the three games updated and ported to PC, as well as Switch, PS4, and Xbone.
For simplicity, and to avoid spin-off confusion, I will refer to Apollo Justice Ace Attorney as the 4th game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies as the 5th game, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice as the 6th game. They follow the main canon series of Pheonix Wright from 2001 to 2004, but there had been a few Miles Edgeworth games and even a Layton game in between.
Objection!
Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy follows three stories, but continues several years after the ending of the third game in the series. Starting off, we find that Phoenix Wright has lost his lawyer’s badge and is now working as a pianist with his new daughter, all the while Apollo Justice is starting his journey as a defence attorney. Meeting the famous lawyer with little to no losing streak to speak of, a story of investigations into both your clients and your mentor unfolds.
The 5th game ditches the Apollo name and brings back the Phoenix Wright name, but still heavily features Apollo as the protagonist, with Phoenix Wright as backup and another new character to add to the trio, Athena Cykes. The 5th game is more centred around Athena’s background, why she became a defence attorney so young, and the power she holds to tell the emotions of others.
Lastly, the 6th game, Spirit of Justice, features the trio in more of an even playing field with the two new additions having their arcs fulfilled. However, a bit more interest is paid to Pheonix, as he returns to his spiritual roots as he goes back to communing with the dead to solve more cases as he did in the first trilogy with the reintroduction of Maya Fey.
The 4th game will last you around 21 hours, the 5th closer to 25 hours, and the 6th closer to 30 hours. This time will vary a lot depending on your competence with text adventure games, how good your memory is when it comes to the courtroom, and how much you explore the environments and exhaust dialogue.
One of my major gripes with the trilogy, however, is a certain lack of follow-through with many of its plot lines. Many unsolved issues with Apollo and Phoenix are set up to be resolved in the future, but then a year passes, and then another, to just be forgotten about. New court systems are trialled and dropped, and mysteries have an answer but are never told to the characters. It is disappointing.
Sadly, the Ace Attorney games lack much in the way of replayability. There is typically only one solution for each case, and for every choice you can make. You’ll only really be working towards getting no penalties or hunting down the obscure achievements. This series is really a play once, forget, and play again 5 years later kinda deal. I’ve played the first game in the series around four times at this point, though that is 23 years old.
Take That!
Ace Attorney, is at its heart, a text adventure and deduction game. Due to its style, it also fits well within the visual novel genre but is a lot more involved than most. Your time is split between two segments, investigation, and courtroom. During investigation, you’ll be talking with witnesses and police, and hunting for clues to prove your client innocent. The court room has you present said evidence against statements or find inconsistencies to find the truth.
You will typically have two days on average to solve a case, but the game is linear so you will find you cannot diverge from this path. Some early cases last a single court session, while others can go up to three days of investigation to find a proper verdict.
Gameplay mostly features talking to people and making mental notes about what they say and the environment the crimes take place in. Any evidence is stored in your court record to refer to, as well as a few affidavits. These memories and items are then used in the court to counter statements. If you get a counter wrong, you lose 1 of 5 lives, losing all will count as a game over.
The 4th game, Apollo Justice, carries over most of the minigames you’d expect from the first trilogy alongside the bonus episode with Skye’s forensics. You investigate 3D objects, turning them around to find new clues, powder prints to find who has touched something, compare blood samples to suspects, and even take a boot print or three.
These are mostly removed in the 5th game, Dual Destinies, instead favouring a new mechanic introduced in the 4th, Perceiving via Apollo’s bracelet. This is closely related to the tells of poker, seeing the shifting movements of people to tell where they are lying. Expanding on the lies, Athena brings in the mood matrix, a similar deduction ability but instead, you’re looking for misaligned emotions with statements.
The 6th game, Spirit of Justice, continues the style of the 5th with a new seance minigame. Plus, it brings back some of the old 3D item investigations of the 4th game and Skye’s bonus episode, expanding the minigames and puzzles further. Though it still feels like the 4th game is the best mix of minigames, without feeling too similar to one another.
Hold It!
As is common for the Ace Attorney franchise, a lot of your investigations will be scored by ambient sounds to not detract from your deducing eyes and ears. However, when it comes to minigames and courtroom antics, your ears will be treated to some great tracks. Energetic sounds accompany high-stakes situations, while synth tunes flow alongside the rotation of objects and hunt for minute clues.
The difficulty of Ace Attorney is hard to pin down, as it comes down to your own analytical mind and how many notes you take. As a fan of the original series, and having played it recently, I was able to speed through the second trilogy with most episodes having zero penalties. However, if you have problems with remembering names, dates, and places, this game might take a bit more out of you.
The trilogy comes packed with several additions to burst its seems. From the Orchestra Hall to listen to all songs and the Art Library to look at sketches and commissions, to the Animation Studio to play out your own scenes and pre-order only episodes and costumes. Aside from playing the originals when they came out, there’s little to be lost in this trilogy.
All of the improvements to the trilogy are welcomed with open arms. From fixing several localisation and translation errors to the touch-up of the graphics, it is a wonderful package. However, similar to the original releases, I do find that some things still could have been improved.
Starting with the 5th game, you’re treated to some nice-looking anime cutscenes, but these are the only times you’ll hear full-voice acting. I feel like some of this budget could have gone to voice acting more of the cast during gameplay, as there is a whole lot of text to read through. Especially for those who learn more via hearing than reading, full VA would have escalated this release even higher.
Overall, Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy gets a 7/10. The improvements are great, and the gameplay is as engaging as ever. Sadly, the story does falter many times where the law system doesn’t make sense or follow itself, especially when prosecutors physically assault you, the judge, and witnesses. This trilogy is well worth the price at £39.98. Less than £40 for three games that’ll last you close to double that in hours.
Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy – Launch Trailer
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