The time has come to return to the courtroom after what feels like an eternity. The Ace Attorney games have quickly gone from a simple visual novel series, into something that fully takes advantage of the Nintendo DS and 3/2DS system. It's not quite as big as many of Capcom's other franchises, but still plays a big part in people's hearts and has expanded to other consoles and mediums. Today we are looking at two games that are collectively known as the prequel series to the main series, set at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Been a while so hoping my courtroom abilities are not knackered as we, once again, prepare to cross-examine statements, make some investigations and more:
Adventures
Both games focus on Ryunosuke Naruhodo (voiced in the English dub by Mark Ota) who originally serves as a student of the Imperial Yumei University and is an ancestor of the series' main protagonist Phoenix Wright. At first, he is put on trail as the defendant for the murder of a university teacher and upon learning the ropes and all that, he sets out to become the best defence lawyer he can be. Especially as he is soon sent to Great Britain initially to see his friend's debut as a lawyer, but that soon changes when a tragic event occurs. Much like in previous games of the series, courtroom sessions have you cross-examine witnesses (sometimes all at once or one at a time) which gives you the ability to press for more information and also present evidence if anything is contradictory. You can also examine a witness's reaction to a statement from another witness for more info. Investigations are also back which, like before, have you go to various locations and find information and evidence, sometimes even talking to people involved with the crime at hand whether it be as a witness or potential suspects. New to the series is the ability to pick up anything contradictory from the jury in an attempt to prevent a guilty verdict, and also when investigating certain things when the chief investigator misses certain stuff. One of the big fears I have with games that are prequels, is if the developers will make it so different to the main games that it would make more sense for it to be its own series. Fortunately that's not the case here as everything is familiar, the characters look like ancestors of the main characters in the series, and you still get comedy and of course, the classic breakdowns which are always fun to watch. Especially with the 3D models of characters, which work a lot better than the original 2D sprites from the original trilogy of games. Some new things can be quite complex and all that, but at least we now have an "auto" option that lets you watch the game's cutscenes without pressing any buttons, much like the latest visual novel games out there. 7/10
2: Resolve
In the second game which is set four months later, we are back in Japan where a case related to the very first case of the previous game, takes place. After that, a return to Great Britain sees Ryu do battle with a deadly prosecutor and an equally deadly judge who claims to be untouchable. That is, until a certain case crops up which changes everything. This game more or less follows the gameplay of the previous game, using all the mechanics that the overall series is known for and also the new ones that were introduced in the previous game. While it is a shame that this one doesn't really add anything new apart from new characters, new cases, stories and so forth, it does well in the complexities of the cases and giving us all new challenges to face which most games in this series tend to do. 7/10
Overall, a good duo of games in the Ace Attorney series that can be difficult and challenging. But wouldn't have it any other way, especially when you have hilarious breakdowns of characters to bear witness too. Looking forward to seeing where the franchise goes in the future. 7/10
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