Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Best in series"

Three games deep into the series and the Ace Attorney franchise is still kicking. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations is the third GBA to DS port and the last game in the Phoenix Wright trio of the Ace Attorney series (Gyakuten Saiban in Japan). With that said, how does Trials and Tribulations compare to its predecessors?

The first game set the groundwork for the series. It birthed Wright and Co. into the gaming world, both story and gameplay wise. The sequel, Justice For All, improved upon the original by introducing the Psyche-Lock system, among other minor tweaks. Unfortunately, the plot of the second game proved inferior to the first. Three games in, fans would expect the series to reinvigorate itself with something fresh, something new. Does T&T meet such expectations? No, absolutely not.

Now don't go raising any objections just yet. My explanation is as follows: The gameplay of the series remains unchanged. Instead, Trials and Tribulations melds all the best aspects of the series thus far into one cohesive Ace Attorney opus.

Phoenix Wright 3 does not enhance the previous game's mechanics in any way. In each chapter, after he is hired by the accused, the investigation phase begins. The player must interview various characters for information, collect evidence, et cetera. Carrying over from Justice For All is the Psyche-lock system, which pits the player with revealing evidence to characters in order to discover their darkest secrets. Once those tasks are finished, thus begins the court room phase, where the action of the game lies. During cross-examination of witnesses, the options to press and present are... presented to the player. Pressing a witness' statement squeezes morsels of information out of them, while evidence is used to prove contradictions in the testimony.

Everything works identically to its predecessor. Instead, Capcom decided to focus on storytelling this time around, and it shows. The plot goes above and beyond the excellent plot of the first game, while the second game's story is left in a corner assuming the fetal position.

Justice For All's overarching plot lacked any sort of impact on the central characters, and was left ultimately unsatisfying. This game fixes that issue in every way. All five cases prove compelling. Even the unimportant cases in the middle of each game are (fairly) interesting this time. The expertly written mysteries are just begging to be solved. Not only the crimes committed, but mysteries of the characters' pasts and their motives all play a major role in the overall plot. Because of this, everything that happens actually feels important rather than pointless as in Justice For All. And the final case reaches a new level of excitement which trumps that of the final cases in the previous two games.

Furthermore, in order to flesh out the characters and their respective backstories, new scenarios arise in which other characters are playable, and the titular lawyer takes a backseat (but still has an important role). This feature is only superficial and doesn't alter the gameplay in anyway, but it works well as a storytelling mechanic.

Additionally, Godot, the mysterious prosecutor with a penchant for coffee, might just be the best character ever devised for a video game, or any story. Ever.

Besides that, Trials and Tribulations doesn't differ from the rest of the series in any real way. The writing is witty and comical, yet serious when needed. The graphics are untouched from previous games. The music is excellent, which should be unsurprising for anyone familiar with the franchise.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations isn't the last game in the series, but it caps off Wright and Co.'s story thus far in a climactic way. It represents everything great about Ace Attorney games, and is a huge love letter to fans. Whether is be the hilarious dialogue, the epic crime drama, or the too-good-for-a-video-game music, Trials and Tribulations, as a whole, is the definitive courtroom gaming experience. Any objections? I didn't think so.