Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All

If you ever visited the previously existant (now NONexistant) forums you probably would have noticed that a lot of us (and by us I mean Kirk, Taylor, Jamison, Mike, Mikey, and myself) were crapping our pants over Phoenix Wright (Japanese Name: Gyakuten Saiban) even though it's been out for a good 2 years already. The first game was an instant classic (Well, at least in this community. We're all that matters anyway so I guess it works out.) and had tons of people hankering to yell Objection, slam a desk, and present faulty evidence proving why the sandwich in front of them is in fact NOT grilled but is instead an illusion set up by the demon prosecutors, blah de blah.

The same thing happened when Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All came to the U.S. just this year. People crapped their pants and once again couldn't help but stand up in the middle of class and try and act like the biggest "badass defense attorney there ever was." The release was simultaneously totally awesome and totally annoying. I remember my experience buying it from my local Gamestop (Official Motto: Try as hard as possible to annoy the hell out of the customer in hopes that they won't buy the product they came in to buy.) and it wasn't fun. I asked the clerk if they had any "Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All" games in stock, and it was the most obnoxious experience I've ever had with Gamestop. They first pulled out the first Phoenix Wright game, and they're like "You mean this lawyer game? Hehehee...Here you go 'kid'" (Mind you, I'm clearly older than the idiot that's selling me the game). I then explain to him I'm looking for the sequel to the game he's holding, to which he proclaimed "They made a SEQUEL to this piece of crap game?!" He then asked his manager (Who was definetely much cooler than the imbecile trying to sell me stuff currently. The reason I could tell is that he had no hair. For some reason all of the Gamestop employees I meet who are missing all of the hair on their head are the coolest people ever). He then gave me the game, ringed it up and then proceeded to try and get me to buy the entire store. But I was OK with that because he had no hair.

I think I hate you Gamestop.

Back on topic, PWAA:JFA (That's an abbreviation if you didn't catch that.) is the sequel to the first PWAA. The game features the same familiar faces with some new characters as well (such as the new prosecutor featured, Franziska von Karma). Unfortunately, I found that one character showed up too often in the game (As to not give away any spoilers, I'll just let you know she's a red-afroed bitch) who even showed up in the first game. I swear to god I'm sick and tired of this freakin' character.

Onward men! One of the things that originally captured me with the first Phoenix Wright was the incredible (or at least that's what I still think) soundtrack that came with the game. I can't say I felt the same affection for the music in this game. There are probably only two songs I can say I actually truly enjoy in this game, but the rest do not make me happy when playing. It actually annoys the heck out of me when I'm playing sometimes and I'm listening to some clown music (Apparently the main theme they based this game's music on was clowns. There IS a case that takes place in a circus, but that doesn't mean ALL of them have to.)

The graphics in this game are EXACTLY the same of the first Phoenix Wright. If you enjoyed the simplicity of the sprite animations from the first game, you'll enjoy this game just as well.

Don't misunderstand me now, I still freaking love this game. However, I think both Phoenix Wrights have the same problem. The problem is impossible to avoid, and I don't even think they should attempt to fix it but it's just my opinion. Both games have absolutely no replay value whatsoever. It's not that the game suddenly sucks after beating it, but the main part of what makes the game so good is the guess and deduct game they make you play when you're left in the dark about what's going on. Once you know how a case is going to end, you know exactly what to say and present and it's not challenging anymore.

Like I said though, this problem is inevitable. It'd be impossible to make an Attorney game with any replay value whatsoever that was even halfway decent.

All in all, this game is on my eternal list of favorite games of all time. However, I give it a 4 instead of the 5 I think it should've deserved had the music the game came with made me not want to go to the local bigtop and beat the sh*t out of all the clowns there.

4 star(s) out of 5

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