Video Games Review : Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

The blog title says it all. My entry this time is about a video game i played, Phoenix Wright. Why did i write about this game? Well, this game has a lot of relation in terms of applying the critical thinking elements. This game is made for the Nintendo DS system and has about four main series, with the third bring the last of the original protagonist, Phoenix Wright starred in. The Fourth game has his protege, Apollo Justice as the main character. Well, enough about that, let me gave my short summary of the game. This game genre is investigative adventure. The game is more of a courtroom drama rather than just any other video game that you would normally knew of. The main character in the game, Phoenix Wright, a new rookie District Attorney who had just began his career with little knowledge of the law world. He, along with his mentor, Mia Fey, take on murder cases and they defend defendant of each cases. In Episode 1, Phoenix Wright is just introduced to the law world, as he took on his very first case. The victim of the murder was a female postman named Lee that came to deliver parcel to the witness house, Frank Sahwit. The accused was Larry, Wright's best friend. Wright, with his mentor, Mia Fey by his side, solve the case by applying the rule of every Attorney must have: think out of the box. The murder happened at 12.00 P.M and at that time, Larry found the body. As he was there, Mr Sahwit was just came back from his trip and was shocked to see what happened and called the police which came to Larry's eventual arrest. Sahwit testifies that he had just came back home at 12.10 P.M. from his trip.Wright tries to piece things together as he came up to the conclusion. Larry found the body exactly at 12.00 P.M. which contradicts with Sahwit's statement.  Wright asked him why he was there. Larry replied that he was supposed to meet by 12.10 P.M. in the given location which he arrived early so that he wouldn't have that person to wait. Wright sorts out all the information that he gets from Larry and he came up to a conclusion. The murderer of the victim was actually Mr.Sahwit.Larry did not know Mr. Sahwit but he does know Larry. The whole thing was because of Larry who stole Mr.Sahwit's ex-girlfriend which made him feel jelaous towards him. So, he sets up a murder case for him to be alleged with. However, he made a mistake, as Mr.Sahwit's clock was set up to the international clock that oppose with Larry's clock which is the local time. And the fact that Mr.Sahwit knows Larry name is another proof as Larry did not know him. The two was supposed to be strangers, but with Sahwit's own mistake of saying Larry's name it makes up the fact that he had already knew Larry from the beginning which contradicts with Larry's own dubious knowledge of Sahwit's existence in his life. Larry is then deemed to be not guilty. As for Episode 2, A year have passed, and Wright has came to the top as an Ace Attorney. However, darkness looms as Wright's mentor, Mia Fey was murdered. Her sister, Maya fey was alleged to murder her sister. At the end, Wright managed to save her from her execution, and the murderer was the District Attorney from another firm who had revenge towards Mia. Starting from this point, Wright take over his mentor firm, and Maya become his apprentice. As the story progresses, Maya became his partner, rather than his apprentice, and the two take on cases together which makes up the premises throughout the Phoenix Wright Series.

From Left: Phoenix Wright, Mia and Maya. Wright and Maya continues Mia's Legacy.

The basic of this game is that each court cases separate into five episodes. All of the cases are murder cases, and some case relates to other cases; for example the murder of Mask De Masque who is the culprit of the mass theft case. Players have to complete each episode in order to reach the other. The mechanics of the game is that in every court session, players will be pit against the prosecutor and they have to solve each of the murder cases by identifying the statements given by witnesses and contradiction that they gave in their cross examination. For each evidence that is presented, players will have to relate each of the evidence and profiles with the witness statements. The evidence sometimes are insufficient to present. This is where investigation mode came to, where the judge gave time for the player to investigate the crime scene and other places that have to do with the cases and come up with every evidence that they can find. After all necessary evidences are found, the court session will be held later on.

  Players will find through Evidences throughout the game. Testimonial From WItness will later followed by the Cross examination, where players can press the witness for information and present their evidence towards the statement that contradicts with the information given.

If the player found a statement that is quite vague, they can press more for information or present evidence for any inconsistencies with the statement. The player may scream Objection! at the Nintendo DS microphone, or simply just press the Present button to present their evidence.

My final thoughts about this game is that it really teaches me how to think critically, and it also gave me a look on how a court procodure is done. The game is splendid, and i even rate it 9 over 10 marks for its great puzzle which makes up the large part of the game. The story are also incredible, as each character have their unique background story, and the developer of this game, Capcom had made a really great job in making a mind thinking, interactive video game. I think students should play this game as it really boggles your mind to think up more critically.

Oh yeah, a movie that was based on this game is also in production. Check out the trailers :)