Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All review

Tricky witnesses, evil prosecutors and explosive legal drama make a strong case for this courtroom comeback

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Another cool addition - at least at first - is your new opponent, prosecutor Franziska von Karma. The high-strung daughter of Ace Attorney's diabolical arch-prosecutor Manfred von Karma, Franziska has a score to settle, and this apparently involves cracking her whip in people's faces at every opportunity. She temporarily replaces Wright's rival Miles Edgeworth, but while he actually developed and became likable during the first game, she only gets more obnoxious as her unyielding "I am perfect" schtick plays out.

Another cool addition - at least at first - is your new opponent, prosecutor Franziska von Karma. The high-strung daughter of Ace Attorney's diabolical arch-prosecutor Manfred von Karma, Franziska has a score to settle, and this apparently involves cracking her whip in people's faces at every opportunity. She temporarily replaces Wright's rival Miles Edgeworth, but while he actually developed and became likable during the first game, she only gets more obnoxious as her unyielding "I am perfect" schtick plays out.

She's not the only one, either, but we can forgive a few irritating characters. We can even forgive dozens of spelling errors, long stretches of meaningless dialogue and a script that, while entertaining, tended to leave us knowing exactly what happened and how to prove it long before Wright did.

What's a little harder to forgive is that, unlike Ace Attorney - which featured a made-for-DS final chapter that made full use of the handheld's capabilities - this port of a four-year-old Japanese GBA game doesn't feature any bonus trials. It's not a huge deal, as all the cases still use the touchscreen and microphone, but after the fun of dusting for fingerprints and checking out 3D evidence in Ace Attorney, it's disappointing.

She's not the only one, either, but we can forgive a few irritating characters. We can even forgive dozens of spelling errors, long stretches of meaningless dialogue and a script that, while entertaining, tended to leave us knowing exactly what happened and how to prove it long before Wright did.

What's a little harder to forgive is that, unlike Ace Attorney - which featured a made-for-DS final chapter that made full use of the handheld's capabilities - this port of a four-year-old Japanese GBA game doesn't feature any bonus trials. It's not a huge deal, as all the cases still use the touchscreen and microphone, but after the fun of dusting for fingerprints and checking out 3D evidence in Ace Attorney, it's disappointing.

More info

GenreStrategy
DescriptionPhoenix's second collection of four cases of off-the-wall courtroom drama is coming to WiiWare soon.
Franchise nameAce Attorney
UK franchise nameAce Attorney
Platform"Wii","DS"
US censor rating"Teen","Teen"
UK censor rating"12+","12+"
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.