Review: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

 Now that I've reviewed all four of Apollo Justice's case, I decided that it's time to review the game itself. The game is one of the more divisive installments in the series due to making quite a few risky decisions; some work out and others don't.

Story

The story picks up just over seven years after the last game, Trials and Tribulations, and stars a new protagonist- rookie defense attorney Apollo Justice. His first client is a personal friend of his boss Kristoph Gavin- none other than disgraced former defense attorney Phoenix Wright. As Apollo works to prove himself as a lawyer, he gradually learns of the events that led to Phoenix being disbarred.

If I had to make an analogy to describe this plot, I'd say this game is to Ace Attorney what The Last Jedi is to Star Wars. It's a sequel that takes risks with the franchise, only for the subsequent installment to backpedal on some of those choices. Phoenix is probably the most relevant example, with him being comparable to Luke in The Last Jedi, so I will discuss Phoenix more in the Characters section.

Another thing I'd like to discuss is how well the plot ties the cases together, since Ace Attorney games vary in terms of their overarching plot. On one end of the spectrum, both of the Investigations games have every case be relevant to the main plot in some way. On the other end, Justice For All has no clearly defined plot, save for Edgeworth returning and completing his redemption arc. Without spoiling too much, Apollo Justice skews slightly more toward the Investigations end of the spectrum, since each case has at least a few significant events.

The tone is also strikingly different from the previous games, being far more grounded and featuring fewer fantastical elements. The incidents surrounding the murders range from cheating at card games to a drug smuggling operation gone bad, and there is not even a mention of the Fey Clan or their powers to channel the dead. Apollo's abilities of perception are certainly unusual, but seem to be more within the bounds of realism than Maya's powers.

Characters

Like in other games, the characters are a mixed bag, ranging from surprisingly interesting characters who develop to obnoxious and one-dimensional witnesses

Apollo Justice, the title character and protagonist, is a decent character on his own, but unfortunately gets sidelined, especially during the final case, and comes off as a bit underdeveloped. Spirit of Justice tried to rectify this by fleshing out his backstory and giving him character development, but he still ended up having to share much of the game with Phoenix.

Phoenix is an especially controversial case. He goes from a lawyer who tends to bluff until he can turn the case around to a cynical and manipulative ex-lawyer. The change can be chalked up to him losing hs badge, but the change is rather jarring, especially after he snaps into his old personality after regaining his badge in the following game, Dual Destinies. I can't help but wonder if the story would have worked better with another character in Phoenix's role, although long-time fans likely wouldn't have as much reason to be invested in his replacement.

Ema is similarly controversial. Having last been seen in Rise From The Ashes as a relatively cheerful scientific nerd, albeit one who'd been traumatized by the time she was nearly murdered, she returns as a bitter and acerbic detective.  That said, I personally like how she's not a rehash of the inept but well-meaning Gumshoe, but serves as her own character.

Speaking of changes of pace, the new prosecutor, Klavier Gavin, is a breath of fresh air. Instead of being focused on winning, he's focused on finding the truth, although he does still have to do his job of challenging the defense's arguments and proving the defendant's guilt.

Gameplay

The core gameplay is mostly the same as previous installments. In most cases, you alternate between investigation sequences, in which you gather evidence and question witnesses, and trials, in which you cross-examine witnesses and present evidence to prove your clients' innocence.

Trials have a new Perceive mechanic, since in some situations, evidence may not be enough to get the witnesses to share information. In situations like these, Apollo must carefully listen to the testimony while viewing the witness with a zoomed-in view, then identify their nervous tic, which they only show at the right moment, thus identifying which part of their testimony is a lie. For the most part, it isn't too hard to find out which part is a lie, but the problem is scanning the witness for the part that seems off, since it can be rather subtle and the Perceive view only displays a small part of the witness.

Investigation sequences have various minigames in which you perform scientific investigation, from dusting for fingerprints to using a mixing board to review a song, These make good use of the DS's touch screen and can be a good diversion from the otherwise dialogue-heavy investigation sequences.

Cases

In terms of quality of individual cases, Apollo Justice is among the weakest entries in the series.

If you'd like a more in-depth look at the cases, check out the links below, but be warned; they will spoil the ending

1. Turnabout Trump
2. Turnabout Corner (Part 1, Part 2)
3. Turnabout Serenade
4. Turnabout Succession

For better or worse, most of the cases are non-traditional and at least try to do something different. In particular, the fourth and final case is unlike any other in the series, with the story jumping between Phoenix's final trial seven years ago and a related case in the present day, while the first case has a surprising twist. The other cases aren't quite as novel, but Turnabout Corner features a mostly unlikable client who is nevertheless innocent of the crime, while Turnabout Serenade features a culprit who can't be convicted with evidence alone, presenting novel scenarios that help keep things fresh.

Unfortunately, while Turnabout Trump is a great introduction to the game that effectively subverts expectations of how a tutorial case is supposed to go, Turnabout Corner is mediocre and the other two are lackluster. As a result, players may have a strong first impression of the game, only to end up being disappointed when the latter three cases fail to live up to the first one, or many other equivalent cases in other games of the series.

Miscellaneous

The graphics are a noticeable improvement from the original trilogy(at least their GBA/DS versions), which is a nice change, even if it's a bit jarring to go back to the original game's courtroom in the flashback portion of the final trial. The game uses 3D images effectively, such as in various crime scene diagrams. Unfortunately, the animated cutscene for Klavier and Lamiroir's concert in the third case leaves something to be desired, especially given the lack of voice acting.

The music is as good as ever. It features some excellent new theme songs, such as the theme for the Troupe Gramarye group of magicians, and the game's versions of the various themes for cross-examinations, objections and other trial music are well-done variations on the standard themes for each part of the game.

Conclusion

Apollo Justice is rather divisive, but I admire it for having the courage to do things differently from the others. I conditionally recommend the game, since while it's not the best place to get started in the series(that would be the Phoenix Wright trilogy), it's worth playing if you've enjoyed the series thus far and don't mind the issues I mentioned.