Off the bat, I should state that I’m a newcomer to the Ace Attorney series. Closest I have ever been is playing through Capcom’s Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law (much of the same gameplay, but more Hanna Barbera characters). Don’t fret though, readers – whether you’re a newcomer or a long-time fan of the series you are in for a treat.
The main cast of characters in Dual Destinies are the employees of the Wright Anything Agency. A motley crew of three defence attorneys (veteran Phoenix Wright, fledgling Apollo Justice, and newcomer Athena Cykes) are joined by investigative partner and magician, Trucy Wright – Phoenix’s adopted daughter. That might seem like a lot to take in for anyone new to the series, but the initial couple of chapters take their time to clearly define each character and their abilities.
Each of our protagonists has their own style of interrogation and intuition; although each of them doubts themselves enough to presume they are winging it as much as the player. Seemingly magic jewellery plays its part in setting up minigames to decipher when and why witnesses and suspects are lying through their teeth, whether they realise it or not.
If you are unfamiliar to the series, the structure here is not far off a Japanese visual novel meeting a Western hidden object game; only without the branching plots of the former or the relative mundanity of the latter. Each case is split into trial days and investigation days. When off investigating you’ll need to interview witnesses and suspects as well as comb rooms for clues.
Most of the tension comes from the days in court. Not only from seeing every character on the stand break down after pressing them too hard, but also for the player, who has to decide which piece of evidence needs to be presented and when. Hilariously, almost everyone on the stand spins a web of lies at one point or another only to be advised not to do so again. If the player, however, presents evidence at inopportune moments too may times, the judge will have none of that and find the defendant guilty by default. This type of game over is still quite forgiving though, as choosing to continue will drop the player back at the start of the same scene with a full bar of… er… judge tolerance.
Indeed, each personality of the gallery of rogues in Dual Destinies may be over the top, but the localisation and smooth animation does wonders in terms of bringing them to life. It’s easy to be hypnotised by characters flicking their earrings or knitting never-ending scarves. Visually, each scene is intricately detailed in both the 2D and 3D views, while the music complements the tone of each scene to a tee. The animated cutscenes that sporadically intersperse each case are a welcome addition, although the dubbing over the top is not quite my cup of tea. Speaking of which… have you ever heard of ‘tea and cookies’? I thought not. The localisation is in American English, so expect a few extra Zs and fewer Us in the script.
With each of the five cases taking four or so hours to complete, there’s a lot of content to get through. Thankfully, each case are divided up into bite-sized days, each lasting a little more than an hour on average depending on how fast you can blaze through the text. It’s also possible to save the game at any time, so don’t fret if you’re planning to play this on your commute!
The game is available now, exclusively on the 3DS eShop for £19.99. Buying it in the next fortnight guarantees you a costume bundle for free, plus there’ll be an extra case to download as DLC shortly.
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