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Wednesday 5 March, 2008
GAMEPLAY
So this game is fun. How do I know, well when I sat down to play – which I planned to only do for a short period of time – I ended up playing through about half of the game. That's about 5 hours of game play. I'm not sure what it was that drew me in to continue playing, but once I started on each case I just felt like I had to finish it. I mean, for example, the first case the game throws at you has your mentor killed and you left to solve the murder and prove her sister (and you) are innocent. For some words scrolling across a screen the game is pretty intense.
For me, who enjoys reading mystery novels in his free time, this game has proven to be one of the best I have played in a while. Even though the game relies on some of my least favorite game play elements to continue the story – 'GO TALK TO EVERYONE THAT EXISTS, MAKE SURE YOU EXAMINE EVERY SINGLE THING EVER, TOO. HAVE FUN, KTHXBYE.' - it still proves to be a fun and interesting experience. Further, the player really feels like they are doing their part to solve the mystery.
DESIGN
The Phoenix Wright series does an amazing job of using game elements that aren't innovative – text based interaction, 2d sprites, murder mystery – and putting them into a very innovative and different setting from one that the player is used to seeing in video games. The game play itself is not so new and original. In fact it is almost like a text based adventure game. However, the position of a defense attorney given to the player at the start of the game is unlike any other game I've ever played – and I haven't even heard of any other games that revolve around a court room battle.
But even though the setting is innovative, the game play can drag on at times. In fact, when the player is not taking action in the court room, and is instead gathering evidence, the game seems to falter a bit. Instead of going from place to place searching for clues it instead becomes talk to x until you learn y, then move to place a so that person c can tell you more about y. And this can go on for the entire investigation part of the game. Don't get me wrong, it isn't particularly un-fun or bad, but it can get extremely tedious.
Even with these minor flaws though, the setting of the game, and of course the tone it creates makes for an amazing game play experience that I would heartily recommend to any who have not heard of the game.
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