Recensione Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

It was 2007, and I was at Lucca Comics when for the first time I saw a funny figure go by all dressed in blue with a sign that read in red letters Objection!: finally the porcupine lawyer was beginning to conquer Italy too thanks to his unequivocal catchphrase. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy aims to bring back to the memory of those who, like the writer, have already played it and stripped it down at the time and make it known to those who have not yet had the chance. Let's find out in more detail what this collection of the first 3 chapters of the saga has in store for us.

Phoenix Wright: between objections and investigations

The dear old man Phoenix Wright it is exactly as we remember it from the DS version. In each of the episodes we always start in medias res, immediately catapulted into a trial or to the crime scene (although, fortunately, there does not seem to be an indissoluble link between murders and our protagonist as another brat detective we know ...) . We will come into contact with the people involved in the facts and thus begin to explore the neighborhood in a desperate search for evidence that allow us to bring the truth to the surface and overwhelm the attorney on duty, willing to do anything to indict our accused.

This Visual Novel is divided into two distinctly distinct parts. In the exploration parts it is immediately clear how the PC optimization was done in a fairly hasty way and we are faced with nothing more than the porting of the version mobile devices released in 2014 (in turn porting of the 3DS version released the previous year, in turn porting of the DS version… In turn a remake of the GBA version). To analyze the objects on the screen we will have to laboriously drag the icon with the magnifying glass over them with the mouse. It is also possible to simply double-click on what you want to observe but this will not allow the player to know in advance if he is faced with some analyzable element or not. If you want, you can also move the cursor with the keyboard, which will give you the same feeling, if you have ever tried it, of playing Point Blank usando il controller because your friend on duty only had one G-Con.

Once this exploratory phase is over, we will finally be able to enter the clue of the experience that has conquered so many fans over the years: the process.

A "normal" process ...

As well as in similar titles (Danganronpa in fact takes inspiration hands down from the title Capcom), rather than realism Phoenix Wright focuses on fun and a much more arcade and videogame experience. Fortunately, we will not have to deal with all the intricacies of real trials: once we have heard the testimony, we will be able to decide whether to insist on specific sentences for more details or whether present evidence to refute or contradict what the witness has just given: it will be in this case that we will finally be able to feel like a real lawyer hearing the word OBJECTION resound from our speakers. Unfortunately in this version you will not be able to use the microphone of your device to scream at the top of your lungs Objection with a decisive and inquisitive tone, but we are sure that this small lack will not particularly affect your dive.

This cycle of alternation between investigation and trials could last up to 3 times as, according to some new laws promulgated on Japanese soil according to the game, to avoid the indefinite extension of the trials it was decided to make them last no more than 3 days. Beyond the obvious constitutionality doubts that may arise, this allows a fair balance between the plot needs and allows the player to become passionate about the various characters involved from time to time, without affecting the experience with infinite chapters with tedium. that advances inexorably. It must be said that, despite this, there are still occasions when this will happen and we will ask ourselves how much longer the person we are facing intends to deny the obvious and confess her crime ...

... With not too normal defendants

The more or less shady characters that we will meet during the adventure in Phoenix Wright they are definitely what really makes the experience unique. We will find ourselves faced by the clumsy little boy in love with his girlfriend to sprightly old women who will try to impress us at every opportunity, from time to time with a different disguise, to prosecutors equipped with whip inside the court, passing through fake Japanese cowboys intent on pretending to drink alcohol from their flask, without forgetting that to support us in our adventure is a medium dressed worthy of a very high level armor in a J-RPG.

In short, humor is never lacking and is supported by the extremely over the top animations of the various characters, who will show their best expressions from time to time. This, combined with the bizarre situations that will arise before us and the constant reference to puns and allusions of all kinds, contribute to making a game more enjoyable which, if we eliminate the substratum of hilarity and absurdity that remains, however, tries to highlighting very serious problems of Japanese society and, in particular, the malfunctioning of the judicial machine, which even in reality seems to have been built to obtain indictment of the accused at all costs in order to keep the crime rates within the country as low as possible. The aggressiveness of the prosecutors, in fact, combined with the funny clumsiness of the beloved Detective Gumshoe, out of metaphor wants to lead the player to think about what a justicialist type system entails ready to point the finger immediately without a previous careful investigation.

Some objections to the port

At the porting level, do not expect technical wonders or juicy news compared to the previous versions. As in the mobile version, the pixelated graphics that characterized the Phoenix Wright for GBA / DS have been replaced by a softer and more rounded style, losing in our opinion some of the original charm and combining it with a more classic Japanese VN style. It also presents another fundamental problem of them, namely the limited presence of save slots. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy provides the player with a total of 10 saves in all, shared across all 3 episodes. Although it is still an improvement compared to the only present in the original version, it is still a limitation that does not find a logical answer.

As for other options, we are faced with some very limited choices: we will be able to decide whether or not to activate the vibration of our controller in case we decide to use one to play or to disable that annoying flickering of the screen. As already mentioned above, there is a small key configuration problem that will not allow the player to play using only the mouse but will necessarily have to use his own keyboard as well, as it is not possible to reconfigure mouse keys.

Finally, the game does not present within it the old española localization released at the time. Although this may be an obstacle for some, trust that you are not missing anything: while in fact the work carried out on the English localization was superfine, managing to convey the spirit and hilarity of the original text in a completely different language, the version española it was a pure and simple translation of the English version, ruining most of the puns without trying to localize it properly. Instead, we really appreciated having included the possibility to enjoy the game in Japanese, even if it is not possible to change from one language to another during the adventure and we will be forced to exit in the main menu.

In conclusion

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy it does not present many relevant innovations compared to the versions released previously. If you have never played any of the titles this is definitely the best place to start, as it is the most accessible and easiest to retrieve version. The writer has madly loved the games at the exit and would feel like recommending them to anyone looking for an investigative game that knows how not to take itself completely seriously and also knows how to get a few laughs from you. Porting to PC presents some problems but nothing that particularly affects the experience. Arm yourself with lawyer badges, air in your lungs and OBJECTION!

The game has been tested for you in version PC, Steam.