Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Dual Destinies Review Digital Code Cases

Courtroom is back in session

Previous entries in theAce Attorney series never examined the legal system across surface commentary.Apollo Justice came shut when it examined the idea and consequences of a jurist system (something Nippon was about to re-implement at the time, and an idea disappointingly dropped completely from this installment), andJustice for All posed an ethical dilemma in its final example when Phoenix discovered his client was actually guilty (although the solution to that dilemma was a cop-out). Nevertheless, these themes and ideas were introduced in the games' terminal cases, usually brought out every bit a surprise near the terminate, and touched upon only briefly.

Dual Destinies uses all 5 cases to hash out much broader themes that are directly relevant to the real-globe legal system. Despite the inherent ridiculousness of thePhoenix Wright series' depictions of a courtroom, with over the top witnesses, constant objections, and streamers and confetti as a verdict is announced, Dual Destinies actually raises some valid questions well-nigh the legal procedure and how our courtrooms work. Every bit someone who has been involved in numerous criminal trials and has been on both sides of the courtroom in murder cases, I've confronted these issues head-on through my own work, and I was pleasantly surprised to see them discussed in an over-the-acme fictional courtroom game.

What happens when and if the public loses trust in the legal organisation entirely? How exercise you ascertain justice? And, most importantly, what happens when "winning" becomes more important than finding the truth?

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies (3DS [eShop Just; 4432 blocks])
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
To be released: October 24, 2013
MSRP: $29.99

Dual Destinies takes place after the events of Apollo Justice, in a fourth dimension that the game refers to (over, and over, and over) as the "Dark Historic period of the Law." Shortly after Phoenix'due south disbarment in the early events of Apollo Justice for unintentionally producing false evidence thanks to Kristoph, Simon Blackquill, a rise star of the prosecutor's role, was indicted and found guilty of murder. Because of his talents, he'due south still allowed to try cases while incarcerated, and is your main opponent in this installment of the series.

With ii of the best attorneys on both sides of the aisle disgraced, the public loses faith in the system. Attorneys brainstorm resorting to underhanded tactics to win cases — if Phoenix Wright was fabricating evidence to save his clients, why shouldn't they? If defense force attorneys are going to fabricate show, the prosecution needs to discover a way to secure convictions. If the prosecution is convicting past any ways necessary, defense attorneys have to fabricate evidence to defend the innocent.

Information technology becomes a barbarous bike, and gets to the point the top legal university in the land begins grooming information technology students to win at all costs, teaching that the ends always justify the ways. Information technology's our ain legal system taken to the farthermost — while nada in American jurisprudence is as blatant or overt as what occurs in Phoenix Wright, we're reminded that we even so live in a state where local prosecutors are often politicians looking to motility upwards, and defence attorneys are paid to defend their customer at all costs. It's in a similar environment Dual Destinies takes identify — Apollo, Phoenix, and new chaser Athena Cykes try cases, defend clients, and try to put an end to the Nighttime Age of the Law while sticking to their morals.

The structure of the game will exist familiar to any who accept played any of the previous installments. After a short, courtroom-but introductory case, the rest of the cases play out similarly — an anime cutscene introduces the murder, Phoenix, Apollo, and/or Athena show up on scene to investigate, and and then nowadays their findings in a court sequence. For longer cases, an additional investigation/courtroom sequence or two are added, just the general structure remains the same.

Investigative portions play out like they always have: you move from area to expanse, interrogating witnesses and presenting show to them, gathering ammunition for courtroom. Sure areas, commonly the actual scenes of the crime, allow you to search the whole room in a point-and-click style sequence reminiscent of archetype run a risk games. After yous've thoroughly searched the required areas and spoken to all of the necessary witnesses, the game moves to the courtroom phase.

There aren't many changes to the courtroom action either, where gameplay primarily consists of the cross-exam of witnesses. As you discover contradictions in witness testimony, you present evidence to blow their statements out of the water or, when y'all don't accept show, bluff your way through the examination past selecting the advisable responses from small dialogue prompts. It's simple, information technology'south basic, and it works, just like information technology has in the four previous installments.

The one significant new addition to witness examination comes from Athena Cykes, who can use her robot, Widget, and her skills in analytical psychology to read the emotions of a witness as they evidence. During these sequences, you listen to a witnesses testimony while monitoring their four basic emotions — joy, acrimony, sadness, and surprise, and await to detect where their emotions (or lack thereof) don't match the testimony they're giving. Back on the investigative side, Apollo Justice's bracelet, which allows you to observe a witness in slow motion to look for concrete tells that show they're lying. Phoenix's Magatama and the Psyche-Lock system as well make a relatively brief return.

On the whole, Dual Destinies is an extremely strong addition to the series, and my favorite Ace Attorney game so far. The cohesive themes and narrative tie the game'due south cases together more strongly than whatever previous title, and I retrieve the last example just barely beats the Instance 5 of Trials and Tribulations in terms of drama and surprise. New prosecutor Simon Blackquill is a solid addition to the series, although I don't think he can stand up to Godot or Edgeworth.

The existent standout is Athena. Initially introduced as an assistant chaser, Athena's background and her story soon become the core focus of Dual Destinies. While the Ace Attorney series frequently slips into stereotypes and caricature, peculiarly with witnesses, Athena makes for a unique character who'south history, motivations, behavior, and eventual story arc may exist the most well rounded of any characters in the franchise.

Unfortunately, Dual Destinies still occasionally suffers from the same trouble all of the previous games have had — in that location are times when you slice together the mystery several steps ahead of the game, and get bogged down trying to figure out what yous need to do next because you can't spring directly to your conclusion. You can't nowadays the decisive piece of show you know will break the witness also early, because the game's script demands that you do otherwise. Similarly, events in the investigative phase often won't trigger until ane very specific piece of prove has been shown to a certain witness, and the game isn't always clear that this needs to happen for you to movement forrad. Still, these incidents are relatively rare, particularly compared to the previous games, and don't cause pregnant problem across cursory annoyances.

Finally, those who might take gotten excited upon hearing the game had received the series' first e'er Thousand rating from the ESRB should temper their enthusiasm. Just like every other game in the Ace Attorney serial, every case in Dual Destinies involves murder, just there'southward cypher I'd consider overly graphic. My guess is either that the ESRB is simply inconsistent in its ratings, or the M comes from the stories of two carve up witnesses who for whatever reason concerned someone at the ESRB: i witness is revealed to be a different gender than initially presented (their parents forced them to live as the opposite gender and the game leaves it at that), and another grapheme hints at a same-sex attraction. Both bug are given cursory examination, so the cases movement forwards. In any event, aside from the murder present in every game in the serial, there's nothing hither that's inappropriate for teenagers nether 17.

All the same, even though it's non a new, gritty, ultra-violent court drama, Dual Destinies delivers exactly what I wanted from a new Ace Attorney game. Interesting new cases, nifty new characters, lots of twists and surprises, and what is ultimately an excellent work of interactive fiction. Topped off with beautiful 3D animations, an unsurprisingly first-class soundtrack, and some great anime sequences that highlight major moments in each example, Dual Destinies is not to be missed.

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Source: https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-phoenix-wright-ace-attorney-dual-destinies/

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