Review santipilled 4/5 · Jun 8, 2024
Reviewing a compilation like this is kinda weird, so I guess I'll just review it as I go through the games.
Apollo Justice Ace Attorney:
3.5/5
Probably my least favorite AA game so far (I have only played the original trilogy aside from this). That's not to say it's a bad game though. It does a lot of things well, …
Reviewing a compilation like this is kinda weird, so I guess I'll just review it as I go through the games.
Apollo Justice Ace Attorney:
3.5/5
Probably my least favorite AA game so far (I have only played the original trilogy aside from this). That's not to say it's a bad game though. It does a lot of things well, introducing new interesting and fun characters that made it easy to not miss the old cast as much. The interweaving story lines and final climax were also really interesting to me and actually had me incredibly engaged at many points.
Where this game really lacks for me is with the gameplay and with the first few trials (mainly 1 and 2).
The first two trials are weak to me for different reasons: I didn't really care for the characters or story of trial 2, and trial 1, while having an interesting storyline and resolution, suffers from being the "tutorial" trial and therefore being unnecessarily easy with the amount of hints given to you.
I didn't love the gameplay mainly due to the power/gimmick/etc. you use throughout the game. In the original trilogy this was the magatama, which was a very fun way to make investigations/conversations more interactive, as well as adding a bit of logical progression through some cases. Magic power aside, it was a simple way to have you naturally obtain answers that would otherwise be hidden from you. In this game that's replaced with Apollo's perception power, which is only usable in court. This already is a step backwards for me since the investigation portion of the game is now a lot weaker and less interesting/engaging. Aside from that, the power itself doesn't really feel fun to use. You basically scan around the called witness's body to find some tiny twitch or whatever during part of their testimony and call them out about it, which isn't very fun to me. That aside, the power is usually just used by Apollo to be like "you twitched therefore you are lying" and then the witness, against all rational logic or flow of the trial, almost always freaks out and admits to whatever they were lying about. It just doesn't feel logical and kind of dumbs down the experience a little.
Anyway rant aside, I still enjoyed the game a lot, just wish some of the elements had been made more enjoyable and complex. Looking forward to the other two games here.
Apollo Justice Dual Destinies:
4/5
Okay we have come here, a game that seems to be considered the weakest in the franchise by most fans. Personally though I don't mind it. I thought it took a lot of the new elements introduced in the first Apollo Justice game, made them better, and then added new ones which made the whole game feel pretty good. I enjoyed Athena's ability quite a bit and it was nice to play as Phoenix again and use his abilities. Apollo's ability was also toned down and made to feel more organic and understandable with the rest of the game events. I also quite enjoyed the new minigame process of finding things out in trials, even though it was relatively short each time.
My main gripes with this game were the fact that the forensic sections were removed and that some of the story elements weren't super interesting. I feel like they don't do a phenomenal job at really introducing characters and making them appealing like they did in the first trilogy. The second episode and the DLC episode were also pretty weak in terms of story and content personally.
I did love the final episode, with all its thematic feelings and the concept of bringing back a lot of original characters along with a pretty good twist. I feel like it was one of the best episodes in the series, I just wish the other episodes had similar quality.
Spirit of Justice:
4/5
Jeez, I can barely remember when I started playing this stuff but I'm somehow here now lol. Been playing this slowly over the past 2 years? These games are so long that I think it's really helpful to just have a hiatus in between.
Anyway, my review style has minimized a lot since then so this might seem a little non-uniform but oh well.
This was a nice game, felt like it really got back to some of what really made me enjoy the original trilogy, partly due to bringing back characters that were actually enjoyable (imo) and focusing more on bizarre supernatural plots that involved constant twists and crazy stakes. Was nice to play as Phoenix again, though it made me realize how much I don't really care for Apollo, which kind of sucks since he is a main character at the end of the day.
Wasn't a huge fan of how danganronpa-y some aspects became, especially the silly minigame at the end of each trial. Not that I dislike Danganronpa, but it just felt very awkward and clunky here.
Overall a fun game, doesn't really hit the highs of the originals for me aside for some moments in the final trial (which was done really well).
