Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

...is another great game in the Ace Attorney series and superb welcome back to Phoenix himself

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies won’t change anybody’s minds about the series’ brand of narrative-heavy, gameplay-light adventuring, but longtime fans will be thrilled by the full docket of goofy legal twists and turns and fun characters. It’s an acquired taste, but one that can be savored in its gorgeous debut on 3DS.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Dual Destinies is a success. Yes, it feels like more of the same, but for a series that has yet to put out a bad title, that shouldn’t be viewed negatively. The writing and dialogue is extremely intelligent and razor-sharp. Moreover, the characters are infinitely entertaining, giving players one of the franchise’s strongest casts to date.

Dual Destinies won’t convince sceptics, as it’s still more visual novel than game and about as linear as it gets. But after a couple of disappointing spin-offs, it’s the closest the series has come to the greatness of the original trilogy.

Themes of friendship and trust make you appreciate the depth of relationships, and the omnipresent question of the necessity of truth provides a compelling backdrop. Phoenix Wright's return to the courtroom brings with it an impressive blend of comedic sensibilities and philosophical examinations that make you question how any judicial system can determine guilt when the relationships people have with the truth are so complicated.

And yet the smart writing and interlocking narratives elevate the straightforward play, drawing you in with a crime novelist's techniques, then challenging and delighting you with those of a crossword-writer. Few will object to such a potent concoction.

Although Dual Destinies doesn't change the series' gameplay, it gives it a really fresh look. The paper like characters of old have been replaced with fully animated 3D characters. The most important events are presented with animated cut scenes, which also contain the game's only spoken dialogue. This is understandable, considering the ridiculous amount of dialogue.

Capcom's lawyer sim continues to carve its idiosyncratic niche with sharp storytelling and impressively polished production values.

Dual Destinies is a comfortable sequel. Yet another episode where satisfaction comes not from some new gameplay innovation but the bordering-on-laborious logic hills that must be traversed. The verbose characters and clue interactions provide several hours of likeable humour per case. This is the perfect game for sitting in your favourite chair with a hot drink and a soft chuckle just hovering, perhaps even spilling into a quiet giggle.

El abogado Phoenix Wright da el salto a Nintendo 3DS con un juego que no propone grandes cambios en la fórmula Ace Attorney, pero que sí aprovecha el hardware de la nueva máquina para aplicarse un lavado de cara visual. Nuevos casos y la misma jugabilidad conversacional que triunfó en Nintendo DS para una obra cuyo mayor defecto es que se encuentra completamente en inglés.

Der trotz aller Wendungen und Überraschungen strikt lineare Spielverlauf sowie die oft sehr aufdringlichen Hilfestellungen dürften hingegen nicht jedem schmecken. Schade auch, dass man sich für die 3DS-Premiere weder umfangreichere Sprachaufnahmen gegönnt noch eine deutsche Übersetzung geleistet hat.

Disponible uniquement sur l'eShop, celui que l'on appelle aussi Phoenix Wright 5 trouvera sans doute son public auprès des fans mais il ne réussira pas à faire connaître la série aux nouvelles générations de joueurs. La faute à une absence de traduction qui limite la cible aux seuls anglophones, les autres n'ayant aucune chance d'apprécier ce qui demeure un jeu d'aventure textuel dans lequel chaque mot a son importance.

A interacção com tudo o que nos desperte uma suspeita tem que ser realizada, sob pena de não ser possível prosseguir para a fase seguinte. A conversa com testemunhas e outras personagens decorre em locais próximos do crime, pelo que tanto podemos ir à prisão, como à vila ou aos arredores do local do crime, ou até ao escritório.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies é uma excelente entrega da série, com alguns dos melhores casos e personagens que se encontram nos jogos com este nome. O salto dado na apresentação traz nova vida aos casos a resolver e apenas a perda de algumas componentes da jogabilidade pode ser apontada como negativa, mas trazendo novidade suficientes com o uso da psicologia analítica no tribunal.

Dual Destinies apre una nuova era della serie, svecchiando la veste grafica e introducendo tanti nuovi personaggi. Mantiene tutto il carisma della serie, ma al tempo stesso pone le basi per un potenziale futuro luminoso, proprio come aveva fatto il primo Ace Attorney.

Dual Destinies is al het vijfde deel in de serie en vult de franchise prima aan. Het feit dat er een nieuwe protagonist bij is gekomen met zo haar eigen technieken, zorgt voor een fris gameplay element. Daarnaast is de game er grafisch erg op vooruit gegaan door de 3D-omgevingen en tussenfilmpjes, zonder daarbij afbreuk te doen aan de stijl.