PixlBit

The one series I have been playing a lot of lately are the Phoenix Wright games and their spin-off Miles Edgeworth Investigations. I played Edgeworth 2 years ago and the original PW a year and a half ago and enjoyed them, it was only recently that I decided to catch up on the series for Dual Destinies that I realized just how fucking awesome these games are. The gameplay is minimal, but the thing about it is that what gameplay is there enhances the story they present.

For starters, the courtroom scenes are satisfying as hell. The one thing that is always stressed in Ace Attorney is to trust your client, yet your client always has an insane amount of evidence stacked against them. Fingerprints on the murder weapon, no alibi, and eyewitness testimony are all common things in these games. It is through this that every case usually has two things in common: A lot of lies and deception to prove wrong and very zany murder schemes.

And proving all of these lies and deception wrong is satisfying as hell. The gist of it is to keep pressing the witness until they reveal some kind of contradiction and using evidence to prove them wrong. This is always trivial initially, but then they cover it up with a more glaring contradiction until their testimony does not make any sense at all. And it is satisfying as hell, the witness' reactions are very over the top and the music to accompany discovering their deceit is fantastic.

Yet it is also some of the best use of mechanics as metaphor I have ever seen. The Phoenix Wright games are all trying to prove a point, one that the legal system itself is full of contradictions. It is a lawyer's goal to win a trial, not to uncover the truth behind it. They may be putting an innocent victim behind bars or letting a murderer out on the streets.

Phoenix Wright, however, is a lawyer about finding the truth. He defends people who are not mentally capable of murdering in 1 while 2 and 3 give him a tool to tell when people are lying. In other words, he accepts cases where is job actually is to counter the truth. The games do a good job of discussing this kind of legal system, yet need nothing to back this up because the gameplay themselves is the proof.

That's not to say that these are bent on their message. Quite the contrary as the message of Phoenix Wright is secondary to just letting you have fun and enjoy the characters and crazy murder scenarios. And let me say that these characters are amazing. They're goofy and hilarious, but can also deliver a serious bit when needed. Favorites of mine include Maya Fey, Phoenix's assistant who's also a spirit medium and has the most twisted sense of logic I've seen, Larry Butz, Phoenix's idiot friend whose main purpose is to annoy the crap out of everyone in hilarious ways, and Mrs. Oldbag, an old woman whose every line is gold.

Then there's Godot. He appears only in Trials and Tribulations as your rival attorney, but to put it bluntly, this is one of the greatest video game characters ever made. Just look at this for an example of how fucking amazing this guy is

Most other lawyers just object to how you're only speculating, but not him. He gives a cool jazzy tune and makes sure every line he spouts has some kind of vivid imagery, usually relating back to coffee. This character is so fucking brilliant and it pains me that he's only in the third game of the series. Apollo Justice does not interest me in any way because I'm not feeling what I read on the characters, but if it had even a little more Godot, I'd buy it in an instant. Not only is his character great, but the secrets behind who he is and his motivations are so brilliant yet tragic. 

Ace Attorney Dual Destinies has turned into a day one buy for me. I really hope Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright comes stateside as well because the one area where these games stumble is the investigations can get too vague (though the fun characters usually make up for it. Usually). Replacing those with Professor Layton style puzzles though? Genius.

I'm assuming pretty much everyone here has a DS, Wii, or iPhone. If so, you all have a way to play these games, which are at least worth a look. 1 is probably my least favorite of the series since the first two cases are a little basic, but it's still worth a look. Justice for All (with the exception of that circus case, meh) and Trials and Tribulations meanwhile are some of the most fun I've had with an adventure game.