Ace Attorney Games

I finally finished "Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice" which is the most recent Ace Attorney game. I really liked the last case, and it made me reflect on the series as a whole.

I first came to this series in middle school. I wasn't really into video games, but my friends were already familiar with the series and bought me a copy of "Trials and Tribulations" for my birthday. I really fell in love with the series, I went back and played the other two in the trilogy ("Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" and "Justice For All") and was even on a forum talking about the game for a while.

What I really liked about the game was, well, the fact that I was good at it. I was a smart kid, I knew how to find contradictions and finish the games, they aren't super difficult. And the rest was kinda bells and whistles, sure the tunes were catchy and the characters were fun but it wasn't so different from characters in books and I wasn't really paying attention to the music.

This is the first time that I played ANY Ace Attorney game in a very long time. I fell off after "Apollo Justice" mainly because I really didn't like that game haha. Also by then I was in high school and didn't have as much time for games any more.

Coming back to these games with the ones adapted for the 3DS and with the ones starting to circle back to the original trilogy made for some excellent timing. I could take the changes in stride and was greeted with plenty of familiarity from the characters. I might not have kept going if it ended up being radically different.

And this second time I really started appreciating the artistry behind these games. The characters are so compelling in a way that is rarely found in video games (seriously how often do you play a game for the plot?) and incredibly colorful and vibrant. The songs are catchy and incredible at distilling a mood or a character down to a melody. And since it's a game the way they are composed as a group works together incredibly well, it must have been hard to come up with that. And more than anything else, this is a game series that makes you THINK. It raises questions about the law (it isn't an accurate depiction of the legal system by any means, but it's a way that's easy to understand) and isn't afraid to have the player make legal choices for themselves. Having that element of choice is so important because you HAVE to think about it and come to a conclusion. What is the role of the law? What is the "right thing" in this situation?

I'm sure that growing up with this made me think about issues that shaped me in the ensuing years. And I'm super glad that I took this chance to revisit it now. If you haven't played the Ace Attorney series, I really can't recommend it enough. It's truly one of the best game trilogies that I've seen, and well worth whatever the cost is for it on Steam or iOS.