4.5/5 ★ – AzulAzuril's review of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy.

I had never really played visual novel games before playing Ace Attorney. I was delightfully surprised at how much I enjoyed these games and this genre upon playing for the first time. I found the deduction style gameplay compelling and satisfying, the art for this game is well done, and the soundtrack is so good. It’s so much fun to shout “Objection!” and to watch witnesses start to crack. The characters are super compelling and loveable, and I personally took such an interest in the friendships between Phoenix, Maya, Edgeworth, and the rest of the cast. The scenarios as just so crazy and inventive that they make for interesting cases to solve. I do have a few small issues with these games- it’s occasionally very unclear what you need to do to progress in each investigation and sometimes the scenarios are so ridiculous it feels like the game has jumped the shark. But otherwise, these are incredible games. My favorite game of the trilogy was the third game, Trials and Tribulations. No spoilers, but the way this game manages to connect threads and loose ends across the entire trilogy was amazing. I was blown away by the quality and cleverness of the writing in this game, and it ends this initial trilogy on such a high note. I found the first game to be a great starting point for the series, as the game rises in difficulty well and does a good job building towards one central narrative. My least favorite was easily the second game, Justice for All. I found this game to have some of the most obtuse puzzles and cases, and there’s no central narrative pushing the story of this forward, leading to the blandest overall game. It’s still a good time, but this collection is at its narrative highpoints at both the beginning and end of the story.