5/5 ★ – gamerkeanu's review of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is one of the most recognizable games in the franchise, but also one of the moat underrated. It's a game everybody and their mother knows, but only a portion have played. Ace Attorney has sealed itself in pop culture with its spikey haired protaganist and loud quips (OBJECTION! TAKE THAT! HOLD IT!), but its much more than that. The entire Ace Attorney trilogy tells a fantastic overarching story with great characters with a lot of depth. The first entry is about rookie defense lawyer Phoenix Wright, going up against his childhood friend and seemingly "arch enemy", experienced Prosecuter Miles Edgeworth. In each of the 5 cases you defend a client, proving them innocent of whatever crime they're accused of by gather evidence before court. The series is an extremely over-the-top critique of how unbalanced in favor of prosecutors the Japanese law system is, despite taking place in California the series' law system is from an alternate universe where the Americans adapt a Japanese system of law. At the beginning, Miles Edgeworth has never lost a case but Phoenix breaks his perfect record. Throughout the game we see Edgeworth develop until Edgeworth realizes that his job isnt to just get a guilty verdict, his job is to find the truth. Ace Attorney has masterful writing and a phenomenal visual novel system where you cross examine witnesses and present evidence, poking holes in the prosecutor's case until you can- not only prove your defendant innocent- but also find the truth of who the culprit is. For a game made in 2001, it has aged spectacularly. Ace Attorney first released on the Gameboy Advance in Japan only, then was ported to DS (and later modern consoles and phones) worldwide. The series is still spouting titles, crossovers, and spinoffs today so lets hope we continue to see more crazy over-the-top law battles.