Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice

Genre: Visual Novel / Graphic Adventure

Players: 1

.

Review:

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2016 and ported to mobile devices in 2017, is the sixth and, as of this writing in 2023, final entry in the Ace Attorney series (not counting the prequel Great Ace Attorney games). In this game, Phoenix Wright finds himself in the fictional country of Khura’in visiting his former coworker Maya Fey as a tourist when he finds his defense lawyer skills needed then his tour guide is wrongly accused of murder, theft, and treason. Meanwhile, Phoenix’s proteges Apollo and Athena looking after the Wright agency back at home when they find themselves called into action as well.

One of the biggest changes this game thrusts upon players early on is the strange situation in Khura’in – for twenty years now, the nation has vilified defense attorneys, and even passed a law demanding that defense attorneys whose clients are found guilty must suffer the same punishment as their client. As a result, trials are little more than a formality and “accused” and “guilty” are generally seen as interchangeable. Phoenix stepping into this situation means encountering a people that despise and distrust him, a court system that’s actively hostile to him, and trial stakes that have been raised to include Phoenix’s own life. The words “Kangaroo Court” almost seem to fit here, though the judge is at least willing to concede when Phoenix has made a valid point.

The other new element in this game is the divination séance feature, a magical ability that allows Khura’in courts to see the final moments of a victim’s life. This makes for interesting moments in the courtroom where players need to find contradictions in the testimony that don’t contradict the evidence, but that contradict the firsthand experience of the victim, a fun twist.

Once again, this gameplay is presented with many of the same bells and whistles of the previous entry in the mainline series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies. Once again, all of the characters are represented by anime-style fully-3D character models with phenomenal cel-shading and some of the best animation on the Nintendo 3DS. For backgrounds, Spirit of Justice combines a few different elements – they are mostly 2D with some minor 3D elements, with some locations that are fully 3D and allow the player to see them from multiple angles. To top all of this off, the game punctuates its different scenes with anime-style animated cutscenes. Overall, I don’t think the effect is quite as impressive as it was in Dual Destinies, but the game still does look quite nice.

All of this is backed by the series’ usual catchy synthesized soundtrack and occasional voice clips, although in the some scenes you do get to hear a bit more character speech than you normally get in these games, which is nice (although it does highlight how much better this game would be if it was fully voiced).

Overall, while I don’t think Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice is as impressive as either Dual Destinies or The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles are, it is nevertheless a solid entry in the series, and the hostile courtroom and divination séance features both add something new and interesting to the franchise. As with all Ace Attorney games released on the Nintendo 3DS eShop in the US, Spirit of Justice was released in digital form only, meaning that when the Nintendo 3DS eShop closes in March 2023, this game will become permanently unavailable (save for the mobile port). If you’re a fan of the series, do not miss your chance to grab this game while you still can!

tl;dr – Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice is the sixth mainline game in the Ace Attorney series of Graphic Adventure / Visual Novel games with a courtroom / detective theme. This game sees series protagonist Phoenix Wright struggling within a foreign courtroom with strange practices and an extremely hostile attitude toward defense attorneys, while his proteges Apollo and Athena try to hold the fort at home. The biggest changes from Dual Destinies are the new setting and the new divination séance feature. This game isn’t quite as impressive as Dual Destinies was, but it’s still a solid entry in the genre, and as it is only available in digital form in the US, you might want to snatch it up quickly before the 3DS eShop is closed permanently in March 2023.

Grade: B+

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