Aviary Attorney: Definitive Edition

Genre: Visual Novel / Graphic Adventure

Players: 1

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Review:

Aviary Attorney, originally released on PC in 2015 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2020, is a combination of Visual Novel and Graphic Adventure that places players in the role of a defense attorney gathering the details of various cases and cross-examining witnesses to prove his clients’ innocence. Oh, and also, all of the characters here are anthropomorphic animals. Because why not.

Before I go on, I’m not going to be coy about it – if you have ever played any of Capcom’s Ace Attorney games, the gameplay here will seem extremely similar, as this game lifts its formula almost directly from Phoenix Wright and his associates. Still, I always say there’s nothing wrong with a copycat so long as it’s a good copycat, so the question then becomes, is Aviary Attorney a good copycat… or mockingbird, for that matter?

To its credit, Aviary Attorney does deviate dramatically from the Ace Attorney series in one area, its presentation. Aviary Attorney’s visuals have been pulled straight from the line drawings of 1800s sketch artist J. J. Grandville, and backed by classical music of composer Camille Saint-Saëns, a pairing which ensures that this game feels pretty classy despite that it’s a game about a pair of birds in frock-coats investigating animal crimes while trading bad puns.

And to be clear, the puns are indeed bad, but don’t take that to mean that the writing here is too. Quite the contrary, I found the writing in this game to be excellent, and the characters well-crafted, despite that they are largely poorly-animated still images. In fact, on the whole I’d say this game is probably slightly less comical than the Ace Attorney games, though only just.

Honestly, I have to say the overall presentation here is quite charming, although it contains one of the game’s main flaws – the thin lines and sepia tones of the artwork can make it a bit more difficult to see than is ideal, and while players do have an optional “dyslexic” text they can choose, I still wish the text were just a bit bolder overall, and the details of the art more distinct, though of course I can’t fault a 200 year-old artist for not making his works ideally-suited for a videogame.

As for the gameplay, this is close enough to the Ace Attorney games that I feel it hardly needs going over, save for those unfamiliar with that game series. Half of the game is spent interviewing witnesses and looking over crime scenes for evidence pertinent to the case, and the other half is spent in court cross-examining witnesses and finding the flaws in their testimony based on that evidence. It’s a solid formula that works just as well here as it does in the Ace Attorney games, though there are a few distinct differences here.

First, this game mercifully highlights points of interest in an area to make it much less difficult to scan these areas for clues. Also, in a courtroom, you’re allowed to look over the whole of a witness’s testimony all at once rather than being forced to go through it line by line. Finally, there is actually some emphasis here placed on not asking pointless questions of witnesses, as doing so will have the jury lose patience with you and could possibly cost you the case. These are all noteworthy distinctions and in many cases improvements over this game’s inspiration.

There are two more points of note that I should make before wrapping things up here. Firstly, you may think that this would be an ideal game for use of the Nintendo Switch’ touchscreen, and while you would likely be right, unfortunately this game does not make use of that feature, which is disappointing. Also, I would argue that with this game’s roughly 4-5 hours in length, the $20 price tag seems a tad on the pricey side for what’s on offer here.

So, is Aviary Attorney a better game than the Ace Attorney series? Wellll… no. Not only does this game’s presentation have artwork that isn’t always conducive to use in a videogame, but it doesn’t have Ace Attorney’s wonderful animation or iconic characters and charisma… but Aviary Attorney is no slouch, either. This is not a lazy cash-in on a formula, but a genuinely good game in the same style that even manages to do a few things that improve on Ace Attorney’s formula. If you’re looking for a great detective game or courtroom drama, and especially if you’re a fan of the Ace Attorney games, you should absolutely add this game to your collection.

tl;dr – Aviary Attorney is an investigation and legal drama game that lies somewhere between a Graphic Adventure and Visual Novel. In short, this is a game that plays very much like Capcom’s Ace Attorney series, but with sepia line art drawings of anthopomorphic animals and a classical soundtrack. And while it doesn’t quite top Phoenix Wright and his colorful gang, this is still a worthy game in the same vein, with its own collection of memorable characters and great mystery-solving gameplay. If that sounds appealing to you, I think you’ll be pleased with this game.

Grade: B

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