What I Watched: Ace Attorney - Episode 1

Note: I will be using the English names throughout this post, because those are the ones I know.

I've been putting off watching the Ace Attorney anime, but I finally manned up and watched the first episode. I didn't know if it was going to stay faithful to the plot of the original game, or deviate and do its own thing. Either way would have been fine, but at least in the first episode it's as close to the original plot as it possibly can be. The debut episode covers the entirety of the tutorial case from the original Ace Attorney.

See, I was scared to watch this because of how much I love Phoenix Wright as a character. He's a dork who doesn't know what he's doing at first, but as time progresses he learns to become an excellent attorney. More than that he's not willing to sell out. He has an unflinching sense of personal justice, which is why I think he's so cool. Lucky for me the series seems like it's going to get the characters and the world right.

So far the characterization seems on point.

For the uninitiated this initial case is the first time Phoenix is entering the court room as an attorney. His childhood friend Larry Buttz has been accused of murdering his girlfriend. Phoenix decided to become an attorney because of Larry, but that's something that will be elaborated on later in the series.

Phoenix knows that Larry is an idiot, and there's no way that he'd ever be able to kill anyone. Since it's the first case the whole thing is relatively simple. The girl was found dead in her home next to a bloody golden statue. Turns out that the statue is one that Larry made her as a gift. Since Larry made it, obviously his fingerprints are all over the thing. To make matters worse a newspaper salesman claims he saw Larry leaving the apartment shortly after the victim's time of death! Can Phoenix save Larry from this cruel fate!?

Phoenix needs to find the contradiction.

I'm not here to rehash the plot, but I will tell you all about why I thought this initial episode was so good. To begin with they do a wonderful job of introducing the characters. Mia, Phoenix, and Larry are all characterized by their actions. You can immediately tell how experienced Mia is in the court room. She jumps to Phoenix's aid when he begins to struggle and feels like hope is lost. That's the fear I have about adaptations like this. The characters are so central to the enjoyment of the series, if their characterization isn't done right, then it might as well not exist. So far the show seems to be doing a good job.

People new to the series may not get as hype as I did. I waited the entire episode to hear some of the classic Ace Attorney songs come into play, and when they did I ended up squealing like a little girl. As far as I could tell two songs from the games were remixed and used in this episode, and I can only imagine that more will be done down the road. To go along with the classic jams Phoenix yelled objection and I got so hype I almost fell out of my chair. In the games I couldn't wait to find contradictions in people's statements, and the excitement is not lost in this adaptation. I mean, come on. It's his catchphrase!

OBJECTION!

Overall I think that this initial episode is a great introduction to the series. Since it's a court room drama it's likely to pull in people who aren't familiar with the world or the characters. Then, for people like me, there's all kinds of stuff to get excited about and see happen all over again. I can't wait to continue watching the series now. I'm glad I ended up giving it a shot, or I would have missed out on this seemingly great adaptation. Yes, this is only the first episode, but I have faith that it'll continue on the right path.

Memorable Melodies: Pursuit ~ Cornered from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Song: Pursuit ~ Cornered

Game: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Composer: Masakazu Sugimori

I first brought up composer Masakazu Sugimori a few weeks ago when I talked up the Ghost Trick soundtrack. Before he was writing dope tunes for Ghost Trick he did a whole lot of work on the Ace Attorney series. I love the music in every Ace Attorney game, but I still feel the most connected to the music of the original. There was something much harder about the way its 16-bit tunes came out of the speakers. Everything was super exciting and really made you feel the twists and turns of each case.

Being a visual novel Ace Attorney lives and dies by how engaging it is. Luckily the localization of the series has always been great. Then the music is layered on top of the writing. It always does an excellent job of capturing the exact scenario going on in game. For those who don't know Phoenix is still a rookie attorney in the original game. He's not very good at protecting his clients, but he has a lot of heart. This makes is super exciting when you finally corner your opponent and they have no lies left to fall back on. This is when Pursuit ~ Cornered kicks in.

You know that Phoenix is on the right track when this heavy jam starts up. I think it's impossible for me to not get hype when I hear this song. It makes me want to yell "Hold It," and "Objection" at the top of my lungs. Seeing the character on the witness stand crumble is amazing, because you as the player are the one that made it happen.

This is just one of many great songs from the Ace Attorney franchise, so expect it to come back to this feature at some point. It has a tune for all kinds of situations. 

Top Ten Games of 2013

2013 is over and done with, which means that it's time for yet another top ten list. I have made a sweet list of what I believe to be the top ten games released in 2013. Every game on this list was released this year and I played and beat each one to completion. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion, so we may disagree. A lot of great games came out this year and I had to make some hard cuts, but that seems to happen every year.

As always we'll be starting with number ten and working our way up to the prestigious number one spot. If you want to read my more in depth thoughts on each of these games just click on their names (Except Fire Emblem). See you at the top.

10. Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V may not have been the greatest story ever told, but it sure was ambitious. The new Los Santos Rockstar created is one of the most elaborate open worlds ever seen in a game. It doesn't have quite enough to do in that open world, but it sure is detailed. On top of that you play as not one, but three characters. Each of which is very memorable in their own right.

I don't really know where open world games can go from here, but I hope that Rockstar keeps trying to take them to the next level.


9. BioShock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite seems to have lost a lot of support since its initial release, but I for one will not abandon this great game. Yes, the combat wasn't the greatest, but it certainly wasn't the worst. In fact it improved upon the combat of the original in some very meaningful ways. Plus jumping around on the sky rails is pretty freaking sweet.

I came to Bioshock Infinite expecting an interesting story and that's exactly what I got. If you think about it too much everything completely unravels, but that's the case with almost any science fiction. The ending of Infinite continues to blow my mind months after having completed the game. If you haven't you should really check it out.

8. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle Royale

This was the first game I have ever imported and I couldn't be more happy about that. The cel shaded graphics make everything look ripped straight from the manga. Cyber Connect 2 put so much care into every single aspect of this game's animations in order to keep them true to the source material. This is a must own game for fans of the Jojo series and in my case made me a fan.

The fights are fun, but not super deep. It may not have a long life on the tournament scene, but Jojo's ASB is still one of my favorite fighting games of all time. If you're not crazy enough to import it you can just wait for the US version to come out later this year. I will definitely be buying it again.

7. Super Mario 3D World

Super Mario 3D World is the best looking game I have played this year. Mario has made an amazing transition into HD and I couldn't be happier. This game is actually innovative in a way that many Nintendo games just aren't anymore. I don't really know why Mario and friends can don a cat suit, but it's certainly an excellent addition to the Mario suit repertoire.

Super Mario 3D World is just plain fun, which is something I can't say about a lot of games these days. If you're one of the three people who have a Wii-U this is something you have to buy.

6. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

Phoenix Wright has returned to the court room once again and I couldn't be happier about it. This is coming from someone who actually really liked Apollo Justice. The game is largely the same as it was before, but with snazzy new 3D models and fully voiced anime cutscenes. I could do without the voice acting, but other than that everything is streamlined for the player's convenience.

I loved to hang out with Phoenix and Apollo again. It seems like Capcom is already hard at work on the 6th entry in the series. Hopefully this one sold well enough in the US to make them keep bringing these over here. I love this series and it seems to only be getting better.

5. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

I didn't understand the Monster Hunter craze before I played this game. Somehow it sucked me in and I got lost in my hopeless Monster Hunter addiction for hundreds of hours. I have finally escaped, but I still get that sweet craving sometimes.

There's something magical about hunting a fearsome beast with your friends. Even though the game is very unforgiving to new players if you take the time to figure the game out it's a whole lot of fun. You just have to know what you're getting into. Perhaps someday you too will be one of those crazy people who understands the seductive power that is Monster Hunter.

4. The Last of Us

I will never forget the ending of this game. Naughty Dog created some of the most memorable characters ever seen in a video game. Joel and Ellie feel like real people. Their voice acting is impeccable and their facial expressions and movements are very lifelike.

The survival gameplay is serviceable and really makes you feel like you're living in a post-apocalyptic zombie mushroom world. It's a horrifying place, which is backed up by brutal depictions of violence. If you haven't played this game you need to. I wasn't into it at first, but once you start to see the relationship between Joel and Ellie unfold you'll be hooked.

3. Pokemon X/Y

Everyone always complains that Nintendo never changes anything, but this time they have. The world of Pokemon on a handheld has been brought to the third dimension. Battles look great, because each Pokemon has their very own detailed 3D model.

It might not seem like a big deal, but the introduction of fairy Pokemon completely changes the way Pokemon's battle system works. On top of that some Pokemon can even mega evolve now to become super powerful. This iteration changed so much. Hell, you can move diagonally for god's sake! Nintendo has finally changed Pokemon in some very meaningful ways and I can't wait to see where they go next.

2. Fire Emblem: Awakening

I really like strategy RPGs. One of the things that always bug me about them is that you get so many characters and never really get to know any of them. That's not the case with Fire Emblem Awakening. The excellent translation paired with the social system makes each character feel like they have an identity.

Awakening takes all of the best elements from each Fire Emblem and mashes them all into one game. You can get certain characters married and then use their children in battle. The children inherit skills and have increased stat gain, so they tend to be super beastly. It's a really cool feature. Fire Emblem Awakening is a truly deep game with a whole lot of content. I fully recommend it to anyone who owns a 3DS.

1. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

The days of the 50-80 hours RPG are almost dead and gone. Ni No Kuni however allowed me to revisit the days of old when RPG worlds felt magical and full of whimsy. Everything about Ni No Kuni is very charming and it does an incredible job building its fantasy world. The Wizard's Compendium is a literal book inside the game that's chock full of information about the world.

Ni No Kuni is one of those games with a ridiculous amount of side activities to do and secrets to find and I did almost everything. The monster collecting aspect had me hooked immediately and the lively battles kept me interested. At first glance it seems like a game for little kids, but the combat gets to be quite challenging.

Ni No Kuni is a special game to me, because it made me feel like a kid again. It made me feel like there's still hope that the type of grand RPG adventures I used to have as a kid will keep coming out. I loved Ni No Kuni and I hope that you'll check it out as well.

     -Manny

Game Time - October 2013

October was just about as awesome as I expected it to be. That is the main reason why it's now November 5th and I'm writing the October edition of game time. I've been pretty late on these the past few months, but that's a good thing. I've been busy playing awesome games.

In terms of awesome games this month was a doozy. On the 8th I picked up Disgaea D2 in store, because I hadn't pre-ordered it yet. For some reason I thought it was coming out at the end of the month, which was when I had planned on making time to play it. Due to my miscalculation I haven't played as much of it as I would have liked. I'm a solid 8 or so hours in and so far it hasn't grabbed me as much as I was hoping it would have. However, there's still plenty of time for that to happen.

The real reason I didn't play much Disgaea is because Pokemon X and Y came out a short four days later. In order to play as much Pokemon as humanly possible I requested off from work on the 12th and 13th. In those two days I played over 24 hours worth of Pokemon X. It was awesome, and the game continues to be awesome after 78 hours of play. I've still got a lot to do and I don't see myself stopping any time soon.

On the 24th the 5th game in the Ace Attorney franchise was released as a downloadable only title on the 3DS. I still wish it would have been a full retail release, but I understand that the franchise hasn't exactly had the most stellar sales in the west. Hopefully this game makes up for that and all future games in the series are localized. I'm up to the 5th and final court case in the game and shit's getting very real. I'll probably end up finishing it tonight or tomorrow. All I know is that Phoenix Wright made his return to the courtroom well worth my time.

I have so much to say about these games, so I better get into it. It's game time!

Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness

At some time in my high school career I picked up a copy of Disgaea 2 not really knowing what it was. I played through the first few chapters just as I would any strategy RPG. I still remember the map where everything changed for me. It was in a swamp and for some reason I had to fight Etna. She was level 1,000 or higher and my characters were barely 20. I was decimated, but found out I was supposed to be. It became my new goal to get strong enough to beat her. Little did I know that I would be able to get my characters to level 9,999 multiple times through insane level grinding with exponential experience. I played the living hell out of Disgaea 2 and from that point on I was hooked. Eventually I went back and played the first game, and since then I have played and been horribly addicted to each new iteration.

After going back and playing Disgaea 1 it became my favorite game in the franchise. For some reason I really like the main character Laharl, even though he's an egocentric whiner. Perhaps it's his lack of a shirt and the bad-ass laser sword he uses that make me like him so much. He ends up being my most used character in every game despite not being heavily involved in any of the main stories aside from the original game. With Disgaea D2 he makes his triumphant return as the main character.

Laharl turns into a lady during D2. I really like the character design!

I still love Laharl, but D2 has made me realize how little I like Etna and Flonne. There are only so many times you can joke about not having any boobs before it becomes upsetting. I don't want to be mean, but Flonne is too dumb for me to handle. I realize she's an angel who was kicked out of heaven and she's super innocent and naive, but it's just annoying. I didn't like the part she played in Disgaea 4's story either. In fact, I think she detracted from the overall feel of that story. This is what bugs me about D2 the most. It's a direct sequel to the story of the original game, so it focuses on the original three main characters. In theory that would be awesome, but for some reason the only other story character you get is a little girl who claims to be Laharl's sister. I don't like her at all either, so I'm stuck using the generic characters, Laharl, and the three story characters I find to be annoying. Once I get to the post game I can unlock the characters I liked from Disgaea 4, but I feel like that's a long way to go with a lackluster set of characters.

The story seems weak, which is putting me off a bit. It's a shame though, because everything else seems so well done. It eases you into the combat and teaches you a lot better than previous iterations of the franchise did. I want to beat the game so I can get sucked into the endless grinding and loot progression that I so desperately crave. Hopefully I can get past the characters I don't like and focus on how awesome Laharl is to get me through the game. Now that I'm winding down on Ace Attorney I should be able to play, or at least try to play a bit more.

Ace Attorney 5: Dual Destinies

I don't care what anyone says; Apollo Justice was a great game. Sure, he may not be Phoenix Wright, but that's okay. The original Ace Attorney trilogy ended in such a way that I didn't mind that Apollo had taken his place as the main character. With that said I'm glad that Phoenix is back as a playable character and back in the spotlight. Even though this time he's sharing his spotlight with Apollo and the fresh out of law school Athena Cykes.

Ace Attorney 5 plays just like the previous entries in the series. It's essentially a visual novel, but at certain points you'll need to explore crime scenes for evidence and present said evidence in court at the right time. What's nice is that everything is easier this time. When searching for evidence you control a cursor shaped like a hand pointing with it's index finger. When an area can be investigated a circle will appear over the index finger. To make things easier on the player the circle will turn into an X if you've already searched that area or object. It makes the investigations less frustrating, because you can easily see if you're missing anything. In a similar vane you can travel anywhere at any time. In the previous games you could only move to certain places if you were close to that place, which was terribly annoying. You'd have to backtrack through several screens for no reason whatsoever.

Look at how badass Apollo looks!

All of the character models are now full fledged 3D. You can see Phoenix yelling objection as a glorious 3D model instead of his regular old 2D sprite. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it looks really good and allows for a much wider range of motion. It's only really noticeable with the 3D turned on though. For some reason without it everything looks very flat. Without it the characters look painted on the background. With the 3D on everything looks like it was much more depth. Each background has several layers, and certain objects are accentuated. It reminds me of how I thought Kingdom Hearts 3DS had better graphics with the 3D on. It probably isn't the case, but it sure looks a lot better to me.

If the addition of 3D models isn't enough for you then perhaps you might enjoy some anime cutscenes. They're interspersed throughout the game and add to the story in a way that wasn't previously possible. The part that cuts the anime down for me a bit is the fact that's it's voice acted. It's not exactly the best voice work that I've ever heard. What makes it worse is that it's at odds with the rest of the game, which isn't voice acted at all. They could have easily gotten away with having no voice acting, because the scenes mostly show actions as opposed to conversations. The actors aren't even necessarily bad, they just don't fit the characters very well in my opinion. Since there have been 4 previous games in the franchise where the only spoken words were hold it, take that, and objection the voiced scenes are generally off-putting.

Witness Phoenix in all his 3D majesty!

The good news is that in regular Ace Attorney fashion the new characters are very well done. Athena Cykes is a brand new lawyer that Phoenix hired. I'm in the final case now and I still don't know exactly what her deal is, but she's an interesting character so far. She's easily excitable, but knows when she has to get serious. Just as Phoenix has his magatama, and Apollo has his magic bracelet, Athena has a robotic talking necklace named Widget. Widget will say what Athena is thinking, but he also allows her to sense discord in people's emotions. In the court room this adds a brand new way to cross examine. Occasionally she will sense discord and launch into an emotion detection sequence. As the witness speaks there are four emotions that they can be feeling. You must figure out what emotion doesn't fit with the testimony in order to bring out the truth and enact justice.

As is common with each game there is also a new prosecutor. Prosecutor Blackquill is a prison inmate who for some reason is allowed to work in a court of law. He was convicted of murder seven years prior to Ace Attorney 5. I have yet to find out what he was convicted for, but I'm super pumped to find out. He's generally very calm and collected, but becomes angry when he feels like his time is being wasted. Like the other prosecutors he is fairly hostile towards any opposing lawyer. He often sicks his pet bird on people, and throws knives across the court room. You know, things that are totally legal. He's a great opponent, because it seems that he believes in justice as opposed to only caring about a guilty verdict.

The anime scenes would be so much better without the voice acting.

As I mentioned previously I have just started the final case and I can't wait to see what happens. In the beginning though I wasn't very interested in the story. The first case failed to grab me, but it's importance isn't clear until the third case. I can't tell if it's the way this game is written, or if I'm just not used to the logic of the series anymore, but I keep finding myself not knowing what to do. Generally the series has it's own internal logic, but there have been numerous occasions when  I just have no idea what evidence I'm supposed to present in court. I've found myself getting much more frustrated than I did in previous titles despite the fact that everything is much more streamlined. Part of that may have been due to the fact that the story hadn't picked up yet. So while the experience has been frustrating it's been great to see Phoenix take up being a lawyer again after his supporting role in Apollo Justice. Overall it feels like an Ace Attorney game that's super streamlined, but slightly more frustrating than it used to be.

Pokemon X

Pokemon is and always has been one of my favorite franchises. Even though it doesn't change a whole lot with each iteration, it changes just enough to keep me coming back for more. This time Game Freak changed much more than usual and the result is amazing, which makes this the best generation of Pokemon yet.

To really shake things up Game Freak added in a whole new type. Dragon Pokemon are generally known to be overpowered. They are almost always very strong and have few weaknesses. In order to combat that Fairy type was added in order to take Dragon type down a few notches, because as we all know faeries are a dragon's only true weakness. What's insane is that fairy Pokemon are totally immune to Dragon moves. This addition might sound like a small thing, but it totally changes the entire basis of Pokemon battles. It's going to shake up competitive battling in a major way. I use a fairy Pokemon on my team and it's pretty awesome.

Sylveon is my favorite fairy Pokemon. It's a beastly special defense tank.

As if adding a whole new type wasn't enough Mega evolution is now a thing. Certain Pokemon can now mega evolve by holding a special stone. For example Tyranitar can turn into mega Tyranitar when holding Tyranitarite. When a Pokemon mega evolves it gets better stats and in some cases new typing, and a new ability. There are only around 20 Pokemon that can mega evolve, which means that a lot of people are going to start using those Pokemon. You're only allowed to have one Pokemon go Mega in a battle, so you can't just run a team of all super powered megas and steamroll everyone.

The most mind blowing change in X and Y is that everything is fully polygonal. All the models in the game are 3D and it's incredible. The overworld and characters don't look like anything special, but battles are amazing. The detail in animation of every single Pokemon and attack are unmatched! Since every main line Pokemon game prior to this has been fully sprite based this is a big change and a large step forward for the series. The only tradeoff is that the frame rate doesn't always hold up in battle, especially if you utilize the 3D of the 3DS. More often than not if you have the 3D turned on in battles the frame rate will drop by half during each attack animation. It's disappointing, because it all looks so good! The models still look good though, so it's just as nice to see the models without the 3D cranked all the way up.

The Pokemon models look very good for being on the 3DS.

Everything seems to happen faster in X and Y as well. You can immediately run, which is normally an ability you have to earn. Then after the first gym you gain access to the roller blades, which almost double your movement speed. Battle text scrolls faster by default as well making battles move quicker. It seems to me that leveling up your Pokemon takes less time too. For some reason you still gain Exp even if you capture a wild Pokemon now. The main reason leveling is faster though is due to the Exp. Share. While this has been an item in every single game it now shares the experience between every Pokemon in your party as opposed to just one. To make it even more mind blowing it's not even an item that a Pokemon has to hold anymore. Instead it's a key item that you can turn on or off at your discretion.

All around it seems that the series is trying to become more accessible. You get right into the game much faster than you did before, and it's a whole lot easier to level up and move around. Even the previously intense meta-game of your Pokemon's stats has been made easier. I don't want to get into the intricacies of EVs and IVs here, but I will say that they're now both easier to control. EVs have been completely trivialized, because now you can just play a soccer-like minigame for an hour or so completely max out the EVs you need on a single Pokemon. Breeding for IVs used to be overly complicated and take a good amount of luck, but I was able to breed a Pokemon with perfect stats in just a matter of hours. Sure, I got fairly lucky, but it's still way easier to do now. This all means that more people can get into Pokemon now, and people who previously found the competitive aspect too daunting can now get into it much more easily. This will be the first generation where I have a competitively viable team to use online.

Competitive battles might be much more prominent this generation.

Many people complained that there were only 70 brand new Pokemon, when there has been at least 100 per generation previously. I was upset at first too, especially since most of the designs are kind of poor. Now that I've played the game I no longer have any complaints. With less Pokemon it was much easier for Game Freak to add in all kinds of new features and make the Pokemon we all know and love into something much better than it was before.

I've been playing Pokemon since the original games came out over a decade ago and I've liked each and every iteration of the franchise since then. I can say without a doubt that this generation is the peak of the entire series. Game Freak has hit an all new high and I hope that they can top it with the next iteration. People complain that these games are too similar every year and for the first time this entry is actually very different. I love Pokemon so much. It's one of my favorite franchises and it makes me so happy that it's still so awesome after all these years.

A New Age is Dawning

This console cycle is coming to an end. On November 15th the PS4 will be here and with it an all new era of gaming will begin. While there may not be many exclusive games coming out for the thing it's still very important. The week after the Xbox One will be out and then we're truly into the next generation of console gaming.

I pre-ordered the PS4 and it will be at my door on the 15th. Since I can no longer get Watch Dogs until June of 2014 I am going to have to settle for Assassin's Creed 4 instead. I'll probably type up a whole bunch of stuff about the PS4 as I use it. Also expect me to post some videos of myself playing video games over the next few months. The PS4 allows for direct streaming to Twitch, which I can't wait to try out.

The next edition of Game Time will take place in an entirely new era of gaming!

     -Manny

Game Time - May 2013

You know what? I don't have an introduction for this week. I played two older games and a newer PC release. I enjoyed all three. How much you ask? Well let's find out together. It's game time!

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

Now that Ace Attorney 5 coverage has been picking up my urge to play more Ace Attorney has picked up as well. Last month I finally finished Apollo Justice, but it just wasn't enough to whet my appetite. In order to relieve my insatiable hunger for more Ace Attorney I picked up the final US release of the series Ace Attorney Investigations. It's slightly different from the normal Ace Attorney Formula, but only very slightly.

This isn't just your run of the mill Ace Attorney title. It's all about investigating crime scenes as prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. It may as well be called Ace Attorney: CSI Edition. I expected playing as a prosecutor to be far different than playing as a defense attorney, but sadly that is not the case. This is still essentially the same game it was before, except you never truly go into the courtroom. Somehow Edgeworth gets mixed up in a series of murders. Obviously as a big time prosecutor he must get to the bottom of what exactly transpired in each given scenario.

You can walk and run around small environments!

Yes, you do the exact same thing in the normal Ace Ace Attorney Games. You check out the scene, gather evidence, and talk to people. The main difference is that you get to walk around! I know, it's a mind blowing change that would lead you to believe that it adds to the game overall. Surprise, it doesn't. Even though you can walk around the crime scene you still aren't allowed to leave until you find everything you need to. The only benefit walking around conveys is that you can walk to other pieces of interest instead of navigating a menu, which is equally effective. Although I assume drawing out full sprites for every character takes much more work.

Edgeworth is a smart dude, so he can use logic. Examining things sometimes allows him to deduce things about the scene or crime at hand. These deductions are added to the brand new logic menu. In the logic menu you can fuse two pieces of logic alchemy like into a piece of evidence, or another piece of logic. It's not anything mind-blowing, but it is different.

Kay is great and I hope she's in Ace Attorney 5

It's cool to see Edgeworth in the side of the Ace Attorney franchise that we never see. However, I would have preferred something a little more different than the main series. It would have been a cool spin on everything if you actually did have to go into the courtroom as a prosecutor. Proving someone is guilty would actually be quite different than trying to prove their innocence, plus every person you defend as Phoenix or Apollo is innocent. Sadly this ends up being more of the same with a few minor changes.

Even though it's more of the same I still love it. It's nice to be able to learn more about Edgeworth and Gumshoe firsthand. The new characters they introduce are actually quite well done too. I really hope that Kay the lovable ninja/theif makes a guest appearance in Ace Attorney 5. The story is still quite good, although I don't think it's quite on par with the rest of the series. What sucks is that this game didn't sell well when it was released although I can kind of see why. Due to that fact, the second Ace Attorney Investigations may forever be a Japan only release.

Super Metroid

For years I've  heard about the greatness that is Super Metroid and now that it's been released on the Wii-U virtual console for a whopping 30 cents I've finally gotten around to playing it. At first I was afraid that it wouldn't live up to my expectations, because people really like to talk it up. Thankfully this is one of the times where the game actually lives up to the hype. It's one of the most atmospheric 2D adventure games I've ever had the pleasure of playing. It's easy to see how people look to this game and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night when they try to explain games of this ilk and their quality.

Super Metroid hasn't been all fun and games so far though, it has also been quite sobering. It's a common complaint that modern games hold the hand of the player a little too often. After playing a few hours of Super Metroid I can now say that modern games have made me soft. Games today are chock full of tutorials and hints to get you through difficult spots and let you know the game mechanics. This game is nothing like that though. Samaus is more or less dumped on planet Zebes and then you're left to your own devices. Sometimes upon picking up weapons and power-ups there will be instructions on how to use them, or what they do, but that's not always the case.

I love the title screen for this game.

You have to figure out where to go all on your own. There is nothing there to hold your hand. There are no magical bread crumb trails, or pop-up hints when you're taking too long. There were multiple times where I came to a complete stop, because I literally did not have what I needed to advance. I've had to backtrack on multiple occasions and gotten completely lost, even with a map. What's weird is that Super Metroid is a product of the era when I started playing games. It's not like I'm unaccustomed to games of this difficulty, it's just that I'm not used to having to figure things out all on my own anymore. I'm actually glad I'm having trouble finding exactly where to go and what to do. I actually enjoy banging my head against the game until I make progress. It's not like the game is impossible to figure out, it's just that it takes more than one look to figure out exactly what you need to do.

For fun I decided to hit up the Miiverse to see if anyone else was having the same type of experience that I was. People weren't exactly having a sobering epiphany about how modern games like to hold your hand and stroke your ego. Instead I saw countless posts about people getting frustrated, because they couldn't figure out what to do in any capacity. More often than not people were taking screenshots of where they were to ask for help. It's crazy to think that there is a whole new generation of gamers out there who might not like this type of game, because it doesn't spell everything out for you. Thankfully I still like figuring things out for myself, so I'm going to continue playing. Sometimes working to figure something out is more rewarding than getting it immediately on your first try.

Game Dev Tycoon

Many moons ago I bought my first android phone. At that time I entered the world of mobile gaming by purchasing Game Dev Story. As you may have surmised it was a game about game development. The goal of the game was to make the best video games you possibly could. In order to do so the game required you to hire and train employees in game making. They would all toil away by putting points into your game, which would then be reviewed and make you money or completely tank. The cycle would then continue until you either got bored, or lost all of your money. Most of the time I got bored, but that didn't stop me from buying Game Dev Tycoon for the PC this past week.

I know what you're thinking. Game Dev Tycoon sounds almost exactly like Game Dev Story. Guess what? You're right, they are almost the exact same game. In fact, they're so similar it surprises me that there is no type of legal action involved. While the games may be very similar I still find what Game Dev Tycoon has to offer appealing to a certain extent.

Get ready for a lot of bars and sliders.

You start off all by yourself making games in your garage. At first you can only develop games for the PC and G64, the cleverly renamed C64. You choose a platform, genre, and topic. In my case I always start by making Fantasy Rpgs for the G64. Once you choose what to make the development process starts for "real". Three different colored bars with sliders will appear. There will always be three bars, each one representing an area of focus. Sliding each bar will determine how much focus you put on that specific aspect of the game. Once finalized different colored bubbles will fly from your characters head. Design and Technology are what you want a lot of to make your game succeed. However, bugs and research will also be created. Once the game is finished you can push it out for release immediately or give yourself some time to fix the bugs. Shortly after release you will get four reviews from "famous" gaming publications. The reviews will dictate how well your game sells. After the review roundup it's time to make a new game and start the cycle all over again.

As your company makes games you'll gain money to put towards even better and new games. You'll eventually be able to research new technologies, design custom engines, hire employees, and market your games. New mechanics get rolled out at a regular pace to keep mix up the gameplay and keep it exciting. I use the word exciting liberally, because in reality this is a game about watching numbers count up and progress bars fill. There's something about it that's oddly satisfying to me though and I got pretty sucked in the first few times I played.

I always lose the game shortly after I make it to this office...

While the game is still enjoyable I kind of ruined it for myself. My first few play sessions I would make it up until the Super Nintendo era of gaming before my company would completely tank. The games my company was releasing were getting terrible reviews, even if they were technically better than the previous releases of the same type. After failing a couple of times I visited a wiki to discover what I was doing wrong. Apparently if the games you create aren't at least 20% better than the previous one of that type then they totally bomb. Knowing this totally broke any connection I had to the game, because now I can only think of the numbers. Yes the game is mostly just numbers anyways, but before it was masked by a sense of discovery.

Since I purchased the game I have received several emails from the developer. These emails seem to acknowledge the fact that the game can be pretty unforgiving at certain stages. They're planning to fix those issues in order to accommodate other play styles. Hopefully one of those play styles is mine. I'm going to wait until the new version of the game comes out before playing any more, because I really don't enjoy exploiting the system.

Get Hype For E3!

Now that we know a bunch about the PS4 and Xbox One it's time to start getting excited for E3. Since it's the dawn of a new console era it's sure to be exciting. We'll finally get to see a whole bunch of next generation titles, which are hopefully as awesome as I'd like them to be. Maybe we'll even catch a glimpse of the ever elusive Final Fantasy Versus XII, but only time will tell. I'll probably have a whole bunch of thoughts and opinions about E3 as it's happening, so check back in a few weeks to see all that good stuff.

In terms of games June is actually going to be pretty big. I thought that the summer dry spell had already started, but turns out that was just a brief respite from my extreme spending habits. Even though I've been hearing nothing but negativity surrounding the futuristic Remember Me. I still decided to pre-order it anyways. Hopefully that's good. Then you've got Animal Crossing New Leaf and Project X Zone for the 3ds, which I'm super excited for.

Maybe I'll even break down and buy The Last of Us, because every time I see a new trailer for it my brain tells me that I need it. Do I really need another zombie game though? I don't know, but stay tuned to Game Time to find out.

Review of DLC for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

This is a review of the DLC Rise from the Ashes for the Wiiware release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Score: 5/5

The original Phoenix Wright games were for Gameboy Advance in Japan. They were eventually ported to Nintendo DS and released across all regions. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney received an extra case when it was ported to the DS called Rise from the Ashes. This bonus case utilized the additional capabilities of the DS to add a bunch of new gameplay elements. This case was not included with the Wiiware release of the game, but was added later as an optional download.

Rise from the Ashes may be one of the best cases in the series, if not the best. I may be mistaken, but I feel safe in saying that it’s the longest case in the whole series. It takes place after the final case of the original game. Phoenix has proven victorious and Maya has left for spirit training. The case begins when Ema Skye visits Wright and Co. Law offices. Her sister has been accused of Murder and she needs a defense attorney. The interesting part about this case is that two murders happened in the exact same fashion in two places. In this case you’ll meet many exciting characters, but that’s standard fare for the Ace Attorney series. Where this case differs the most is in the gameplay.

Just like the rest of the game Phoenix will need to investigate areas and speak with people involved with the case in order to gain information and evidence. This is done the same as in the main game, but Phoenix has some new evidence gathering tricks up his sleeve. Ema Skye takes Maya’s place as Phoenix’s assistant in this case and it just so happens she’s a forensic scientist. Early on in the case she’ll give Phoenix luminal fluid, which can be used to search for washed away blood stains. Using the fluid allows for the player to spray around the crime scene with the Wii-mote until a blood stain appears. This allows for more information to be gathered at the crime scene.

Another new gameplay element is the ability to search for fingerprints. In certain story sequences you will have to choose an area to search for fingerprints. Using the Wii-mote powder can be sprinkled over the area. Shaking the Wii-mote will get rid of the powder, leaving a fingerprint behind. Once you have the fingerprint you will need to try to match it against everyone you’ve met so far. This allows for even more evidence.

These two new investigation techniques may not seem like much, but they vary the gameplay quite a bit. The Phoenix Wright games were very similar in gameplay, so it’s refreshing to see some new content in this case. It gives the player more interaction with the game in fun ways. I find it odd that they only added this type of interaction to the first game though. It seems like a missed opportunity for the series.

This case also utilizes the improved graphical capabilities of the DS. At one point in the case there is a videotape that must be reviewed. Everything that happens is rendered in full 3d and animates quite well. It would have been cool to see this in the following Phoenix Wright games, but I was content to see it here.

Rise from the Ashes is an excellent case. It has memorable characters and a great overarching plot. The addition of the new gameplay mechanics make this case even better. If you have Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney on Wiiware it’s hard to pass up this add-on when it only costs a dollar.


Note: This review is also posted on giantbomb.com

     -Manny

My Quest for Justice

About two weeks ago I somehow found myself watching the following trailer for Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice.

I don't know how I feel about someone
other than Phoenix yelling objection.

Prior to watching the trailer I knew very little about Apollo Justice, and I didn't want to. Phoenix Wright is one of my favorite characters of all time, and I didn't want any part of a game that he wasn't in. As you can imagine my mind nearly exploded when I saw Phoenix Wright in this trailer, and on top of that it's brilliantly made. It was at that moment that I decided that I needed to buy Apollo Justice.

I wanted to play Apollo Justice, but I first needed to finish the second and third Ace Attorney games. Since the series has an ongoing continuity I didn't want to miss out on anything. During the past two weeks I finished what I had left of the second game and completed the entirety of the third game. I thought I was done and ready to buy Apollo Justice, but I then found out that the character Ema Skye was in the DS only case of the original game. Since she seems to be a main character in Apollo Justice I decided to buy the DS only case as DLC for my Wii version of the original game. I have now completed that as well and have a review forthcoming.

With the entire series under my belt I decided it was finally time to purchase Apollo Justice. Since most of the Ace Attorney games for the DS cost a small fortune I knew that Apollo Justice wouldn't be especially cheap. Much to my surprise I could buy the game new for $56 dollars. However, I always try to purchase games as cheaply as possible. I knew I could find the game cheaper on a website other than amazon, which is where my nightmare began.

My early search proved beneficial when I found the game factory sealed at GameQuestDirect.com. I promptly used paypal to pay the $25 dollars and began waiting in eager anticipation for the game to arrive. The next day when I woke up I received an email claiming that Apollo Justice wasn't in stock. I was refunded my money and forced to look for the game elsewhere.

After the previous setback I decided that I would be happy buying the game used. When buying games used I always need to have the case, while the instruction manual is an afterthought. The weird thing about DS games is that stores always try to sell just the tiny cartridge when you buy them used.

I found two sites that had the game in stock and used. One at Geeks Etc. was selling it for $16.99 and another for $24.99 at nintendosforsale.com. Both of these websites claimed that the game "may or may not" come with the case and instruction manual. I figured that since they actually have the game they should know, so I emailed both websites asking if they came with the case.

I never heard back from Geeks Etc., but now the game is out of stock and the page has been edited. I did however, hear back from Nintendosforsale. I received a wonderful email from a gentleman named Stephen claiming that the game will come with both the case and the instruction manual. I was ecstatic and immediately went back to the site to order the game.

$84.99!? Are you out of your mind!

Turns out Stephen realized that the game was rare, because the price was changed to $84.99! Also, along with the price change the description of the games description changed. It now says that the game comes with just the cartridge, which is the opposite of what Stephen told me in his email. Needless to say I was infuriated. This website tried to price gouge me after I had inquired about a product and on top of that I was most likely lied to. You can see the page I tried to purchase from here. I can understand that they upped the price for a rare game, but $84.99 is ridiculous. I have emailed them inquiring about the game again, but I have yet to hear back and I expect that I won't.

Despite my poor experience trying to buy Apollo Justice I was determined to buy it anyways. I then decided to wait and see if any more were added to amazon. I got lucky when someone put the game up new on amazon for $42. I waited to post this until I knew the game was on its way to me. It has been shipped and I should be receiving it sometime this week.

It's ironic that I encountered a great injustice while trying to purchase a game that's centered all around justice. This is not the first rare DS game I have tried to purchase and it will not be the last. Hopefully next time I will not have this much trouble finding the game new at an affordable price.

Update as of June 2013: Since writing this the price of Apollo Justice has gone down considerably and for some reason it's also much more widely available. On Amazon you can get it for around $20 if you are so inclined. Now that I have it I've even seen multiple pristine copies at my local Gamestop for $25.

     -Manny

Review of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations

This review is based on my experience with the Wii-ware release of Trials and Tribulations.

Score: 4/5

Over the course of the past few years I have come to love the Ace Attorney series. The crazy cast of anime characters and ridiculous occurrences of the franchise are jam packed with charm, giving the series a unique sense of style. Trials and Tribulations made no change in the way the game is played, but somehow it still managed to captivate me just as much as the previous two games in the series. If you didn’t like the previous games in the series then you most certainly won’t like this one either.

The Ace Attorney games can best be described as interactive novels. They are in the same vane as point and click adventure games. However, instead of pointing and clicking you have to navigate menus. Everything is text, except for a few choice phrases such as “hold it”, “take that”, and everyone’s favorite “objection”. This means that your success in these games hinges on how well you remember what you’ve read, while at the same time thinking critically about what you’ve learned. You are taking the role of a defense attorney after all.

This image speaks for itself.

Trials and Tribulations much like previous games in the series features a number of cases or “turnabouts” that are separate court cases in an episode like format. Each turnabout goes through two stages, investigation and trial. They begin by showing a crime, which Phoenix inevitably ends up getting involved in. Once you have your defendant it’s time to gather information and evidence for the trial by investigating.

Outside of the courtroom you have one goal, which is to gather evidence for the trial. There are four options that the game gives you outside of the courtroom. These options are examine, talk, move, and present.

There are different places in the world, which are depicted by various static backgrounds. Examine allows you to move a cursor around the background to try and find evidence. When you find something it will be added to the court record, which is your inventory. Each place will feature a different character who Phoenix can speak with about the current case. There will be multiple conversation topics to discuss, or you can show them items from the court record to hear their opinion by presenting it to them.

Like the previous game in the series, Trials and Tribulations brings back psyche locks. When a character is lying, or hiding something from Phoenix chains will surround them and locks will appear. In order to break the locks you must present the correct evidence. A health bar comes into play here, so when you present the wrong evidence it takes a hit. This adds a bit of challenge to finding evidence, but it can get to be annoying if you’re missing a piece of evidence.

You use these four options to conduct your investigations.

Once you have found everything the game wanted you to the trial will begin. This is where the player has the most say in what happens. The prosecution will call a witness, who will state their testimony. When they finish you will be able to cross examine their testimony. You can press each statement to question them a little further. The goal of the cross-examination is to show the contradictions in the testimony. In order to do this you must present the correct evidence at the correct statement. If you present the wrong evidence you will lose some health. Once all your health goes away you must restart at the beginning of the chapter. This concept is trivialized, because the player can save at any time.

While this system may not sound very exciting in writing, it is quite satisfying in practice. When you know what to present the game makes you feel smart for figuring it out. The music amps up and Phoenix gains some confidence. However, the game is scripted and sometimes you need to make some leaps in logic. This can lead to some frustration, but the game tries its best to direct you in the right direction. 

Since Trials and Tribulations is basically an interactive visual novel the most important part of the game is the story and writing behind it. I loved the previous games in the series, but I can say without a doubt that this one was my favorite. Fan favorite characters return, while new characters like the mysterious coffee drinking prosecutor Godot make their series debut.

Godot is an excellent addition to an already amazing cast.

A big part of why I liked the story in this game so much was that I’ve grown attached to the characters over the past two games. Trials and Tribulations taps into that by having sequences take place in the past and making the player be someone other than Phoenix Wright. It does a good job of expanding the world, while at the same time bringing conclusions to things that started in the original game. Trials and Tribulations was a surprisingly good end to the Phoenix Wright Trilogy. They leave room for sequels, but it’s just as easy to see this being the conclusion to the Phoenix Wright story. 

My problems with this game lie solely with the port. I played this game on the Wii and it’s clear that almost no work was done to adapt the game to the console. This game was originally for Gameboy Advance in Japan, which was ported up to the DS for the North American release. Capcom then took that release and slapped it onto the Wii. 

The game does not scale well to a bigger screen, which makes everything look super pixilated. Since this is a port of the DS version it causes some issues, because a television is only one screen. When asked to point something out in a picture while in court the image scales to how it would look on a DS screen. This makes the picture too small to see what’s happening in it, which just seems lazy.

The Wii specific changes are purely related to the Wii-mote. When Phoenix speaks in court his catch phrases come out of the less than stellar speaker on the Wii-mote. The only other change is that you can thrust the Wii-mote down to present evidence. It’s no surprise that a port of a port is less than ideal. However this is the ideal version for people who missed out on the DS version, which is now fairly expensive due to its rarity.

At least Capcom took the time to give Edgeworth a Wii-mote for this promo!

I can’t recommend this game and this series highly enough. Even if you don’t have the same connection to the Ace Attorney series that I do you will still get a kick out of everything this game has to offer. The story stands on its own, but it’s enhanced if you have prior knowledge from the previous two games in the series. On top of that the gameplay may be guided, but it’s still quite fun. You’ll find yourself addicted and wanting to know what’s going to happen next. While this port isn’t great it’s the only alternative to paying over $100 dollars for the DS version. 

Note: This review is also posted on giantbomb.com

     -Manny