If you are reading this before reading the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney review, please stop now and go back and read that review first. This review will contain spoilers for people who haven’t completed the previous game, you have been warned. Enjoy.

Here we are again kids! One spikey haired, blue suited, ace attorney shouting objection and getting scolded by the judge for stupidity while getting laughed at by a purple suited, ‘is he gay or not’ neck-tie wearing prosecutor. Welcome once again to the world of Phoenix Wright.

Most families have that one kid who everyone rolls their eyes at, the one that’s a bit of a outcast. Maybe yours only has nine eyes or something else equally odd like 16 fingers on one hand(that kid is going to be pro at Guitar Hero one day) and in the game world, major series have them too, Halo had Halo 2, GTA had San Andreas and Devil May Cry had Devil May Cry 2. Say hi to Phoenix Wright’s family version, Phoenix Wright: Justice For All.

For those of you who ignored my above instruction to go back and read my previous review (or better yet, go buy the game complete it, make a cuppa and then come back and read this) the game let’s you once again take control of Phoenix Wright almost a year after his first game on the DS, following in the same quest for justice. Phoenix and Maya (his sidekick, but you know that) go round helping the innocent prove they aren’t guilty of murder while the player enjoys the weird and wonderful journey that ensues.

The writing in each case is absolutely brilliant and you really do get a feel for the majority of main characters, most cases do lead up to a good ending point, which will leave the player satisfied with what has taken place and unlike the original you wont always have the answer to the case until the very end. Even with this fix of the originals rather easier cases it’s still not enough of a improvement to beat the originals wit and genuinely funny moments.

Like any other franchise worth its salt, new characters make their appearance. Pearl Fey, Maya’s cousin and loyal servant (not in a weird twisted way though) and Franziska von Karma, the daughter of the mighty Manfred von Karma in the previous game, takes the place of fan favourite Miles Edgeworth on the prosecutors bench. Once again the writing really helps bring these characters to life, but Franziska using her whip and having verbal diarrhoea with the word ‘fool’ doesn’t hurt either.

Being a port from the Japanese only GBA game Gyakuten Saiban 2 (try saying that 3 times drunk) this reviewer is a little dissapointed that the DS outing had no DS exclusive content or extras. That’s right, apart from the obvious DS upgrades of touch screen use and microphone support, there is no additional content (unlike the original with a extra case to play through)

Being a GBA port it carries with it the same graphics and same visual novel style of gameplay that the 1^st game had. They aren’t great, but they aren’t terrible either. They work and in a game which is about story that’s all you need. I suppose its more important to have something simple that works great that something extravagant that lags and barely work, at least that’s my take on it.

While the graphics from the original have been kept consistent, the music has had a bit of a change with new tunes and music going through the investigation and trial parts of each case. The soundtrack does a good job but just falls short of the originals fantastic songs.

Pschye-locks are big addition to the game play a major part in the investigation times of each chapter now. Given to you at the start of chapter 2, the Magatama reveals the locks on peoples and given the right evidence get them to reveal the truth.

Along with the new pschye-locks, the health bar has had a bit of a re-model with the ‘!’ gone and in its place is an actual health bar! This makes the game a little more interesting as it forces you into situations sometimes where answering wrong can make you lose your entire health bar. It’s a nice addition along with another smaller addition of being able to show character profiles as evidence, which sounds pointless but is stupidly helpful when it comes to pointing the finger to the culprit.

I know so far I haven’t exactly been overly kind to PW2 and many of you can guess I’m not giving it the shining review I gave the original, but that’s simply because all the things I’ve mentioned so far haven’t been anything different, in fact they’ve taken one of the best bits of the original out, a additional chapter. But the game isn’t terrible it just hasn’t had as much of a improvement as I think it should of.

Closing Comments

While the game is still great, I don’t know if it’s a worthy successor to the Objection crown. The game has taken the great base that is original and made a damn good sequel with great dialog, fantastic characters and tremendously enjoyable gameplay, but with only 4 cases (compared to the originals 5), still no multiplayer component (even the ability to transfer a demo to other DS’ would have been nice) and no outstanding changes or features this one is great for fans of the series but not good for newcomers.

Score 8.7

+ Same great characters
+ Same great writing
+ Psyche-locks are cool
+ Good continuation

- No major changes to writing or characters
- Lots of text
- Music not up to scratch
- No multiplayer of any kind