Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy

[i]The worst of times are when lawyers have to force their biggest smiles[/i] I had been eagerly awaiting for this specific trilogy to come to Steam for years now so I could add it to my official Steam Library rather than playing it through other ways online. Unfortunately I don't have a specific layout or way I like to write reviews or mini-essays so a lot of this will just be random thoughts that come to mind to the game itself. [u]Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney[/u] Taking place 7 years after the finals events of [u]Trials & Tribulations[/u], it introduces Apollo Justice as the new "protagonist" as we find our beloved Phoenix now debarred from his last trial and making his ends meet by being a pianist and undefeated poker player (also of 7 years) at a sketchy hole in the wall. The perception mechanic was pretty fun to use. If you ever make it to Case 3 (which is in my opinion the worst case out of this whole trilogy) be prepared to be forced to listen and watch a certain infamous piece of evidence OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER... (What happened to my king, Detective Gumshoe????) [u]Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies[/u] It's pretty funny to see how dated the mechanics in this game are as well with the whole 3D era POV's. I had put protagonist in quotes earlier because well, I think Capcom was a little conflicted at this point in the series on what to do exactly with Phoenix's character from the previous game. From here on out, Shu Takumi (creator of the OG Trilogy, Game 4 and TGAAC) will have little to no involvement with the games going forward. Without getting into too much spoilers Capcom pretty much split the difference and shared the spotlight with everyone. It was (and still is) pretty controversial with how Capcom handled this game, which didn't bother me too much. I didn't really agree too much with the direction that Apollo Justice's character was taken (and especially his role in the final case). I liked being able to play as different characters throughout the game and not just one. Prob my least favorite final case though in this specific trilogy and it wassssss just a tiny bit cheesy. Still a pretty fun game though. Introduces a new character and Mechanic which involves analyzing a persons emotions. [u]Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice[/u] The last game chronologically of the series, and there hasn't been a new official Ace Attorney game in over 9 years at the time of writing this review. Pretty hardcore take in the way trials are decided now with punishment as over half the cases take place in the country of Khurain. In this country, if you lose the case and your client is found guilty you are also punished the same as the them, being put to death under the Defense Culpability Act. SOJ has my least favorite mechanic ever introduced into an Ace Attorney game with the [b]Divination Séance[/b], involving seeing a victim's final moments through their eyes. You're supposed to point out contradictions in what the victim is seeing or feeling with the insights being presented to you, but it's honestly very, very broad in what the game wants you to point out sometimes and kind of kills the momentum for me in trials. I will say the final case of the game is fantastic, but some of the investigations and trials do feel pretty slow. [strike]Also, I ABSOLUTELY teared up at the twist of Case 6-5... IYKYK.[/strike] [u]Closing Thoughts[/u] It was definitely a challenge coming from 10/10 Ace Attorney games like the OG Trilogy and TGAAC to Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, but I still found myself enjoying the trilogy for what it is and I can also understand people's gripes with it, especially when it came to Apollo Justice's role and character change (which took me a bit to accept in DD and on). If you're not a super big Ace Attorney fan you probably won't enjoy it too much. While not nearly as good as the OG Trilogy and TGAAC, it doesn't discredit it from being enjoyable to play and keep getting to those "Aha!" moments that never get old.