Ace Attorney
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Ace Attorney  | ||||||
Series information
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Ace Attorney is an adventure video game series by Capcom. An American localization of the Japanese series Gyakuten Saiban ("Turnabout Trial"), it features unique gameplay focusing on courtroom drama involving cross-examining witnesses, presenting evidence, and yelling "Objection!".
Summary
The series follows defense attorney Phoenix Wright and his associates at the Wright & Co. Law Offices as they take on cases to defend their clients in murder trials. In the course of each case, they have to face a colorful cast of suspects and prosecutors in court in order to uncover the truth and prove their client's innocence, often revealing an elaborate conspiracy in the process. While being largely self-contained, each case will often introduce recurring characters and occasionally connect to the game's overarching plot, including the backstories of the main characters. In particular among these overarching plot points, many of the games in the series heavily feature the Fey clan, a traditional matriarchal family of spirit mediums who have the ability of channeling the spirits of the dead.
This page covers the following games:
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice
Characters
See also: List of Ace Attorney characters
- Phoenix Wright (Lead Mastermind): Initially an inexperienced lawyer, throughout the series Phoenix develops his courtroom skills to the point where he becomes a legendary attorney. Even as he becomes ever more skilled at spotting contradictions and setting traps for suspects, though, Phoenix's primary strategy always seems to be "making it up as he goes along".
- Mia Fey (Backup Mastermind): An experienced lawyer and Phoenix's mentor, who occasionally helps him in his cases.
- Maya Fey (Commoner): Mia's younger sister, a spirit medium in training who is the defendant in Phoenix's first solo case.
- Miles Edgeworth (Rival Mastermind): A ruthless prosecutor who is known to do whatever it takes to get a "guilty" verdict.
Structure
Each game in the series is split into cases, each revolving around a murder investigation. Cases are split into investigation and trial sections, often having multiple of each. During the investigation sections, the player characters must investigate the crime scene, question witnesses and gather evidence. In the trial sections, they face both suspects and prosecutors in court, having to spot contradictions in testimonies and use the information and evidence collected during the investigation component to build their case, while also dealing with traps by the prosecution.
Investigations work primarily in a way similar to typical point-and-click adventure games, with players examining different elements of the environment to find clues or items that can later be used in the courtroom. Certain cases also introduce specific mechanics such as dusting for fingerprints. There are also segments where the player needs to question witnesses and get them to reveal secrets by presenting arguments and evidence, in a kind of compressed version of the cross-examinations during the trial sections.
Trials center on witness testimonies, which the players need to cross-examine in order to find inconsistencies and contradictions. The two main mechanics available to the player is pressing witness statements, which can reveal additional information, and presenting evidence in order to argue against their claims. Later games also introduce additional mechanics that involve reading the witness's psychological state. Trial sections also include participation by the prosecution, although these interactions are entirely scripted instead of having their own mechanics. Usually this involves the prosecution posing questions at certain points in the trial that the player needs to answer by presenting the right piece of evidence. The prosecution might also introduce other obstacles to the defense in the form of surprise witnesses or evidence.
Tricks
See also: List of Tricks in Ace Attorney
