The venerable Phoenix Wright series made its debut as a Nintendo DS game, and while there have been several mobile ports of prior Capcom cames, the latest one, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, wasted no time in making its way to mobile devices. It is, by far, the best Phoenix Wright to hit the App Store, and if you've never played any of the rest of the games, you owe it to yourself to give this one a look, then head back and play all the rest.
The Good
From the very beginning of Dual Destinies, it's clear that this is a much different Phoenix Wright game -- and that's actually good for newbies who haven't played any of the prior titles. First, the full 3D graphics and character models look fantastic. Second, there's a brand new emotional guessing game that makes investigating cases and coming to a ruling a much more engaging affair.
The cases this time around are brutal, but worth putting time in for, especially investigating the actual crime scenes themselves, which works fantastically on the touch screen. In fact, unlike the previous Phoenix Wright iterations for mobile devices, Dual Destinies feels as though it was built for the iPad from the ground-up, with perfectly scaled visuals and massive aesthetic improvements from the other games. The music and voiceovers sound fantastic as well, and with everything so clean and perfect it really enhances an already excellent game that relies so heavily on musical and visual cues.
All of the individual elements combine to make this Phoenix Wright adventure one of the best ones to experience yet, especially if it's the first one you're undertaking on a mobile device or otherwise.
The Bad
There's no new or additional content unique to the mobile version of the game, and while the first episode is free, you'll have to purchase additional episodes. Episodes 2 - 5 are available to be bought separately or as a set, but it's a little strange that the game wasn't simply released as one full package.
The Verdict
Format release concerns aside, Dual Destinies is a smartly-crafted, fantastic-looking Phoenix Wright game that you'd do well to pick up, especially since the first episode is free. You'll want to blaze through the rest at a breakneck speed -- so don't blame us if you rack up a small App Store debt!
Download Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies for iPhone and iPad.
The Good
From the very beginning of Dual Destinies, it's clear that this is a much different Phoenix Wright game -- and that's actually good for newbies who haven't played any of the prior titles. First, the full 3D graphics and character models look fantastic. Second, there's a brand new emotional guessing game that makes investigating cases and coming to a ruling a much more engaging affair.
The cases this time around are brutal, but worth putting time in for, especially investigating the actual crime scenes themselves, which works fantastically on the touch screen. In fact, unlike the previous Phoenix Wright iterations for mobile devices, Dual Destinies feels as though it was built for the iPad from the ground-up, with perfectly scaled visuals and massive aesthetic improvements from the other games. The music and voiceovers sound fantastic as well, and with everything so clean and perfect it really enhances an already excellent game that relies so heavily on musical and visual cues.
All of the individual elements combine to make this Phoenix Wright adventure one of the best ones to experience yet, especially if it's the first one you're undertaking on a mobile device or otherwise.
The Bad
There's no new or additional content unique to the mobile version of the game, and while the first episode is free, you'll have to purchase additional episodes. Episodes 2 - 5 are available to be bought separately or as a set, but it's a little strange that the game wasn't simply released as one full package.
The Verdict
Format release concerns aside, Dual Destinies is a smartly-crafted, fantastic-looking Phoenix Wright game that you'd do well to pick up, especially since the first episode is free. You'll want to blaze through the rest at a breakneck speed -- so don't blame us if you rack up a small App Store debt!
Download Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies for iPhone and iPad.
4.5/5
