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Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney review - A slick port of the DS original

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Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney review - A slick port of the DS original

If you have no idea what Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is - I envy you. It's the fourth entry in a series that sees you placed in the shoes of a lawyer defending innocents, and provides an often intoxicating combination of detective work, visual novel, and soap opera.

You play as the titular Apollo Justice, a novice lawyer who gathers evidence and clues around the crime scene to defend his clients in a gleeful war of words with the opposing prosecutor.

All rise

Originally released on the DS in 2008, this is an almost unchanged port of a game that many have unfairly labelled as the black sheep of the series.

That's cruel considering that it boasts some great characters across the four cases though, and although there are plenty of weak patches - the second episode is hugely unmemorable for instance - it makes up for it with an effective overarching plot and possibly one of the most brilliantly twisted and mysteriously enigmatic villains in the entire series.

I'd recommend playing the original trilogy - also available on iOS - first though, as it will help make sense of one particular character's plot arc. Just saying.

Recess

This is a far smoother port than the trilogy collection that was released on mobile too - but considering that had been recycled through perhaps one system too many, that's probably not a great surprise.

Elements such as dusting for prints and searching for telltale twitches in a witness's face during their testimony make a perfect transition to this mobile iteration as well - which is no surprise considering these parts were designed with the DS's touch screen in mind.

It looks incredibly crisp and clear on the high-resolution iPhone screen too, although perhaps it looks a little too clean at times - revealing some of the more basic elements to the character animations.

Handing down a verdict

The most off-putting aspect of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney on mobile is the price. Sure, it only asks for 79p upfront, but that only gets you the first half of the first case. To unlock the rest you have to fork out a whopping £10.99/$13.99.

This may make some slightly uneasy, but considering the quality of the game itself, it's not enough to hand the game a guilty verdict.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney review - A slick port of the DS original

A well presented port of an underrated entry in the Ace Attorney franchise, and one well worth investigating
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