Phoenix Wright: Turnabout Sisters – Part 2

If there's one phrase that sounds even more unappealing than "lawyer simulator" then it's the words "Part 1" at the end of a mobile phone game's title. This is basically a euphemism for "incredibly short and without a proper ending" – although obviously Capcom's marketeers were canny enough not to put this on the title screen.

Sensibly they've concentrated on the fact that this replicates the original Nintendo DS game (or rather the original Game Boy Advance game of which it is minor upgrade) in exacting detail. The graphics and even music and sound effects look just like the handheld game, which means lots of highly expressive manga style characters gurning their way through a court battle as if they've just escaped from an early '90s beat-'em-up.

It's an amazing technical achievement and ensures the game looks and sounds better than 90 per cent of all other mobile titles, even though there's actually very little in the way of moving graphics. However, there's a Dawn French-sized 'but' to all this, and it's the fact that the whole trial has been chopped up into four entirely separate parts.

In the original GBA version there were actually four separate cases and although the first was essentially a tutorial (and has already been released on mobiles) all the other ones are much longer. Turnabout Sisters is being released in four separate parts, which means the other two cases will likely clock in at six parts each. That's 17 separate downloads at £2 a pop, for a £34 price tag for the lot. Considering the DS version was only £30 when it was first released it's hard to see this as much of a bargain.

And yet there are obvious problems beyond merely the cost and inconvenience. The first two releases were specifically designed to ease you into the whole concept of being a video game lawyer but by this point in the original game the hand-holding is beginning to let off a bit and working out what you're meant to be doing becomes that little bit harder.

Not only that but everyone keeps referring to incidents and characters that, if you haven't played at least the previous chapter, you won't know anything about. If you're playing everything in order, and have a good memory from the last time, obviously that's fine but if this turns out to be your first experience of the series it's like coming in halfway through an Agatha Christie movie and being expected to work out whodunit.

It is all a terrible shame because the game underneath is still great. This chapter is all set in the courtroom (Phoenix Wright: Turnabout Sisters – Part 1 had you investigating the death of your boss, whose sister has been framed for murder) and so has you trying to find inconsistencies in witnesses testimony – either by pointing out logical flaws or cross examining them about physical evidence.

Again that may not sound terribly exciting but the wonderfully sarcastic rival lawyer and dotty judge are great, as are the rest of the cast in what remains one of the funniest games ever. The only thing that doesn't raise a smile is how much it all costs.