Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All is Capcom's latest GBA made DS release for gamers who want to throw a book at someone (metaphorically, though maybe in real life, too).

Our Frankenreview balances what many different sources mentioned in their coverage, so you never have to leave Kotaku/our hearts. Hit the jump to have your eyes delighted by the 3D bar graph that I slaved over for hours, and then contemplate the last time so many people have gone this crazy over a port...that wasn't called "Twilight Princess".

NTSC-UK
"...what does the game do differently? Firstly instead of the "five strikes and out" nature of the first game, Phoenix gets a health bar for the entire case... the only way to regain health is to successfully complete a Psyche Lock. Some characters have deep, dark secrets...a set of metaphorical locks will appear on screen, and all of them must be broken...overall the cases are slightly more lengthy and complex than their direct counterparts..."

Gaming Target
"Yes, there are only four cases, compared to Ace Attorney's five... It should be kept in mind that since Justice for All is a touch-enhanced GBA port, that it was not designed to take full advantage of the DS hardware...There is no extra case with real use of the touch screen here. Disappointing, but I suppose we should be grateful the series is actually being localized."

Gameworld Network
"Justice For All is, like its predecessor, plagued by an unfortunate amount of translation errors...the game is full of small typos...Considering that the Japanese version of the game contained a full English translation when it was released months ago, there is no excuse...[but] there are a lot of great things about the translation; a lot of internet memes and other geek jokes have found their way in..."

Portable Review
"I'll tell you that Episodes 1-4 of this game easily surpass Episodes 1-5 of the first - Hell, I might even be willing to say that Episode 4 of this game is better than all Episodes of the first game combined... Oh, by the way - GO BUY THIS GAME. The existence of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 3 depends on how well this game sells in North America..."

Rocky Mountain News
"...this time you have a chance to investigate the case both inside and outside the courtroom...[and] the game does introduce a new, oddly out-of-place, psychic element to your attorney's bag of tricks, this really is just another flavor of the same elements... the game doesn't offer many tweaks or gameplay changes from its predecessor...[still] Phoenix Wright remains an intriguing concept in portable gaming."

I'm interested to see where the series can go (stylus tickling interrogation, anyone?), so hopefully the sequel sells well enough to make that happen. Mark Wilson

Contact information for this author is not available.