But you may want to brush up on your Japanese before you do.
Capcom has released a playable online demo of Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies to whet the appetites of Japanese fans looking forward to the July 25th release. The demo is fairly straight-forward, but the text is Japanese-only, so while it does give you a feel for the game, unless you're fairly fluent in the language, it might be a little confusing (check the spoiler section below for a walkthrough). Hopefully there will be an English version demo for fans awaiting the Western release of the game.
Content-wise, the demo is mostly identical to the TGS 2012 demo from last year with a couple of added scenes – Most notably, Apollo Justice makes an appearance, and the reasons behind his bandaged countenance are revealed. The demo progresses in the standard text adventure style of clicking to advance the dialog with two examination/cross-examination points; the first being the standard "listen to testimony and find the point of contradiction" of old and the second utilizing the new "emotion detection" system of Phoenix's new junior partner, Athena Cykes.
The full version of Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies is scheduled for release in Japan on July 25th, and in the West this Fall.
The demo can be played here: http://www.capcom.co.jp/gyakutensaiban…
For those interested in trying out and getting through the demo, but don't understand Japanese, the following is a spoiler-containing walkthrough. For those who want to enjoy the game sans spoilers, STOP READING NOW.
Spoilers!
The prologue begins with the bombing crime in question and moves on to Phoenix Wright headed back to the courtroom after his lengthy absence.
Phoenix is greeted by his new assistant Athena Cykes and some expositional dialog is exchanged.
We are introduced to the first defendant, Juniper Woods, who has been accused of the bombing from the prologue sequence.
Apollo Justice shows up and asks Phoenix to win the case. It is revealed that the bombing incident occurred when Apollo was in court and he was wounded during the explosion.
Enter the courtroom. Introduction of the defense and prosecution. The judge welcomes Phoenix back to the courtroom.
Athena, annoyed with prosecutor Gaspen Payne's provocation, claims that Phoenix will win the case in 10 minutes.
The case begins and Gaspen Payne lays out the details of the crime: An explosive device hidden in a stuffed figure that was submitted as evidence during a case in courtroom 4 exploded. Evidence "Stuffed Animal Bomb" is entered into the court records. Evidence "Bombing Incident Report" is entered into the court records. The Court Records (法廷記録) button will appear in the upper-right corner of the touch panel and evidence can now be viewed at any time.
Gaspen remarks on the fact that the bomb was hidden inside the stuffed animal and reveals his damning evidence against the defendant: The tail of the stuffed animal from which the defendant's fingerprints were discovered. Evidence "Stuffed Animal Tail" is entered into the court records.
While Phoenix and Athena squabble over her initial "win in 10 minutes" remark, the prosecution calls their first witness, Shingo Barashima of the bomb squad.
Barashima begins his testimony of the incident:
#1: I had deactivated that bomb and brought it to the courtroom as evidence.
#2: The bomb is an HH-3000 type bomb that can be activated via remote control or timer.
#3: I was watching the case from the gallery and was flabbergasted.
#4: I saw the bomb's timer begin to countdown.
Barashima adds that the HH-3000 is very easy to activate.
Move to cross-examination. At this point, a choice will come up whether you would like a tutorial on how to examine a witness. Chose the first option to have Athena explain, chose the second to move on.
How to examine a witness: The witness will recount their testimony. Use the arrows to move forward or backward in the testimony. At any stage in the testimony, you can select upper-right "Present" (つきつける) button to select and use a court record as proof the testimony is false/flawed or chose the upper-left "Press" (ゆさぶる) option to have the witness clarify their statement.
At #4, Present the "Stuffed Animal Bomb" to show that Barashima could not have seen the timer as the bomb was inside the stuffed animal.
Barashima corrects his testimony saying that he did not see the timer, but heard it instead.
The defendant, Juniper Woods, then takes the stand to give her testimony.
#1: At the time I was spectating the case.
#2: The bomb exploded.
#3: Rubble fell towards me.
Unable to get a solid testimony, Phoenix turns to Athena's ability to see a person's emotions to reveal inconsistencies and get more details from Woods.
Detected emotions are displayed in four basic types: Green for happy/fun, red for anger/frustration, blue for sad/fear, yellow for surprise/confusion.
Wood's testimony is recounted again, this time with her emotions shown and it is revealed that for some reason she was happy when rubble fell towards her. Athena explains how to use the emotion system: Press the upper-left "Ascertain" button(つきとめる) and chose the conflicting emotion in question.
Asked why she felt happy when she was about to be crushed, Woods explains that at the last moment, Apollo Justice saved her. Her testimony is updated to include this information. This time when she recounts the events of Apollo saving her, three emotions are present. Select the "Ascertain" button and chose the blue "sad" emotion.
When asked the reason for her sadness at being saved, Woods explains that in the confusion, she lost her stuffed animal, one that is of the same series as the stuffed animal bomb that exploded. With this new evidence, Phoenix concludes that the case is not as open and shut as Gaspen Payne would like to think. The judge asks Phoenix to show his evidence and the player is prompted to select and Present their proof.
Select the Stuffed Animal Tail and Present it.
Phoenix explains that the Stuffed Animal Tail presented by the prosecution is not the tail from the bomb, but the one from the stuffed animal that Woods lost in the confusion. With this new light on the case, Phoenix swears he will prove Woods' innocence... In the full version of the game.
/Spoilers
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