apollo justice

I’ve put off the unorthodox Ace Attorney series for quite some time now. I even recommended the courtroom drama series to my brother before playing it myself — he echoed the same high praise I’ve been hearing for the past several years. The series is difficult to describe only because whatever I say will make it sound incredibly boring. So I won’t bother. I won’t even bother with in-game screens or movies because that doesn’t capture the series’ strengths either. Only by reading the stories and meeting the characters for yourself can you truly appreciate it.

What amazes me most about the series is the amount of emotion invoked through the (original Game Boy Advance and) Nintendo DS without the use of substantial voice acting. Bleeps and bloops tied with the careful timing of words, music and simple character animations show that you can achieve a great deal with the most basic of elements. I tend not to build hostile relationships with video game characters, but I found myself despising numerous persons who passed through the courtrooms. It wasn’t all serious either. There were genuinely funny and light hearted folks to offset some of the intensity of poring through evidence and testimony. This delicate balance persisted throughout every game in the series and managed to deliver quite the rollercoaster ride for a court room drama.

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