I don't really know the fine details of the American court system, because, well, it seems really dull. I know some of the basics though. You get a lawyer, there's a jury, witnesses swear to tell the truth, and you're innocent until proven guilty. Doesn't seem to exciting, so why the heck would I play game all about court? First of all, the Ace Attorney series is not an emulation on the American court system. I'm not sure it's an emulation of any court system actually. Second, the combination of humor, drama, and suspense is for some reason very exciting. Finally, there's something immensely satisfying in watching the "perfect" prosecutor break his stoic "anything you can do I can most certainly do better" persona because you just blew his witness's testimony the pieces.
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney places you in the shoes of Phoenix Wright, who is actually a newbie defense attorney. Phoenix, or Nick as his friends call him, is under the tutelage of the talented Mia Fey. The game's first case is Nick's first trial, and, luckily for him, it's a murder trial. Now, looking at it from Nick's perspective it's probably a really crappy situation, because a) his best friend has been charged with murder, and b) he knows said friend is innocent but has no idea who is the actual murderer. The point of each case is to prove your client innocent, and in the process catch the actual bad guy.
Now, in real life it's not really the defense's job to catch the bad guy if I'm not mistaken (which I could be), but in Phoenix Wright things are way different. As stated by my brother, in Phoenix Wright you're guilty until proven innocent, and you're not innocent until the bad guy's captured. Seriously. Basically, the entire world is against the defense and everything they hope to accomplish. The prosecution on the other hand receives much love as demonstrated by the fact that they're in cahoots with the police department. In every case the prosecution's opening statement essentially says, "The defendant is guilty because I have a witness/piece of evidence that irrefutably says so." By the time the words leave the prosecutor's mouth, the judge is ready to deliver a guilty verdict (there's no jury in Ace Attorney). Favoritism to the prosecution aside, the defense also has witnesses who refuse to the tell the truth for whatever reason they find acceptable.
Ace Attorney games are text based. Epic hand to hand fight sequences between Nick and the various prosecutors don't really exist, although Nick does get hit with a taser once and in the second game is openly whipped in court by a prosecutor (no, she doesn't get in trouble for it). The first two cases of the game show a brief little scene blatantly showing you who killed who, just so you can get your feet wet and know exactly who you're shooting for. Typically, cases start with an investigation phase where you amble around picking up whatever clues you can to help your seemingly hopeless situation in court. Investigation leads to a day in court, where you either actually make progress or stall long enough to extend the case to another day in court. If needed, you then do some more investigating and then head to court again. Due to the game's plot cases can only last three day, but as long as you don't get a game over you'll accomplish everything you to do in court sessions.
Nick's quite a funny guy. When he really has no direction in court, he makes something up. In fact, he actually tries to make a witness who he knows is innocent seem like the murderer in order to buy an extra day in court. Seem mean? Don't worry. She was released soon after and Nick slammed the real murderer in the end. Many times, dramatic court sessions become quite humorous when you see what Nick's inner thoughts are, and his general personality lends itself to humor. Despite having only a few cases under his belt, Nick has proved himself to be a twenty-four year old defense attorney prodigy which the grand ability to turn crappy court situations into great ones, thus the fact that the game's Japanese title translates to "turnabout trial" or "turnabout court."
Seeing as this has gone on long enough, I'll continue next week. So, until next time!
Sounds cool!
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