Overall: A pretty great entry in the series. Definately better than Apollo Justice, but not quite as good as Trials and Tribulations (then again, it's pretty hard to top that one). There's a good mix of old and new characters. Phoenix has been rerailed since the last game and is no longer a Spotlight-Stealing Squad. New character Athena is well-developed, funny and has a surprisingly deep backstory. Among the main cast though, Apollo is the real standout. After being seriously underdeveloped in his debut game, he manages to be much more fleshed out here.
Case 1: Not the best first case in the series, but not the worst either. There's a few good twists here and there, especially for those who played the demo, but overall pretty standard. Connections to later cases are also more subtle, unlike AJ's "made no sense until the finale" intro.
Case 2: A lot of people don't seem to like this one, but I really do. The plot is pretty good, the mysteries are interesting and the twists strike a perfect balance of shocking, but also reasonable to figure out ahead of time.
Case 3: To me, the weakest in terms of plot, but the best in terms of characters. Pretty much every character in this case is hilarously eccentric even by AA standards. The trials also get very, VERY weird at points, making this one of the most "out there" cases in the series, and that's saying something. Mood Whiplash warning though: the killer is downright terrifying.
Case 4: This is a strange one. I'll just say I can't rate it as a stand-alone case because it's more like "Case 5: Part 1" than "Case 4". So looking at it individually, it feels really weak and unfinished, but that's sort of the point.
Case 5: The structure of it is a little weird by last case standards, but I can't say much more due to spoilers. But between returning characters, the conclusions of game-long arcs and a REALLY interesting Big Bad, it proves to be a pretty great case.
DLC Case: I HIGHLY recommend getting the DLC, as this case was a highlight of the game to me. Great characters, great mysteries, fun trial segments... seriously, play this. There is one major flaw though: there's one testimony (you'll know it when you see it) that's near entirely pointless. It could be removed entirely and the plot wouldn't change.
A Weclome Return to Form
Note: this review will try to be spoiler-free.
Overall: A pretty great entry in the series. Definately better than Apollo Justice, but not quite as good as Trials and Tribulations (then again, it's pretty hard to top that one). There's a good mix of old and new characters. Phoenix has been rerailed since the last game and is no longer a Spotlight-Stealing Squad. New character Athena is well-developed, funny and has a surprisingly deep backstory. Among the main cast though, Apollo is the real standout. After being seriously underdeveloped in his debut game, he manages to be much more fleshed out here.
Case 1: Not the best first case in the series, but not the worst either. There's a few good twists here and there, especially for those who played the demo, but overall pretty standard. Connections to later cases are also more subtle, unlike AJ's "made no sense until the finale" intro.
Case 2: A lot of people don't seem to like this one, but I really do. The plot is pretty good, the mysteries are interesting and the twists strike a perfect balance of shocking, but also reasonable to figure out ahead of time.
Case 3: To me, the weakest in terms of plot, but the best in terms of characters. Pretty much every character in this case is hilarously eccentric even by AA standards. The trials also get very, VERY weird at points, making this one of the most "out there" cases in the series, and that's saying something. Mood Whiplash warning though: the killer is downright terrifying.
Case 4: This is a strange one. I'll just say I can't rate it as a stand-alone case because it's more like "Case 5: Part 1" than "Case 4". So looking at it individually, it feels really weak and unfinished, but that's sort of the point.
Case 5: The structure of it is a little weird by last case standards, but I can't say much more due to spoilers. But between returning characters, the conclusions of game-long arcs and a REALLY interesting Big Bad, it proves to be a pretty great case.
DLC Case: I HIGHLY recommend getting the DLC, as this case was a highlight of the game to me. Great characters, great mysteries, fun trial segments... seriously, play this. There is one major flaw though: there's one testimony (you'll know it when you see it) that's near entirely pointless. It could be removed entirely and the plot wouldn't change.