We previewed Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies during E3, but that gameplay focused primarily in the courthouse. Now I've had the chance to try day one of the second case in the game, which is all about interviewing people and digging around a crime scene.

I'll try to keep as many detailed story specifics out of this preview as possible, but general character descriptions and plot points will be discussed.

As opposed to the first case where you control Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice headlines case two. He visits a small mountain town called Nine-Tails Vale, known for monsters from Japanese folklore called yokai. As is customary, it's not long before someone get murdered. Apollo agrees to defend the suspect (Phoenix seems to have him on toilet cleaning duty between cases at the agency, so he jumps at the chance) and heads to the crime scene inside a spacious manor.

Teaming with rookie attorney Athena Cykes, he scans what looks like a home office. Players use the touch screen to control a pointer on the top screen. A red circle appears at the tip of the finger if it's possible to examine closer. Once an area has been examined, a red check mark appears near the pointer to save you the trouble of having to mash buttons through several lines of repeated text. The most drastic change to the classic formula is the ability to look around the 3D room. By tapping on the arrows at the edge of the screen, Apollo spins in place to check out different walls. At least in this early instance, this system makes the scene feel more like a real location instead of a flat painting that you're tapping around in.

Later on in the case, Apollo visits the detention center to question his client. After some back and forth, a strange flash appears onscreen. This signals that Apollo's trademark lie-detecting bracelet has gone off. Just like in the previous core Ace Attorney game (which came out all the way back in 2008), he scans people up close to look for any nervous ticks while they're talking. With the impressive new fully animated 3D character models, there should be plenty of strange movements that Capcom can implement. In this case, the client has a strange eye twitch that gives away his fib. I won't spoil what he's hiding, but there are a lot of and complications to sort through.

Anyone who's played an Ace Attorney game knows that no matter how crazy things seem at the outset, there's always a logical explanation. Granted, it usually ends up being an extremely ridiculous explanation, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Capcom pulls it off.

If only real courtroom battles could be like this. In the Phoenix Wright series, every objection -- shouted as “OBJECTION!!!” in a flashy comic-book style burst -- is like a body slam launched against the opposing attorney, complete with a fighting game punch sound effect. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies is no different, this time debuting the master lawyer in 3D on the Nintendo 3DS.

What sets Dual Destinies apart is the addition of psychoanalysis. Not the real kind marked by interpreting subtle facial and behavioral cues, but a video game-y type that utilizes the special emotion-reading ability of Phoenix’s new Assistant Attorney Athena Sykes. “Her power will be our greatest weapon,” Phoenix opines in the lengthy opening cinematic that introduces us to the cast, and also sets up the story that will tie together Dual Destiny’s docket of court cases.

What the...?

The narrative literally starts off with a bang, as a supposedly disarmed bomb being used as evidence explodes while court is in session. Phoenix’s associate Apollo Justice is injured in the blast, leaving it up to newby Athena to defend her childhood friend Juniper Woods in Dual Destinies’ first case.

As in prior Phoenix Wright adventures, gameplay hinges on listening to evidence, pressing for more information when warranted, and then presenting evidence when testimony is contradictory. It takes a while to get into the case itself; I think I spent about 20 minutes pressing through cutscenes and dialogue before getting to the first witness. But when Athena finds herself without a defense, and Phoenix Wright dramatically enters the courtroom with his finger of justice pointed skyward, you know a motion is about to get filed in someone’s keister.


Athena’s emotion-reading abilities come into play during testimony. She uses a “mood matrix” to find “discord in the heart” of witnesses by uncovering feelings of anger, sadness, surprise, and happiness that don’t match up to their testimony. So, as Juniper recalls the explosion and seems a little uncharacteristically happy that she was about to be crushed by flaming debris, Athena is able to analyze why she felt that odd emotion. It’s a simple mechanic that at least adds to the game’s whimsy.

Dual Destinies continues Phoenix Wright’s brand of overly dramatic legal brawls with the kind of overwrought comic dialogue we’ve come to expect from the series. “With me as an adversary, who wouldn’t want to feign illness in order to escape?” asks egotistical prosecutor Gaspen Payne when he learns that Apollo isn’t up to defending Juniper. It’s almost cathartic when he gets repeatedly body-slammed by Phoenix’s questioning.

Courtroom drama!

And definitely don’t expect subtlety. When the first police witness -- a bomb disposal specialist who supposedly disarmed the explosive personally -- was introduced as Ted Tonate, it took all my willpower not to yell “Guilty!” at my 3DS.


Dual Destinies looks fantastic on the 3DS, and while certainly not necessary, the 3D effect is well done here and unobtrusive. Characters really pop out from the backgrounds as they deliver testimony, accompanied by anime-quality animations. A new feature also allows you to review your conversation history, which is great for remembering plot points. Excitement SUSTAINED.

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/phoenix_wright_ace_attorney__dual_destinies/b/3ds/archive/2013/09/24/a-look-at-investigation-with-apollo-justice.aspx


Apparently it starts out same as the PAX/E3 investigations demo, then moves to Detention Center..

I wonder if the name of Deemon is the same.. aparently it also has a Percieve section

Apparently it starts out same as the PAX/E3 investigations demo, then moves to Detention Center..

I wonder if the name of Deemon is the same.. aparently it also has a Percieve section

Sounds pretty impressive. P.S. Finally, someone spells it as Cykes.

Even the E-Shop page spelled it Sykes

Yeah its funny how Capcom keeps misspelling it's OWN CHARACTER'S NAME.

"Join Feenicks Right and his partner Opalo Yoostis track down the worst criminals, aided by his friends Maega Mann and Tom Selleck"

Omg imagine a victim in an AA game, and her name is Megan Mann, then the joke would be official XD (Capcom killed Megaman)

Also, did you know that Capcom Unity post about Localization, was posted by Janet Hsu aka Mia Fey (young) English

but man, IGN has haters O.o

I thought this to be very strange. "What is this?" or "This game sucks!" got more than 300 upvotes, while a neutral, detailed explanation of the series got 100 down votes. I wonder if someone just messed with the system or if AA is not very well liked here.

Yeah I wasn't too fond of Mia's voice in T&T either.

But more on-topic I think the press do indeed have full-game copies or at least snippets to preview right now, which is good because it means at least a bit more marketing here in the west... but man, IGN has haters O.o

Apollo agrees to defend the suspect (Phoenix seems to have him on toilet cleaning duty between cases at the agency, so he jumps at the chance)

Oh dear, I think I may have accidentally spoilered myself by reading... Oh well, what's done is done. Hopefully my terrible memory will kick in soon.

This made me laugh, though:

Of course he did.

Oh dear, I think I may have accidentally spoilered myself by reading... Oh well, what's done is done. Hopefully my terrible memory will kick in soon.

Remember, that was young Mia's voice.

This made me laugh, though:

Of course he did.

I was listening to the Nintendo Voice Chat, IGN's weekly Nintendo podcast, and they talked about Dual Destinies for a little bit:

More specifically, the guy discussing the game (who also wrote the IGN preview, if I remember correctly) sounded like he played a special demo that either had the whole case 2 or a large portion of case 2 included. They specified it was different from the demo shown off at Comic-Con and PAX, which they also talked about.

Anyway, they talked mostly about Athena's "Psychoanalysis" capabilities, although the person who actually demoed the game obviously wasn't a hardcore fan (he didn't say anything negative, but he got confused a lot: he called the mood matrix the "Motion Matrix" and called Apollo "Apollo Wright"). They talked a little bit about how wonderfully over the top the series is and then they moved on. So IGN didn't get a full copy of the game but they did get a special demo that wasn't released before.

I was listening to the Nintendo Voice Chat, IGN's weekly Nintendo podcast, and they talked about Dual Destinies for a little bit:

More specifically, the guy discussing the game (who also wrote the IGN preview, if I remember correctly) sounded like he played a special demo that either had the whole case 2 or a large portion of case 2 included. They specified it was different from the demo shown off at Comic-Con and PAX, which they also talked about.

Anyway, they talked mostly about Athena's "Psychoanalysis" capabilities, although the person who actually demoed the game obviously wasn't a hardcore fan (he didn't say anything negative, but he got confused a lot: he called the mood matrix the "Motion Matrix" and called Apollo "Apollo Wright"). They talked a little bit about how wonderfully over the top the series is and then they moved on. So IGN didn't get a full copy of the game but they did get a special demo that wasn't released before.

Forgive me if i'm wrong... but does the Mood Matrix ever get harder?

I see to remember someone mentioning that, in addition to contradictory emotions, that you also find contradictions in the "strength" of the emotion (the strength is indicated by the size of the color glow around the emotion face)