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Review: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

Capcom • Capcom • 2013 • Nintendo 3DS Read it on Backloggd: (x)

As fans of the series are likely well aware, this fifth game marked the point when a new team took over Shu Takumi's darling mainline series of murder-mystery games. Takumi was preoccupied with Ghost Trick, the Professor Layton crossover game, and later Great Ace Attorney, and the team he previously led for the series' fourth game had kind of just dissolved after finishing up. So, the team behind the spinoff Ace Attorney Investigations duology ended up taking the reigns of the main series. What this boils down to is, that this marked the first time that two different teams were making Ace Attorney games in parallel with one another: The Investigations team now making this game, led by Takeshi Yamazaki, and Takumi's team releasing The Great Ace Attorney just two years later.

The reason for leading with this context, is because I find the contrast between these games to be inherently fascinating. That despite being fundamentally "the same kind of game" they had such different directions as to lead to two wholly different experiences for wholly different players.

Looking at Takumi's games and history in interviews, its clear to me that he values "The Puzzle" above all else (he IS a magician in training, fun fact!). The feeling of working things out in your head, drawing conclusions wholly on your own and submitting your answer to see the game react in amazement at your ability. Ghost Trick and the existence of Herlock Sholmes in general make this the most apparent, but in my eyes "The Puzzle" is only a piece of what makes Ace Attorney what it is, and it is only thanks to Takumi's direction that it has become a focus in his games.

All this build-up, is just to say this: Yes, Dual Destinies easily has the least interesting gameplay in the series. Yes, it will often make it plainly obvious what the solution to a puzzle is, moments before its time to submit the answer. BUT: I believe this is because Yamazaki's priorities were elsewhere in production. In my eyes, Dual Destinies focuses far more on its own narrative, mysteries and character drama than it does puzzle-solving, detective sleuthing and experimenting with game mechanics. This in my eyes is neither "better" nor "worse": Its just the result of a CHANGE in direction. But it IS a change that happens to be to my preference.

For instance: There's no Soseki Natsume-type case here that, as Takumi loves to do, exists SOLELY to be a fun puzzle to unravel. Instead every case feels as if it has more of a point to it narratively, having them all fit together well thematically. Characters return, dynamics are explored, themes reinforced in interesting ways and generally I rarely got the sense that--story-wise-- my time was being wasted with any of the cases I was playing. This was an issue I felt plagued AA3, despite its attempt to be dramatic and conclusive. Its mainly because of this new direction that I feel Case 2 in this game is the worst one: It seems intentionally set up like a "puzzle-box" mystery typical of the most devious puzzles in AA1-3, yet as I've explained that kind of focus is not one Dual Destinies typically wants to have.

Because of the baggage that both the series' prior game and Capcom high-ups gave the team, Dual Destinies' story was almost destined to be one that attempted a lot of things, yet I don't think I could have predicted that it'd pull those things and more off...surprisingly well. I know the whole "Dark Age of the law" setting has been derided by a lot of fans, but what I found especially commendable with this direction was that they used it as a tool to go in and clean up a lot of things that...Apollo Justice just kind of handwaved away. Like...if Phoenix was disbarred and shunned away from the law world for seven years, how was he able to set up all that he does to take down Kristoph in the end of Apollo Justice, including the debut of the wholly untested Jury system? Why was Phoenix so casually doing extremely shady things both in the development of this system and while in court in Case 1? And, of course: Why was a supposedly story about Apollo becoming the new face of Justice instead written to secretly be about Phoenix being this mastermind?

By retroactively framing Apollo Justice as ALSO taking place during this Dark Age, suddenly things begin to click: Apollo defending nothing but criminals in that game becomes more than a neat coincidence, and Case 3 in that game suddenly becomes more about showing that corruption. The grimy world of Apollo Justice aside, I find all the cases in Dual Destinies in some subtle way show how the perception of the law has changed (which is a big part as to why Case 3 is my favorite in the game). The world itself hasn't changed: People's perception of it has. Culprits commit crimes not because they're in a position of power to where they're able to get away with it (AA1) or because they seek revenge (AA2), but simply because they now feel its the easiest way to solve their situation: because the current law system will not catch or punish them. Kristoph in AA4 is an excellent, shining example of this, going to lunatic lengths to commit a crime because he knows that a law world run the way it is in this age will never catch him.

Dual Destinies shows a world where people see little benefit in being truthful, because their "champions of truth" in the most recent times were also the ones who used fake evidence in a murder trial, who defended nothing but criminals for a whole game's time, who deprioritized their duty as a lawyer over playing in a rock band - and one of them was even convicted of murder themselves.

That's a really cool yet understated part of Dual Destinies: Almost every character, new or old, are hiding away the truth or their true selves, not because they have done anything, but because they are afraid of what will happen once that truth is revealed. They're scared of what honesty will do to themselves, their relationships, and their careers, and instead keep it to themselves. Because to them, what happened to Phoenix, their guiding light in an unjust world, seven years ago, was the truth about him coming out, and as soon as it did his career and public perception of the law plummeted. This feeds into Blackquill's backstory as well and how he willingly turned himself in as a murderer, rather than having him be exposed: The moment these guardians of the law world come clean about their honest nature, the world came crumbling down, thus a world of secrecy and distrust was seen as the only way to live.

In terms of playable characters, I feel like the 3DS Home Menu diorama best showcases the game's direction: With Phoenix's story now told (and told again) with AA1-4, and Apollo having been introduced, its his and Athena's story now being told with Phoenix as mentor and motivation. Apollo and Athena are shown fighting in court, with Phoenix at home in the office. This is even reflected in the ending cutscene of the game, with Apollo and Athena being the ones celebrating as Phoenix just watches and smiles. The Dual Destinies the title is referring to is the two young lawyers overcoming their inner doubts and no longer hiding from the truth, no matter how scary it may sound, thanks to the help of their mentor, channeling Mia's positive mentorship.

I've heard people (mainly Athena fans) say the game feels crowded because of the trio-setup, but I find everyone gets a very comfortable slot in to tell the cohesive story. Phoenix is a passive figure as the plot delves into Athena's life alongside Apollo's inner turmoil. Given that AA4 didnt really...establish much of any goal for Apollo beyond meaningless family relations, this game works as a springboard for him, with a character moment so perfectly executed and befitting of him that he shot to the top of character popularity polls after launch. Following AA4 up with another game just starring Phoenix and Apollo and..."exploring" those family relations could've been a safe and easy direction to go in, yet Yamazaki's team committed to an ambitious idea of two kinds of character growth: DUAL DESTINIES, so to speak.

This is why I don’t mind Apollo’s “new backstory” in this game being so brief and, in a sense, discardable. Because the point of the backstory is to drive his actions and growth as a character: Not to give him a goal to pursue. You aren't meant to sympathize with him on a personal, "I-knew-how-good-of-a-guy-your-friend-was" level, because you're just observing the mental effects its having on Apollo, and trying to help him from the perspective of two people who really don't know the pain he's going through. Its what starts his internal turmoil and it does that well.

And putting a bow atop of it all is presentation that feels almost a cut above Ace Attorneys typical stellar pedigree: The composer of AA3 paired with the sound director of AA4 leads to whats pretty easily my favorite sound in the series, narrowly beating Great Ace Attorney purely by the element of variety. One of my biggest issues with AA4 was just how...dislikable a lot of the interacting cast was (again, is retroactively made more interesting with the Dark Age framing), and Dual Destinies remedies this with some absolute top-of-the-line new favorites (Simon + Case 3 my beloved) All the characters animate beautifully, and I admire the restrictions the team placed on themselves regardless: Characters like Filch and Fulbright will still snap to animations to retain the snappy timing of the original games, something I felt The Great Ace Attorney was comparatively lacking in due to reliance of "natural" motion-capture.

But then we come back to that point, that interesting contrast in direction: The Great Ace Attorney’s character models have far more detail and a whole new sense of fluidity, giving it more of a sophisticated feel, wheras Dual Destinies’ more simple designs and harsh cuts lend themselves to a different vibe altogether. The game’s anime cutscenes are a great example of this. The simpler designs lend themselves nicely to the occasional shift, and it does wonders to help drive the story. TGAA gets half as much cutscene runtime and accomplishes precious little with it, mostly just feeling jarring and out of place; Again, different direction.

So let's summarize: A fantastic story that retroactively makes the Ace Attorney game I have the most issues with click better and established three Top-5 favorite characters, paired with the best soundtrack in the series and a really nice visual direction for the mainline AA series. And crucially, while as I explained before the game fumbles in puzzle design, it NEVER shows its hand too early. This is my distinction between “the puzzle” mentioned earlier and "the mystery”, and the mystery is always excellently paced out across each case whilst driving a good story to boot. The points at which the game nudges you toward what to pick aren’t several steps before said event occurs, but rather often right after a major new unveiling has happened within the story. THIS is why the handholdy design doesn’t bother me.

Neither Takumi or Yamazaki had an easy task on their hands. Takumi had to introduce and build a whole new world, knowing full well it and its new characters, story and games would likely always live in the shadow of what would occur in the mainline series. Yamazaki, on the other hand, had to tie together the tangled web that Apollo Justice established, and carry the torch of the mainline series forward with a wholly new team with a distinct new flavor for the series, whilst also making an impactful game in its own right for both new fans and old. The results of both efforts are ones that, in a way falter where the other succeeds. Dual Destinies just so happened to land on the side of the pond that I happen to vibe just a bit more with, with all due respect paid to Takumi’s equally impressive effort.

I feel its best summarized with this: TGAA’s new mechanics like the Jury and Herlock Deductions lead to deviously clever puzzles and fun character interaction. AA5’s Percieve/Mood Matrix are very lacking in substance, yet are both used to pull some of the series’ best storybeats with incredibly satisfying ludonarrative harmony. And just the fact that Dual Destinies even HAS those abilities, on top of it all, to me speaks volumes on how passionate the team was to honor and respect the old, push forward with the new, and give it their all.

[Playtime: 35 hours] [Key Word: Admirable]

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Review: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Capcom • Capcom • 2007 • Nintendo DS Read it on Backloggd: (x)

So, here we are. Having written my Dual Destinies review (one of my favorites I've written, still) and almost being finished with Spirit of Justice, I feel its about time I toss my hat into the ring regarding AA4, possibly the most discussed Ace Attorney game of them all. There's a lot to unpack with AA4, and a lot of different ways to unpack it.

After AA1/2/3 wrapped up as a pretty much perfect, concluded trilogy, the 4th game had to be one to really break some sort of new ground, to not just seem as if the franchise was being stretched thin. And to outsiders looking in, be assured: They did far more than just give us a new protagonist. You meet Phoenix only to find out that he's completely changed, the perception of what makes a good defense lawyer has changed, your relation to the prosecution has changed, the story being told and, indeed, the very world of the game has shifted wholly. Its a remarkably ambitious game: One that, rather than just telling another story of a new character's growth like the old trilogy did, chose to readjust the lens of the series to focus far more on the law world at large, whilst subverting player expectations along the way.

I'll drop the dramatics and be blunt: In terms of ambition, ideas and themes, AA4 ranks as possibly my favorite game in the series. But as the finished game we got, I consider it the least enjoyable game in the series I've played.

Yet I can't even be sure if that's a bad thing. Because with so many of the issues I take with the game, there's a fascinating viewpoint that changes it into an interesting positive that also fits right in with the game's general direction of…well, misdirection, and subversion. Simply put, its an artsy game. For example, I noted halfway through my playthrough that the game's repertoire of characters are all mostly annoying, mean, or hard to work with, which leads to me as a player feeling miffed. Yet at the same time, Apollo is living in a new age of distrust and darkness in the legal world. He's living in an age where few feel like they can trust in others anymore, because people like Kristoph who desire results far above truth or fairness rule the justice system: The idea of "evidence" is so easily manipulated, that anyone can escape justice. Thus, Apollo's unable to have his perfect storybook journey of growth and support like Phoenix had because the world around him has changed to be hostile. So, is it really right of me to complain about the game doing what it sets out to do exceptionally well?

On the topic of Apollo himself, its very interesting that he himself is such a passive and static figure throughout most of the game, which underwhelmed me at first. But like I said: This isn't a character-driven story like the Trilogy, so is Apollo's lack of focus a BAD thing? Is the game trying to subvert what came before, rather than running with the tried-and-true optimistic hero's journey, a bad thing? Its a lot of these dilemmas I run into when thinking about the game, and its the reason why I respect it so highly despite the actual process of playing it being a lot more middling than the rest of the series in my eyes.

With all that being said, for as much intent as the game may otherwise have, it IS still Ace Attorney and comes with all the pros and cons of that. The animation is gorgeous, music is stellar, most of the overall mysteries are still pretty fun to unravel, and the whole gameplay of untangling testimonies is as fun as ever. The great fundamentals are still here and keep it enjoyable to play to a degree, and you can even sort of tell a new director is at the helm with this project.

Mitsuru Endo, previously a game designer first and foremost on games like Breath of Fire and Sengoku Basara, really rubs off his love for new gameplay systems and quirks in this game. Like usual for the series though, these systems end up being a mixed bag. Investigating evidence can be pretty fun and is a natural fit for the series, and Percieving is a cool and distinct power, iconic to Apollo. Yet then you have stuff like Ema's Forensics minigames, which feel really out of place and are uninteresting to engage with. There's no puzzle to them, just a good ol' DS touchscreen game. You get the feeling a lot of these things, and the systems exclusive to the third and fourth case, were added as a novelty, as fun toys for the player to engage with rather than being anything substantial…yet at the same time, as a game themed around magic tricks, isn't that heightened interactivity also part of the point?

In terms of writing and general direction, the main thing I think Takumi's games (those being the Ace Attorney Trilogy and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles) are worse at than his peers' is linking cases together to form a cohesive whole. Takumi excels in writing amazing and deviously clever singular cases, but in all his games its as if he can't resist including one or two bonus cases solely for how cool their mysteries are, rather than thinking of how their inclusion will affect the pacing of the game in its totality. Samurai, Big Top, Masked, Recipe, a lot of the individual mysteries in Ghost Trick, Speckled Band, Clouded Kokoro, the first two cases entirely in The Great Ace Attorney 2…don't get me wrong, I think his works are almost universally fantastic, but at times they can feel disjointed to progress through due to his unashamed love of "filler".

Under Endo's directing, meanwhile, it does feel like effort was placed on giving all cases purpose, reigning in Takumi's style of writing just enough to get the best of both worlds. All cases have substantial meaning, yet are able to be as zany and clever as Takumi always loves to write them. Beyond being a crazy case of solving several crimes at once, 4-2 serves to highlight how much Phoenix has changed and how Trucy helps him. 4-3 features a murder that takes place during a series of live stage performances, asking you to rewatch its footage to catch specific details related to witness testimony. At the same time, it also has a great focus on Klavier as a character, and the corrupt police-force that's been able to thrive in this new age, asking questions on if the law is always just in what it stands for. Yet that being said, we run back to the original issue of fun: Despite its cool themes and depth, 4-3 remains the worst case in any Ace Attorney game to actually play, both because of poor gameplay pacing, but also because the writing doesn't feel fleshed out enough to properly convey its brilliant ideas.

The lack of Psyche-Lockes as well honestly destroys the fun of investigating, and the pacing across all three cases featuring investigations is honestly dreadful. The only substitute present for the lack of Psyche-Lockes is the aforementioned mind-numbing forensics minigames, which do little to help things. Now, I noted in my Dual Destinies review that that game also had underwhelming gameplay, but it to me was salvaged by still having a rock solid, well-paced story pace where things were always happening. The game lacks Psyche-Lockes (for most of it) as well but makes up for it with a steadier stream of discoveries, more interesting 3D crime scene investigations, and so on. Due to AA4s insistence on finding meaning in the mundane, it ends up far less fun to play.

So, its a really tough call. I don't think AA5 or 6 are as ambitious or nuanced in what they want to convey as AA4, yet but they make up for it by having more engaging story events and better pacing across the board, leading to a more enjoyable experience for me. They're stories that are told in a tighter and more fun way than AA4, yet it feels wrong to label the game as "the worst Ace Attorney!!" because, again, it tries so hard and has such a unique flair as by far the most artistic game in the series.

Had this been the final Ace Attorney as originally intended, it would've been an impactful note to end on. But I am glad we did get more games in the series, and it led to great things. The murky law world of AA4 begins to heal across the events of AA5, and AA6 gives you an insight into just how badly it could have escalated, emphasizing a theme of preparing the new generation to solve the issues that are inevitably going to occur through the old generation's stubbornness and evil. Apollo finally becomes a character with agency and goals, Trucy's relationship to the Gramarye's is given a sweet bookend, we get to see how Edgeworth and Klavier handle the growingly unjust law world, Ema is, there, and Phoenix takes on the mentor role he was destined to do.

What I'm saying is: I'm really happy with how AA4, 5 and 6 turned out as a trilogy, even though it makes AA4's ambition stick out in hindsight, and now just exists as "that one weird game" rather than "the crazy rug-pull finale of the series". Despite my grievances with it, I do still love AA4, and I'm glad its resonated with so many people. But its overambition alongside its stumbles, from pretty shallow gameplay additions to bad pacing, keep me from loving it wholesale and having it click entirely. Simply put, a lot of its "but its like this way on purpose"-isms just don't land with me the way they do in games like Suda51's work. Yet it remains Ace Attorney at its core, and the simple fact that they even tried in a series otherwise aiming for as much mass appeal as this one, is worth so much respect. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is forever going to be a standout game in the series, and for me that's both for better and for worse. Basically, I'm just glad it exists, even if its not for me.

[Play Time: 35 Hours] [Key Word: Overzealous]

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Review: Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal

Sanzaru Games • SEGA • 2014 • Nintendo 3DS Read it on Backloggd: (x)

Sonic's always had a strange, yet interesting history on handhelds.

Its history spans five different developers, from Sonic's birth in 1991 to his 25th anniversary in 2016, with each year marking a gradual change in what the games are even supposed to be for. In the 90s it was Ancient and Aspect, trying to replicate the creative, varied, ball-rolling and feel-good adventures or Sonic 1, 2 and 3, cramming them into tiny 8-bit Game Gear games. While they aren't fantastic or even, good, really, you get a sense that they really tried to capture what people were enjoying about Sonic on the genesis at that point and time, and distilling it into a new format. You see this further with Sonic Pocket Adventure by SNK, a lovely tribute to the Genesis games that gets really close to actually feeling like them despite its 8-bitty visuals, yet feels somewhat restrained by not being much more than just a recreation. From there you get Dimps' Sonic Advance games, now latching onto Sonic's striking new identity after Sonic Adventure: It was still a series about feel-good adventures, of course, but now there was a bit more flair to it all. Sonic in Adventure wasn't just a cool design with a cheeky idle animation, he now had a voice, several fluid animations, strikingly expressive graffitti-esque art, he comments on situations and does cool breakdance tricks after beating levels. Somewhat like the Game Gear games before them, the original Sonic Advance became a game trying to distill the essence of Sonic Adventure, the style, the vibes, even the dramatics in the game's memorable Egg Rocket stage, into a format befitting of a handheld. Advance 2 and 3 are obviously much the same thing but for Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes respectively, with Advance 2 channelling the high-octane adrenaline of SA2 levels like Green Forest and Sky Rail into a 2D sidescroller plane, and Advance 3 taking Heroes' team-up mechanics into its own direction.

Yet with Sonic Rush, things began taking a new direction. Not only had there not been a big new Sonic game to try and channel after Heroes, but Dimps had also begun finding their own voice. Sonic Advance 2 had been a monumental triumph in terms of both sales and reviews, and its bold adaptation of 3D gameplay into 2D gave Dimps a somewhat unique basis to build off of – to make Sonic games entirely their own. Even when SEGA would try to reel this back after 2008, instead only having them work on games specifically branded as derivative of others, Dimps now took these games on with a distinctly their-own approach, seen in games like Sonic Colors DS, Sonic Lost World 3DS, and most infamously Sonic 4. In short, Sonic's handheld games had gone from cute imitations, to games driven by their source, to full on original games, to original games using their source as a baseline.

Which now brings us to our fifth and last, developer, for the final Sonic handheld ventures: Sanzaru Games, and Sonic Boom on 3DS.

Shattered Crystal was always going to be fighting an uphill battle compared to its handheld siblings: Mainly, it had little to no foundation to build off of, with Boom as an entity being made specifically to reinvent the series, in a more Americanized direction. For the big debut home console game, Big Red Button was a great choice for this: Jak & Daxter-ifying Sonic with some of that game's lead developers at the helm, whilst not seeming like a great direction to a lot of Sonic die-hards, at least seemed like a great way to get a solid product out. Thing is, unlike games like Advance and Pocket Adventure, Shattered Crystal didn't have a pre-existing thing to try and replicate: Due to being developed in parallel with Rise of Lyric, Sanzaru didn't have much to work off of beyond a few core concepts for the world, and a general idea of teamwork. On top of this, unlike Big Red Button or even Dimps, Sanzaru were in no way known for their excellence in 2D game design, or even known as good developers in general. And so, in a way, Shattered Crystal ended up a hodgepodge of all the different eras of handheld games, trying to both share the brand identity of its console counterpart, yet also be its own thing, but still building its foundations off of some core ideas from the main game, althewhile being fertile ground for the games' developers to grow and learn.

I wanted to give that rundown both because I find it incredibly fascinating to think about, but also because it makes the end product of Shattered Crystal make a lot more sense. Its a messy little game, filled both with ambition to be like what handheld Sonic once was, yet also embrace elements of the 2000s western-made platformers. The game's levels are uncharacteristically large for one, and a lot of the game is focused on exploring them to find collectibles manditory to unlock later levels. The other playable characters, Tails, Knuckles and Sticks, can be switched to on the fly, yet all they really offer is unlocking passageways or access to aforementioned collectibled. Its a very arbitrary inclusion of multiple playable characters, and it combined with gargantuan levels you're forced to explore could have very well ruined the game to be as bland and boring as its Wii U counterpart. So its a good thing, then, that they somehow managed to make Sonic himself feel absolutely fantastic to control. I'm serious: I have no clue how they did it, but Sonic controls like such a dream and has so many movement options, yet remains at a comfortable enough speed to make exploring levels still feasible compared to Dimps' best outings. Its a distinct feel to the character, yet immensely fun to play around with, mainly due to the fun interplay between the airdash and double jump.

To break it down, at any point in midair Sonic can dash either to his sides or straight up, after which he regains his double jump if it was used before. After a double jump he can airdash one additional time, but not in the same direction as the previous airdash, and this repeats until you've airdashed in all directions. What this means is that you can get crazy airtime by doing all of these interlinked airdashes and double jumps correctly, giving you more distance than Tails' flight in most instances the game wants you to switch to him. Jump, doublejump, airdash forward, doublejump, airdash up, doublejump...its reminiscent of those cool strings of moves you execute for long jumps in Mario Odyssey, only far more compelling due to being attached to get-to-the-goal speedrunning stages that still have a lot of options on how to best progress through them. What this means is that when the level asks you to switch to Knuckles to tunnel up a steep cliff, or switch to Tails to cruise over a bed of spikes, and so on, you can almost always execute it faster and more satisfyingly through mastery of Sonics controls. Add to this the fact that the doublejump maintains all of your speed, and the fun Enerbeam that has some really satisfying swinging physics, and you get some levels with some genuinely great flow to them. It takes a similar formula to the Wisps in the mainline Sonic games, switching to far simpler playstyles to clear very specific-to-them challenges, and instead gives you the tools to completely skip them if you're skilled enough with Sonic.

Granted, this doesn't always hold water, and the rushed nature of the game does sometimes catch up to it. Sticks exists to hit switches with her boomerang and she is the ONLY one who can do so, meaning there will inevitably be sections like the start of Scrapyard Zone where you're arbitrarily required to use her. The collectible grind can also halt your flow a lot of the time, like with the strangely out of place Tails Submarine levels where you play a slow and boring diving minigame for 2 minutes each in the middle of an otherwise fast paced game. Or rather, its a game where you can otherwise MAKE the pace faster than it in reality wants to be.

And thats just what makes Shattered Crystal so interesting. Despite everything, it holds on to so many things that makes Sonic games so fun to play, like fast movement, levels you can explore for both items and shortcuts, hell they've even got Richard Jacques – composer of Sonic R and Sonic 3D Blast – doing the music, and its often quite good! The levels themselves are super cool in theming, mostly thanks to each level having a "foreground" and "background", putting new spins on the same level theme sort of like how Sonic Heroes handles its levels. In Shadow Canyons, for instance, you go from grinding on rails and running along scaffolding by these big imposing cliffs, to being flung into the mining facility going on in those mountains. I honestly don't want to spoil the final level because it is such a cool theme for a stage with this system, that it makes the entire game feel worth it just to get to.

Because at the end of the day, for as much cool stuff there is in Shattered Crystal, for as close as it really does come to being a successor to Dimps' handheld lineage, the game is sadly just too much of a chore to get through normally. Unlike a game like Sonic Colors, the explorative nature of the stages isn't just there for optional unlockables, but rather required for progression and beating the game. By the end, you will more or less need a 90% completion rate, meaning most stages need to be both combed through but also beaten with above 50 rings and under a specific time. Its not that this stuff is bad or unfun to do, the game has a super detailed map on the touchscreen showing you where you havent been yet and where things are and I actually really like the autorunner extra stages you can do inbetween levels. It's moreso that it leads to the game feeling at odds with itself: Its immensely fun to speedrun and try to go faster in, but so much of the game wants you to instead do the fun-but-not-nearly-AS-fun collectible hunt. Then, you add that with how the controls can start to really hurt your hands after a while: There's no D-pad movement, meaning you need to slam a somewhat-flimsy circle pad as far to the left or right as it can go to move quickly, whilst also holding down Y at all times to run, whilst also asking you to be ready to use B to jump and A or X to airdash and enerbeam...

It all adds up to Shattered Crystal being a game with truckloads of potential to be amazing, that holds itself back both due to a rushed development and a need for surface-level parity with the slow-as-molasses home console Sonic Boom game it has no business associating with. But when you're able to overcome all those restrictions, when there's no longer a need to collect things, when you've mastered Sonics controls to almost never need to switch to the other bozos, and when you get a true flow going with mechanics you would never expect to be so fun for what the game looks to be on the surface...

That's when you've broken free. Because trouble keeps you running faster.

Playtime: 20 Hours Key Word: Shackled

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Review: The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures

Capcom • Capcom • 2015 • Nintendo 3DS Played in The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles Read it on Backloggd: (x)

With every Ace Attorney I play, I become more and more aware of just how excellently crafted and set up that first game was with its original four cases. They may seem kind of quaint nowadays in terms of scope, but the pacing from case to case felt damn near perfect. A first case introducing characters, relations and game mechanics in a short-and-sweet way. A second case raising the stakes of the story and setting up things to come, remaining decently tame in solvability. A third case that introduces somewhat more elaborate schemes, whilst also giving you a break from the "main story" with something more zany, sort of helping you swallow the more outlandish murder method while also putting more focus on character dynamics than core plot progression. And then finally, a fourth case, that takes aspects from all of the above and combines them into one climactic final act.

For how tride-and-true the structure seems to be, the only games so far to really follow them are the first two games. With everything else: Trials&Tribulations, Apollo Justice, and indeed the game I'm gonna get to in a second, they've tweaked with this formula a bit. In my opinion its all been to somewhat mixed results, but with some really satisfying highs: T&Ts changes make it just the right kind of shake-up for a final game in a story arc, but it doesn't feel like it was thought through well enough, leading to a somewhat dragged-out middle half of nothing much happening. Apollo Justice's opening act is one of the best executed cases in the entire series and earns its far longer length by being genuinely climactic and affecting our characters in a noticeable way, but...then the second and third cases are thoroughly mediocre.

All of this is to say, that The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures is another one of Takumi's shake-ups to the original structure, likely the biggest one, and while its respectable in its ambition I can't help but feel like it stumbles just like, if not more, than the prior two games in doing so. Now of course, all of what I've been talking about has just been pacing and per-case quality: Let me just flat-out say that this game nails almost everything else it sets out to do. I finally do get the appeal and love for these games: The atmosphere of London, Susato and Naruhodo's banter, the music, the Jury system (mostly), the Deductions...Herlock in general! They were all absolutely stellar and it was easy for me to both see and experience why so many people have fallen in love with these games.

Yet everytime I think back to this game, specifically, on its own...it circles back to the story and its pacing, both of which still feel pretty half-baked to me. Don't get me wrong, its not thoroughly rotten or whatever, and Case 3 is one of my new all-time favorites. But then you have Case 1, that feels insanely dragged out despite not really doing anything to earn its length a la AA4. You have Case 2 that pulls a plot-beat that it in my opinion shouldn't have done until far later into the story, is overall mostly boring to play and predictable to watch unfold, and ends on one of the cruelest notes in the series that's brushed over weirdly casually. And then you have Case 4, which is quite possibly the most vapid and pointless case I've ever played in the series. It does nothing to forward any of the characters or raise stakes, it doesn't escalate the possibilities for how cases could be solved like the "typical" third case does...really, it mostly feels like its here for the sake of giving you another Deduction, which comes so early on and is so seemingly unrelated to the case that by the end of it you've pretty much figured out the whole (surprisingly simple) story of what happened.

Case 5 picks things up again as expected yet doesn't really...go anywhere. It takes up some interesting concepts to be sure, has some nice character moments and really funny parts, and parallels Turnabout Goodbyes with your relationship to the defendant. Yet the case itself was so thoroughly bogstandard and simple, with a character you have pretty much zero attachment to or against serving as the big bad antagonist. They did one somewhat-cool thing near the tail end of things involving a side character, but it felt far too late and as if the game could have made Case 2 and 4 build up more smoothly to this moment, rather than have "the core game" basically just be Case 3 and 5.

Character relations in general feel oddly unfinished here and there. SLIGHT SPOILERS: -Hosonaga just kind of disappears from the plot at a certain point -Stronghart doesn't do much other than tell you what to do and be the most predictable villain for the next game I've ever seen (written before playing Great Ace Attorney 2) -Kazuma doesn't get to do much at all before he's out and (unlike Mia) does nothing after that point beyond be flashback material.

And I get that its all for setup to a sequel, and its going to make that sequel a far better game, to be sure. But I believe each installment should still be a satisfying package on its own: Those loose threads should look good without being tied up by a separate game. And yeah, it does do a great job of investing me in the universe of these two games, and preparing me for things to come. I love these characters now and I'm already theorizing what all of these loose ends will lead to, but the game on its own, in my opinion needs more than that.

Last note on the pacing: The way there's not a single case with more than one Court or Investigation segment feels extremely bizarre to me. Rather than having cases split across multiple days with jumping back and forth between court and trial, it's all one huge block each per case. It's a bizarre break in the series' typically structure, especially given how Court sections later in the game end up dragging because of it. Case 3 somewhat makes up for it by making fantastic use of the evidence-examination mechanic, letting you examine the whole crime scene during the trial, but other cases (...4 and 5) feel like they do nothing but suffer from the lack of splitting court sections up properly. It also left me feeling like there wasn't as much investigating as there usually is in the series which, isn't really a complaint per se, but is just an odd thing to think about considering the game as a whole.

The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures is a weird little game. Simultaneously overachieving yet not doing enough, shaking up the formula yet paralleling past beats, and it has Herlock Sholmes in it.

The result is a game that made me fall in love with The Great Ace Attorney as a whole far more than it did make me fall in love with this first Adventure on its own. And if nothing else, that makes me thoroughly excited to play the sequel.

[Playtime: 30 hours] [Keyword: Unrealized]

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Review: Another Code: Two Memories

CiNG • Nintendo • 2005 • Nintendo DS Read it on Backloggd: (x)

After discovering Hotel Dusk, I like many others became enamored by the mystique surrounding its developer, Cing: A tiny team that brought the absolute most out of both the DS and Wii, made 4 Nintendo-published games, and despite that died less than 10 years after being founded.

Out of those 4 games, Hotel Dusk is definitely the most well known, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Beyond the fascinating hardware uses and overall presentation, it was the mood and overall pacing of its story that captivated me. A game relishing in the mundane. Games like Shenmue and No More Heroes captivate me with how they use those chunks of silent, "uninteresting" gameplay to both further enhance the more exciting moments and immerse you more in their everyday worlds. Even Ace Attorney does it in a sense with its investigations.

Long story short: I wanted more Hotel Dusk and decided to try out Cing's first ever Nintendo-published game. And to make another long story short, whilst it definitely shows more rough edges and lack of focus compared to Hotel Dusk, the game's heart is still in the right place.

Its a quirky little game: The textboxes look right out of a flash game, the mouth movements can look flat-out creepy if you pay enough attention to them, and unlike Hotel Dusk most puzzles are moreso there to just...be puzzles, rather than have much of anything to do with the world. Its set up sort of similarly to old-school Resident Evil in that way, I guess. You get a mansion with an assortment of rooms and need to decode how to progress further into the house: Solving a puzzle in the living room gives you a key to a drawer in the office, et cetera.

What really made me draw the Resident Evil connection is the abundance of lore-nuggets sprinkled about: It uses its premise of having two characters with memory issues to let the player ponder over two mysteries at once. Its a neat way to handle the story over its short runtime. Outside of solving that mystery the story isn't all that special on paper, and honestly I mostly played this game as preparation to eventually be able to play Another Code R on Wii.

Yet even in those 5 little hours and all that crust, you can definitely feel the Cing spirit here. The atmosphere of Blood Edward Island in general is fantastic, arguably better than Hotel Dusk, due both to the surprisingly large soundtrack as well as the absolutely brilliant use of the two-screen setups. Its straight-up one of the best Adventure game UI's I've ever used, having a 3D-modelled world on one screen as well as 2D stills of the island's most captivating viewpoints on the other. When paired with the music, it creates a kind of immersion I haven't really felt in any other game, and am sad to realize will probably never be seen in any future games given the 3DS' discontinuation. It really does help sell this abandoned mansion's eerieness to both be able to see it at large and see its more detailed spots at the same time.

What also helps with this is that, for as simple as the story is on the whole and as cutesy as the premise seems (A 14 year old goes investigating with her ghost best friend!!), it touches on some surprisingly dark yet very real subjects, with Ashley reacting accordingly. The writer of all four Cing games, Rika Suzuki, has always emphasized that Another Code is specifically about Ashley's mental state first and foremost, and I feel like these moments of discussing betrayal, suicide, abandonment and grief really tie the game together nicely. But really, what'll drive you through the game is its story and atmosphere, alongside the curiousity of how it'll use the DS hardware next.

With its puzzles feeling so deliberately designed to be "DS gimmicks" compared to the more grounded Hotel Dusk puzzles, it end up feeling somewhat self-aware in a really fun way, like "ooh yeah this puzzle is really clever of us", and you yourself cant do anything but go "yeahh youre right", even when they as puzzles are often not anything special. A lot of the time I'd even argue they're too cryptic for their own good.

The story at large is also like a puzzle in of itself, but with its aforementioned short runtime and constant new little pieces uncovered, alongside just generally pretty sweet little character moments, its very fun to just follow along with. Weird, grounded, silly, ominous, crusty, atmospheric: Another Code is most definitely able to be a lot of things in its runtime. At the end of the day I am still very glad I took the time to play it, if only for the memories it gave me.

[Playtime: 5 hours] [Key Word: Novelty]

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Review: Pac n' Roll

Namco • Namco • 2005 • Nintendo DS • Played on Nintendo 3DS Read it on Backloggd: (x)

Lets all be on the same page: This game's kinda stupid, yeah? Its a complete novelty of a game made to experiment with a new gimmick in a really weird way. Its not aiming to be some paragon of solid game design or emotionally invigorating, masterclass game, I'm sad to report. Its a stupid game at its core, and that's exactly what drew me to buy it for the five bucks I found it for. A platformer with no jumping, controlled with whats essentially a trackball? I HAD to see what the hell this even was, and if there's anything to be gained from its gimmick.

And, I mean, kinda?

It feels like a game that taps into knowing how inherently fun it is to interact with its systems, like how Mario 64 was made so open ended to make its fully analog controls really feel natural and worthwhile. What you get here then is a bunch of ramps, slopes, straightaways and seesaws that all highlight the simple joy of Being Ball, but unlike Monkey Ball its not made to be ball-bustingly challenging and demanding you master its physics: Rather, it just asks you to have fun with them.

Honestly the vibe of the game in general feels extremely N64, not just with the aforementioned "look'it our cute gimmick" game feel that stuff like Glover or Chameleon Twist had but also just its visuals and sounds. Its a lot more vibrant, yet simple compared to Pac-Man World. It has that very specific "5th gen 3D game" kind of design where it kind of has objectives and escalating challenges, but it feels more interested in just letting you faff around, not really endangering you until way late in the game.

And sure, there are collectibles, much like the Pac-Man Worlds, which are more traditionally structured "escalating challenge" 3D platformers, yet it doesn't feel like Pac N Roll is all too interested in you getting 100% completion. (Though, having unique Time Attack layouts for all levels is a nice touch)

And, well yeah, the game does honestly feel quite nice to control to where I wouldn't have been opposed to 100%-ing this if I was a kid. The Pacster stops with a still tap of the screen but otherwise rolls with the momentum you give him, mixed with whatever the slopes are up to. There's a level near the end of the game that's all just one big slide a la Mario 64, except here due to the great sense of Ball you have it feels really intense and satisfying to get through, but you still are able to stop yourself at any time. Its such an interesting setup! The last two worlds in general are when the gloves come off and the game actually starts doing stuff with its insane setup, having stuff like multiple seesaws in a row you need to manipulate carefully to move across, bumpers that send you careening off stage, etc

For as middling as the experience can feel there's a kind of charm to seeing them try to add depth to such a gimmicky setup. Like, the speed burst move you get by stopping the stylus at the very edge of the screen, or the power-up hats that make you lighter or heavier. Silly stuff for sure, and they don't really ever test your prowess in Gaming, but they're there just to add a little more sauce to the weird meal you're having. Same kinda goes for the bosses, they're not really that hard but just toss you about in a new way from before.

All around, yeah, its a pretty ho-hum game--EXCEPT that the final boss, I shit you not, is a 5-phase GAUNTLET that is as big in level design length as the game's actual levels. Its genuinely insane but it has some of the most creative concepts in the game. Controlling the ball in a pinball machine? How about controlling the ball on a platform that's teetering all kinds of wild directions unpredictably! How about controlling one in a funnel, where taking any moment to rest sends you rolling toward the pit in the center?

Its this kind of variety, paired with the game's unreplicateable control setup, that makes me sad we'll probably never get a game like this again. These kinds of medium-budget, "hey this idea seems funny" games just don't happen anymore outside of...idk, mobile? VR? Its sad, but we should appreciate the quirkiness we got. Go hunt down those weird games! Concept seem ridiculous? Try it!

Typing of the Dead, Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, DK Jungle Climber, Sonic & the Secret Rings...Are all of these games great? No, not really! But their attempts at the bizarre concepts nobody else dared to try are worth experiencing, remembering, and learning from.

[Playtime: 10 Hours] [Key Word: Silly]

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Review: Donkey Kong GB

Nintendo EAD • Nintendo • 1994 • Game Boy • Played on Nintendo 3DS Read it on Backloggd: (x)

Playing the first Mario VS Donkey Kong recently, the spiritual successor to this game released nearly 10 years later, made me look back to this game with a lot of fondness. Its not really a stretch in my eyes to say that it is one of the most impressive Game Boy games, period. But I need to clarify to those unfamiliar with this game: Its more than just "really good, for a handheld title"- it's on par in terms of scope and quality with some of the SNES' finest, and genuinely has no right being as good as it is.

It's a game inspired by the original Donkey Kong, a game where your only action besides walking and climbing ladders is a pitifully short jump, yet it both understands what makes that gameplay fun, and expands your moveset and the variety of levels to make the game even more fun. 3D Mario would end up borrowing a lot from this game, with its focus on acrobatics and the like. Some levels in Mario 64 like Bob-Omb Battlefield and Whomps Fortress feel made with a similar level design philosophy, of climbing a tower with an arsenal of wacky jumps. But for as mindlessly fun it is to just waltz around in 64 its always felt unfocused in a way that doesn't click with me, mostly due to the low difficulty and lack of precise platforming that stems from stretching the levels out into explorable sandboxes.

Simply put, I'm the player who tends to prefer the "Secret Stages", "Time Rifts" or "Voids" a lot more over the explorative "main game" these kinds of 3D platformers tend to provide. And DK94 feels like a game made up solely of those more focused segments. By making a game that both has tight, focused challenges with precise jumps and tricky timing ALONGSIDE the stylish flips and vaults that let you clear challenges more effectively if you master their handling...it scratches a very specific itch in my brain, basically. I don't want to mindlessly compare this game to something like Mega Man Zero, of course, but it gives me that same feeling of satisfaction, from using cool movement in very confined and challening rooms. THIS is what I really like from platformers, and I find it really cool how well DK94 captures it.

Its obviously not anywhere near as fast as other movement-based platformers: A lot of levels are more about puzzle solving and timing things whilst on slower moving platforms, or finding ways to transport the key from its spawn to the door. But the concise design of levels never make it feel like a chore, and when compared to something like the Portal games it allows you to take in the entire room at once thanks to the sidescrolling perspective, minimizing moments of analysis paralysis and instead letting you solve problems whilst working toward them with the platforming.

Its such a solid foundation with such buttery smooth controls and physics (hell, it has a better sideflip than Odyssey!!) that I have a hard time finding fault with it. At its worst I'd say that the game drags a little by the end due to the excessive amount of content. That's something I noticed Mario VS Donkey Kong was able to improve upon with its benefit of hindsight, creating a nice form of variety with the Mini Mario sections at the end of worlds. Yet shockingly, even with 10 years of hindsight, that was one of the only things that the game truly improved on.

Despite that lack of hindsight, its platform, age, scale and stupidly grand ambitions to establish a whole new kind of Mario game, DK94 barely stumbles as a first entry. And that's the sign of something truly special.

[Playtime: ???] [Key Word: Peak]

#melloggd : reviews #game reviews #video games #video game review #game writing #donkey kong #donkey kong country #nintendo #game boy #gba #game boy color #retro games #dkc #mario vs donkey kong #mvdk

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Review: Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure

xeen • SEGA • 2012 • Nintendo 3DS Read it on Backloggd: (x)

This was one of the most pleasantly surprising experiences I've ever had finding, buying, playing then beating a game! I went in COMPLETELY unspoiled aside from having played the 3DS Demo and knowing it was sound directed by my beloved Tomoya Ohtani: both of these things left great impressions on me, but I don't think either could've prepared me for the game as a whole.

You can see right from the boxart what this game is about: A story-driven Rhythm game with an immense sense of style and personality. It taps into the energy that games like Professor Layton save for the very end, to instead use for the entire game's runtime.

With every new game I play, pacing ends up being a make-or-break aspect that decides whether or not I finish a game. It was so refreshing to not only play a game with absolutely top-notch pacing, but also one with a genuinely fun story to follow. What I'm getting at is: Just on a game-feel level, these kinds of games don't come often.

And I haven't even discussed the gameplay, which is both where the game shines and falters in the most charming ways possible. Despite being a mostly outsourced game, it channels the feeling of Y2K SEGA through and through: Ambition over polish, emotion over consistency, and a full dedication to whatever silly premise the game is running with. Rhythm games are usually mixed for me, I of course get dopamine from hitting actions to notes but I've always felt like something was missing from the experience. With this, I know now what that something is: Variety and story context both add immensely to the vibe of each Minigame. Are there a few stinkers? For sure, for sure. Mostly the ones using Motion controls, but some of the traditionally-controlled games also suffer from being a bit too ambitious in difficulty. But its hard to care when they're almost always wrapped in a memorable, unique package.

In that way Rhythm Thief is a game better than an analysis of all its aspects could ever tell you. Despite its flaws, its an experience that you can't help but smile through. Raphael, Marie, Charlie, Inspector Vergier and all the side characters are stuck in my head forever now. It shares that in common with the SEGA classics of yore like NiGHTS, Jet Set Radio, Panzer Dragoon, Space Channel 5, Sonic Adventure and Monkey Ball: Weird design choices stop impacting your enjoyment when the confidence and heart on display is just that strong.

Maybe I'm biased toward SEGA's particular brand of jank and an appreciation of over-the-top stories, but Rhythm Thief made me smile in a very earnest, personal way, that very few games have.

That's gotta mean something, right?

[Play time: 20 hours] [Key word: Birthday]

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Review: Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories

CiNG • Nintendo • 2009 • Wii Read it on Backloggd: (x)

Its now been three years since I first beat this game, lazily playing it together with my roommate after we'd both individually beaten the original Another Code, and I still have a lot of bubbling thoughts about it. Out of the five games CiNG released in their Nintendo-exclusive era, the two Kyle Hyde games are the obvious critical darlings. Strikingly unique artstyle and distinct identity by way of Hold-DS-Sideways, mature themes tackled by memorable and well written characters, et cetera. Needless to say that the Another Code duology, one a crusty-feeling, short "tech demo"-type game for what kind of puzzles the DS can do, and its sequel locked away from the US and stuck on a region-locked console, was always going to be swept aside in comparison.

And, looking at the games in direct comparison to Hotel Dusk and Last Window, its also kind of understandable why less people are drawn to them. They lack that hook of a mature, intricate story, that feeling that what you're playing is something truly unforgettable. Yet...Another Code R really has been unforgettable, in a way that's been hard to articulate. What it lacks in heavy storytelling and investment, I feel it makes up for with atmosphere and just general vibes, much like the quirky DS game its following up on. The painterly landscapes, the soothing music, the cute bond shared between main characters Ashley and Matthew, all taking you back to a very "human" story, focusing on mental health and who you hold dear in life.

Playing the game is like taking your mindset back to summer vacation, without thoughts on how to pay your fees or what errands to run, what assignments are due...it's a game about you, and a friend, and how you're doing. Talking to each other. Helping each other. As simple as that sounds, it really does do a great job discussing that simple topic. "Friendship" is a broad theme that applies to every heroic story under the sun, and my point is less that Another Code R pioneers it above every one of its contemporaries, but rather that it doesn't also try to focus on saving the world, or uncovering a conspiracy, or so on. Its a slow, meandering, uninteresting, simple game - and I want you to read all of those adjectives as positives, because they're key to the game's cozy, laid-back and warm feeling.

That's not to say there's not some actual game in here too, of course. While a little less puzzle-heavy than the other CiNG games, it uses the Wii remote to some truly fantastic extremes with puzzles I'm now confident in saying no other developer would've come up with. The only thing I can think of this game doesn't utilize about the Wiimote is sending you clues to the mailbox - everything else, and I do mean everything, is up for grabs.

While solving puzzles and reading dialogue, much like Professor Layton, is part of setting the comfy experience, just being able to freely walk around Lake Juliet in general also goes such a long way in making the game truly click. Would the game be more convenient, less slow paced, with a fast-travel system, taking you to every "important" part of the game faster and "wasting less of your time"? Absolutely. But then, in my eyes, you're missing the point of the game: The slow burn of taking in the world.

Thus, there's honestly little I can say this game doesn't do right, because it knows very well what its trying to be. It will never reach the highs of Last Window or Hotel Dusk, because its not trying to do so. And in that sense, the game is perfect. Another Code: R is atmospheric, serene, calming and warm. Like a blanket, the appeal of it is not the grand mystery to be found by digging deeper into it, but the comfort that simply being near it can provide.

[Playtime: 22 hours] [Key Word: Healing]

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hey all 2 people reading this, sorry shits been dead - havent had any motivation to write reviews and if i wasnt making anything new i didnt really feel like reposting my old ones. but now im gonna change that!!!!

starting today every other day I will share one of my old reviews from Backloggd and eventually catch up with where my reviews are right now.

#melloggd : talk #game reviews #video games #video game analysis