Phoenix Wright is one of those game series that I have seen around for a very long time but never got to play before. With the collection being on one of those big PSN sales, I knew this was finally my chance! It is definitely a pretty great collection and the games give you a lot of bang for your buck. This collection took me over 90 hours to complete which was intense! I came super close to hitting that 100 hour milestone.

The story follows a young man named Phoenix who is a defense attorney. He wants to help the innocent and prevent them from being sent to their death. See, in the future there are so many crimes that court cases are only allowed to take up to 3 days. If the defendant is found guilty then more often than not they are put to death. The prosecutors will use any trick up their sleeve to win a case and so Phoenix has to spot the contradictions in the evidence. If he is able to do that, then he will be on the right side of history.

Each game has a similar setup but the main prosecutor tends to change. The first game focuses on Edgeworth who knew Phoenix back when they were kids. They have quite a lot of history and so Edgeworth gets to have a full character arc. The second game has Franziska who is quite ruthless and whips anyone who annoys her. The games don’t mind getting a little extreme in this sense. What other franchise would actually have the judge allow whipping in his court right? Like with Edgeworth she does get a good amount of character development by the end.

The final game has Gadot has the main villain. He has a whole mystery going on that is unveiled as the final game gets to the end. While he felt like the weakest villain which was an interesting way to end the trilogy, I do have to admit that he had the best lines. Pretty much everything he said about the coffee or his abstract messages were just fun. So he definitely grew on me by the end.

Something the games really had going for them was the strong character roster. The supporting characters are a lot of fun. Mia and Maya have really big roles throughout the games and are people that Phoenix can rely on. Mia was really portrayed as the strongest character in the series and you could argue that she still has that spot by the end. Maya goes from being a total novice to actually challenging Phoenix in the final case. She really came along way there. The villains I already mentioned are really good as well. It doesn’t mean that every character is fun, some are a bit overplayed like the old lady. Whenever she appeared I’d have to shake my head. In a way the world feels too small when you bring a character back too often.

The games also did a great job of constantly switching things up. You end up playing as different characters as the games go on like when you play as Edgeworth or Mia. That just helps to keep everything really fresh. Seeing young Phoenix as an unreliable witness was intense. It really reinforces how you can’t trust anyone who is on the stand.

So what’s the gameplay like? Well, you have two sections, free roam and then the court case. In free roam you switch between different areas and talk to people to get evidence. You can also present evidence to people in order to get some reactions and obtain some clues. You will also click on different objects in the background like something in I Spy to get more clues. The toughest part can be deciding what to show each suspect or making sure that you have clicked on everything in the area. So you have to be very methodical. One thing you will figure out quickly is that every person should have 4 lines of dialogue. So if they have less then you must have missed something.

Some cases will add bonus gameplay styles to this like when you have a metal detector or a spray that can locate hidden blood splotches. The meat of the game is in the courtroom though and that’s my favorite part. Basically the witnesses will say 4-6 things and you can press or object to the statement. Generally you will need to press the statement first and then object to the one that is wrong. You will have to prove the contradiction by presenting a piece of evidence. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. Sometimes it is incredibly difficult to find a contradiction and I died many times in this game. It is rather brutal, if you don’t save the game midway then you have to replay a large chunk of the case. Definitely keep a backup save at the ready because it is possible to get save locked here.

The game isn’t a graphical masterpiece though so you shouldn’t expect too much there. There aren’t a lot of animations as most of the story are just still images. There is also no real voice acting outside of the characters yelling objection in the court room. I’d like them to add voice acting to all of the dialogue at some point. It would just make this feel more like an authentic audio book. So the games are very strong but they succeed more on the premise and gameplay than on the technical elements around it.

Technically there isn’t a lot of replay value once you beat the game. It’s not like there are bonus paths, you either win or you lose. Still, at over 90 hours you don’t actually need any replay value. I obtained the Platinum when completing the game because I made sure to go back and get answers wrong as needed. You’ll get most of the trophies naturally but can definitely work on getting any you missed as a form of replay value.

Overall, This was definitely a great trilogy. On its own each game may be more like a 7 because they are just lacking a bit in gameplay but together this just makes such an incredible narrative that I had to bump it up. I’ll definitely be curious to see how the next games play out. I’ll miss Phoenix being the main character as the next trilogy switches but I’m sure they’ll do a good job with the next one. It’ll probably be a while before I get the next trilogy though.

Overall 8/10