Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy Review

At this point, we all know that the Ace Attorney series is one of those series of Visual Novels that everyone has at least heard about. The first trilogy of games is considered to be one of the best, introducing many players to visual novels and having them branch off to series like Zero Escape and Danganronpa. But, of course, the series didn’t end with Trials and Tribulations. Three more entries in the Ace Attorney series followed this one.

Enter stage left the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy. This compilation of games has the next entries in the series. The series features the appearance of the titular character as he goes through his own adventures accompanied by veteran attorney Phoenix Wright and newcomer psychoanalyst Athena Cykes. Is this collection worth grabbing? Let’s find out.

The Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy brings the three games that follow the events of Trials and Tribulations. Those games are Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney”, “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies,” and “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice.” Don’t let the names in the titles fool you; most of the plot is centered around Apollo throughout most of the three games. In fact, it becomes the central focus of the third game.

Well, there could be some arguing about who the protagonist is in Dual Destinies since that game’s story is a bit of an unfocused mess that has several sub-plots going around it. The game doesn’t know whether to focus on Phoenix’s return as an attorney, Athena Cykes’s debut and psychological trauma, and Apollo’s involvement with later events in the game. While it does wrap up nicely, you wish it was executed better.

In fact, this collection has a lot of issues when it comes to the individual games’ qualities. It’s almost impossible to ignore that these are the most divisive entries in the series in the eyes of the fandom. This isn’t without cause because the games themselves have a myriad of issues regarding their writing and the delivery of their own plots.

As to whether I can recommend the games, I would say they are still a joy to read through so long as you don’t press yourself about the minute details. They aren’t as memorable as the original trilogy, but they will be a leap forward with their own set of twists and turns that can be very impactful and well-delivered. Who knows? Maybe some of them will catch you off-guard and you’ll catch a moment or two that will make you go “Whoa!”

The Trilogy comes with a few new innovations that actually make it the definitive way to pick up these games. Before, I often recommended the mobile ports of Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice as such but now this trilogy has outdone them by a mile with the amount of small tweaks and quality-of-life changes that were made.

The biggest winner is definitely Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. That game received most of the quality of life changes compared to the rest. Not only does it have HD sprites and better visuals, but it also received the QoL stuff that came from Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice onwards. That is to say the chat log, the optimized UI, and even the ability to see the places you already clicked on during the investigation segments, cutting redundancy by a long shot.

It was highly refreshing to play Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney this way. But the biggest change was also the ability to have Autoplay, which enables you to avoid having to mash the A button and instead have the game automatically press the button for you so that you can focus on reading the story. Autoplay stops when you have to make choices and during cross-examination segments, so you don’t have to worry. Additionally, you can turn the function off at any time.

Players can also opt to fully automate the game by using Story Mode, but it should be worth noting that you lose access to achievements this way. But this shouldn’t be an issue for players who just want to see the story unfold as if they were watching a Let’s Play without commentary. Additionally, the Trilogy includes a neat Chapter Selection, allowing players to pick the moment they want to start their adventure. Down to the particular segment of the Investigation or Trial.

Now, the Trilogy doesn’t come without its flaws, and its most apparent one is the lack of support for 60+ FPS. The game runs at a locked 30 frames per second no matter what settings you use. At least the framerate is steady, and it never drops on the PC build that I have (not that its system requirements are hard to meet), but I’m certain that there could’ve been support for higher framerates.

Another issue I have with the Trilogy is that sometimes the sound mixing is a little bit on the odd side. Some sound effects are way louder than others, and the BGM is a little bit on the quiet side even when maxed out in the settings. These issues can be easily fixed through patches, so I won’t dwell on them for too long.

It’s weird that Apollo Justice found the need to recast the voice lines for the main dialogues. I mean, I understand that they had to fit Klavier and Apollo to fit the current-day iterations, but why the heck did they need to make a high-quality sample of Kristoph Gavin’s voice lines? It probably isn’t something that people will get on but still. It’s odd.

Much like in the previous collection, you’ll also be able to find some extras like a music player that lets you listen to soundtracks from all three games and an art collection feature that lets you see the concept art of each of the three entries in the series. What’s more, the additional cases for Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice that were DLC-only on the mobile and 3DS versions come packaged with the game as well as Special episodes.

To go back to what I said before, the entries in the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy are some of the most divisive in the fandom. While that much is undeniable, what’s also undeniable is that this is the best way to experience each of them. The remastered visuals, the additional content, and the ability to play and experience the extra episodes at no additional cost is fantastic on its own.

If you want to see Apollo Justice’s story unfold, I honestly think you’ll find what you’re looking for. But I would cautiously recommend this trilogy to anyone other than Ace Attorney fans because while the games can be fantastic, they can also leave a somewhat dour impression on people who are well-versed in mystery visual novels or visual novels in general.

Still, this is something that every Ace Attorney fan should have in their collection. I, for one, already am proud to have it alongside the original Ace Attorney Trilogy and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and will even more proudly admit that I am on the camp that doesn’t think that it’s that bad (fite me, AA fandom). This collection is worth keeping for many reasons and Apollo’s story is worth experiencing.

Reviewed on PC (code provided by the publisher).

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy

The Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy brings some of the most divisive entries in the series with some needed improvements to the aesthetics. While it doesn’t do much to improve on their flaws, it is still the definitive way to experience each of these games and relive the next chapters in the story of the original Ace Attorney trilogy.

Buy for $49.99 from Amazon

The links above are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Wccftech.com may earn from qualifying purchases.