Released on Nintendo 3DS in 2013, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies is the fifth episode of the main series, and the first to venture outside the sprites in Pixel Art which made the identity of the series. Place now for smoothed 3D models that are struggling to find the same expressiveness: the aesthetic turn, if not ashamed, gives the impression that the series swarms its cachet for a slightly generic varnish. But the real change is the return of Phoenix Wright himself. After giving the show to Apollo Justice in the previous game, the legendary lawyer takes the front of the stage, flanked by two young teammates: Apollo precisely, and the little New Athena Cykes, specialized in psychology and cries of all kinds.
This is the first problem of the game: this three -headed cast dilutes the narrative structure. The game alternates points of view without always finding its balance, and ends up serving everyone: Phoenix does figuration, Apollo goes to the hatch, and Athena struggles to win despite a personal arc supposed to wear the whole narration. And then, we especially play an Ace Attorney to be surprised, to take up permanently reversals: here, unfortunately, the formula begins to be old, and most of the scriptwriters are much easier to determine by the player. In truth, Dual Destinies put everything on the spectacular. The intro balances you in a court exploded by a bomb. The trials are full of staging effects, with dazed judges, flamboyant prosecutors and borderline witnesses, in the tradition of the series. But to want to make noise too much, the game forgets the essential: writing.
Because Dual Destinies tries to build a common thread around a climate of fear and a crisis judicial system. But all of this remains overflowed, as a pretext to chain business without real climax. As usual, the fifth and last trial tries to raise the sauce, but after a succession of unequal investigations, the final impact is more like a wet firecracker than the usual fireworks expected. In short, Dual Destinies, it is the least good of Ace Attorney (including spin -offs – Even crossover with Professor Layton was more pleasant). Fortunately, the Spirit of Justice suite released two years later, will sign the return of a real scriptwriting inspiration for the series, thanks to a better rhythm and a much more ambitious writing. Unfortunately, it was also the last Ace Attorney To put Phoenix Wright at the center of the plot: we are still waiting for a suite, 10 years later.
