The new game in the Ace Attorney series brings in a slew of new characters.  Apollo Justice takes center stage and is starting out as a rookie attorney working on his first defense case.  Phoenix is still in the game and has a major role as a secondary character.  He is no longer a defense attorney due to some mystery that has disgraced his reputation and forced him to turn in his attorney badge.  Also, his magician daughter Trucey has become your partner and sidekick. 

The gameplay is similar to the previous Phoenix Wright games, so if you have played any of those you should feel right at home.  Apollo, like Phoenix is an average guy in a world full of crazy and bizarre characters.  His cases have him meeting mobsters, murderers, and magicians who are all very strange and unusual.   Unfortunately, not many of the characters that we have come to love and expect to be in the game are not.  (Miles Edgeworth is nowhere to be seen and their isn't even a mention of Maya).  Also, like Phoenix, Apollo has a special power.  Apollo has the ability to examine a person during testimony and look for nevious ticks to hint at the fact that they might be lying or withholding information.  There are also a few bits that make use of the touchscreen (For example, you might need to dust for fingerprints or make a plaster casting of footprints).

The cases all seem to connect to form one huge coherent story, instead of previous games in the series.  Music is well done, but not as good a previous games.  Also, the game feels a bit shorter.

At first, I wasn't a huge fan of Apollo Justice and I wondered why they didn't just continue the Phoenix Wright story instead, but after a few cases I warmed up to the new characters and was drawn into just how interesting the cases were in this Ace Attorney game. 

I give this game **** out of ****, but Capcom please bring back Maya, Edgeworth, and Gumshoe in the next game!

Having just finished reading The Phoenix Wright Files over the holiday I have to say the book is only okay.  What you get is about twenty different short stories done by different Manga artists. 

The stories range from pretty decent to quite dull.  Most of the stories don't really involve cases athough there are a few that do.  The remaining stories more or less just deal with Phoenix and Maya going and doing something.  Unfortunately, all of the stories are easily forgotten after you have finished reading them.

On a positive note, it is really interesting to see each artists interpretation of Phoenix Wright and the other characters.  Almost each story has a unique look to it which is very interesting.  Also, tons of side-characters make their return, Some are expected like Miles Edgeworth and **** Gumshoe, but very minor ones like the old cranky man who throws birdseed (Trials and Tribulations) and the waiters who is still holding his tray (Original Phoenix Wright) also make an appearance as well. 

While the stories are all pretty much just fluff, diehard fans of the series will probably enjoy this book.  The characters all act the way they do in the game (Except Grossberg who is seriously strange in this) and their are many references back to the cases in the games (Readers may want to play through all three Phoenix Wright games before reading). 

Overall, I did enjoy reading this well enough and I did laugh a few times while reading, but I think the creators should maybe work on one or two bigger more memorable stories, instead of a bunch of forgettable ones.

** out of ****