My first thought with the story of Apollo Justice was "WHAT?! Phoenix ISN'T the main character?!" Then, after gathering myself together, I played the game, and I realized that while Apollo is the title character, Phoenix is the real hero of the fourth iteration of the Ace Attorney franchise. The first and last court cases revolve around the fall of Wright, and are way more interesting than Apollo's cases (no disrespect to AJ, though). The twists and turns of the final court case brings about some of the most memorable moments in the series. Plus, the gameplay felt less of an afterthought and the soundtrack was absolutely brilliant. It's been years since the greenhorn's beginning, and I hope to see more of Apollo's career in the futur

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is as good as all the other Ace Attorney games - no more, no less. This installment features slightly updated graphics, voices and sound effects as well as four new cases. It's too bad that most characters from the predecessors (like Maya or Edgeworth) are left out of this game but there are also many new likable characters. The soundtrack is great and the cases are interesting and exciting. It's not as good as "Trials & Tribulations" though. Overall the difficulty level of this game is lower compared to the other Ace Attorney games.

Being the first NDS exclusive of the series, the lawyer game "AJ:AA" features fancy new 3D animations when the murders are being re-enacted – which helps visualize the scenario; not necessary but helpful, regardless – and screen-wiping and mic-blowing in order to acquire fingerprints. Neat, but nothing more than a gimmick and not essential to the game.

More importantly, there is a new protagonist, Apollo Justice, while Phoenix Wright (who is eponymous for the series in the West) has become a supporting character – which is something that I found very refreshing.

In terms of gameplay, the "chains & locks" enhancement of the interrogations is a variation of the same, just with more layers. Which felt more natural if you ask me, but at the same time, having to re-do so much after a fail state had the unwanted side effect of breaking the immersion, imho.

Apart from that, it's more of the same, but thrillingly so, and I was *very* delighted.

Apollo Justice takes the Phoenix Wright formula and throw us into a very engaging storyline.
If you like the PW series, you'll definitely enjoy this episode as well despite its slow start.
Great game!!