Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies Special Episode: Turnabout Reclaimed

Yeah, this gonna be short and sweet. There's a new special episode for $6.03 (tax included, $5.99 w/o tax) and of course I need to review it because I said so much terrible crap about the game itself.

So the idea behind this case is that it is the story of Phoenix making his return after the events of Apollo Justice, so if you didn't play Apollo Justice (but you are reading this) then I'll ruin this for you: Phoenix lost his job and became the stepfather of a magician. But it makes sense, I promise.

When you lose your job, you get a magician. Also, psychic powers.

It features Athena even though I feel as though Athena... probably shouldn't have had anything to do with it. I mean, it doesn't make that much sense considering he's in Athena's first case and-- okay, I'm rambling. The point is, Athena's in this case, so they're probably going to milk the hell out of her power.

But before we get into this, I should make it pretty clear that they pumped this thing out without doing very much of a grammar check, so if grammar is one of your hot buttons, you'll find a few things that are annoying. Like... missing commas. There are a few of those. In the full game, some words are spelled wrong, so if you find a word spelled wrong here, don't get too surprised.

The upside to this is that Phoenix is the main character again! And of course he's just as brow beaten as ever, so I'm a happy camper. If you really like Phoenix's character, the beginning of this game (i.e. when you have to push buttons) is like a huge throwback. Even though it's with Apollo and Athena, the way the dialogue moves along is reminiscent of Larry and Maya. It's such a relief!

If something smells, it's usually the Butz.

So Phoenix exposits about being eight years behind on this whole "doing cases" thing, thinking about how they really need cases at this agency when the TV informs him of a murder at an aquarium that Athena and Apollo had been watching on TV. And then someone pops in and asks for Phoenix, and the game's afoot. And of course there are bad puns and silly jokes, because this is a Phoenix Wright game. And you're playing Phoenix Wright! You don't know how excited that makes me!

But of course it goes right off the deep end (no pun intended, honestly) when Phoenix chooses to go with Athena over Apollo. Then you just know the case is going to be littered with psychology stuff that isn't well thought out (since Athena's psychology is still pretty much just Apollo's power). But then, Athena is better suited to be a sidebar character (unfortunately. It would be awesome if there was a female lawyer on par with Mia in this series) so I guess it makes sense that he went with her over Apollo... but come on! Apollo's too adorable to leave behind, Phoenix!

So adorableeeeee

I didn't mention this in my previous review, but now is actually the best time to do this: The backdrops in this game are amazing. They have motion, they're SEGA levels of beautiful (that's pretty high, considering Sonic Colors) and the way you explore really makes the scenes feel real. In 3D, it's especially cool... if you don't get a headache and if you can get the 3D to work well. I love aquariums (and museums), and honestly if one looked even slightly like the one in this game, I'd visit everyday. They really sell it with the backdrops!

Also, also, also! The Phoenix Wright theme plays in this game and of course it is the best thing ever. When it plays for the first time that I can recall in this title at all, I couldn't help but get the most goofy smile ever, even though it comes on during a very obvious "Rise From The Ashes" sequence (trust me, when you play it and you hear the circumstances of this murder, you'll probably roll your eyes and think something along the lines of "And how did no one look at this and think foul play?"). It's awesome, just plain awesome. They reintroduce the notes function (which Athena should already know about, for the love of God, but she doesn't because why the hell not), and also they pretty much tell you how to play the game (for investigations, because you have to have beaten the tutorial trial to play this episode) so if you're looking for stuff to skip because you're boss at the game, there you go.

Also (and I'm sorry I keep fangirling, but this episode is kind of what I was hoping for in the full game), if you recall the 300 reference in Trials and Tribulations which of course you don't (or do, in which case I love you) there is another movie reference in this game. The magatama makes a re-emergence as well (and I didn't mention this in the review itself, but the music for the magatama is also fantastic), explaining the re-emergence of another character in a much better way than this character was introduced in game.

But then Athena sort of ruins everything by sort of bungling her backstory (seriously, everything about Athena is copied in one way or another) so I guess I'm back to my role as Athena Basher. But honestly, can you blame me? In a cast of such wide and colorful characters, she's more like a bystander. What makes it worse is that Phoenix keeps running into better sidebar characters. All it does is make Athena look bad. It would have been better for the game as a whole to just have Apollo be with him.

For the most part, if you're in this for a regular Phoenix romp, you've got it. Right down to terrible pun names (Norma DePlume, Capcom? Are you for real?) and the crazy plots. Athena's analytic psychology (of course) come to play here and it's about as useless as it was in the main game. Again, all Athena's doing is exposing "lies", which, need I remind you, both Phoenix and Apollo can do. Apollo's is the more applicable since his ability can be used anywhere.  The other thing is that Blackquill makes a point of stopping Apollo from using "gimmicks" but lets Athena go right on ahead and do her thing. Especially considering his stance for most of the game, it's highly unlikely that he'd allow this.

In a way, this case is a better version of the game as a whole. Athena's sidelined, except for when she helps in court (which I don't think the sidebar characters should be doing as much as Athena does, considering) and Phoenix is the leader of the case. Things are pretty okay, as far as characters and storylines are concerned. In fact, for all my complaints about Athena, she actually comes across as a real character in this case, like someone who could actually be added to the group. She really is a good sidebar character... it's just too bad she's the status quo for female sidebars in the series.

"Quick, make a peppy, cheerful character with an odd quirk!" "But we already have four of those!" "I SAID MAKE ANOTHER ONE!" -Capcom Design Team

The case itself is much more interesting than originally let on, because when I started playing I was like, "Ugh, clearly the client didn't do it, c'mon." But then it took a turn and I was pretty sure I knew who did it, but I really didn't want it to be that person.

Blackquill is in this case, because of course he is, but he's status quo too. I don't think Capcom is going to do better than Godot in the "dark, mysterious prosecutor" field. They're going to need a new angle.

This is pretty much all the mystery I need, thanks Capcom.

Just... throwing this one out there Capcom, but as far as new characters go, I'd be interested in seeing a detective like Ema again. You know, someone competent at their job and not a pain in the ass to get past during investigations, but still hard to beat in court? In fact, if you're going to go for that, why not give Ema her dream job in forensics and have someone take her place? I mean, Grouchy Ema was hilarious, but I think Ema deserves her dream job. Placing a detective like Ema, who clearly is out for the truth, with a prosecutor of interest-- like someone who was actually straight up bad, Manifred vonKarma style-- would be a good draw to a new Phoenix game.

In the end, this case is definitely worth the purchase. I feel like every case in this game should've been just like this case. It's damn near the best in this game, and it actually does approach being one of the better ones in the series, since it's a longform case (those ones always end up being some of the best cases). If you buy this game and you really want to have a great experience, I'd shell out the extra money. I do think it's kind of a farce that they're making you pay for this case (it being the best case in the game and all), instead of letting it just be free. I also hope there will be further new cases rather than new clothing downloads. I feel as though the developers must have realized that we're not interested in dressing Phoenix and the others up (it's a weird addition to a game that doesn't have high replay value to allow you to replay the game with different clothes) and might be working on new interesting cases.