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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the first in a long-running series of legal adventure games, will be released as a WiiWare download on Monday, January 11.
The Nintendo DS versions of the three Ace Attorney games have been out of print for some time. Some collectors have been asking an arm and a leg for the rare cart, making it a hard game to recommend to anyone but the serious collector1.
On Wii the game will only set you back $10, for which you get the first four cases with the fifth bonus case coming in May as DLC. At that sane price, know that the game comes with my highest praise.
For too long, the Ace Attorney series has been gaming's best-kept storytelling secret. The writing in this series is among the best in the medium; the characters, made all the more expressive by lively animation, are funny and extremely likable (even the jerks). And the music is downright awesome.
My only fear is that the games are best suited to handhelds. Ace Attorney games are about language, lies and semantics – they're reading-intensive. There's a chance that these verbose games may play out a little differently on the couch where distractions could put a crowbar between the player and the text. Also, you'd have to not mind looking at a DS game blown up onto your TV screen for 20 hours at a stretch.
1Kohler says: This would be a great time for me to recommend Amazon's "Warehouse Deals," which can ship via Amazon Prime – I bought a used game from there over Christmas and it was in perfect condition. They currently have the first game for $30.
Image courtesy Capcom
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