Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Rated T)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Rated T (for Teens, or 13+) - Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, and Violence.

Phoenix Wright isn't your typical game. It's a lawyer game. Your kids (unless into Law and Order, like I was, and I am) probably won't be picking up this game and saying "OH Mommy, Mommy, buy this for me please!" All the same, maybe your husband, Significant Other, Younger brother, etc will be, so I'm reviewing it. Also I enjoyed the game immensely, so there you have it.

First of all, the rating of 13+; I would agree, to a point. I probably would have played this when I was 10, but then again, I did have four older brothers so guts and blood and what not didn't really phase me much. I was not the daintiest of little girls. I probably wouldn't let my daughter play it at 10 though, I think she'll be a bit more sheltered than I was as she's the first child, and I was the last. In any case, You do see deaths, though usually it's nothing too gory, most of the trials are murder trials, and you have to listen to testimony to figure out holes in it. Sound thrilling? Probably not so much. Let's see... your lawyer partner Mia, and then eventually Maya (her younger sister) do dress a bit scantily, and that's nothing to the barrage of dumb "sexy" women you have to interview. What a bunch of dimwits. Oy. So this gets a big thumbs down on the feminist scale, but not every video game can win. :) As you get caught up in the action of the courtroom the main man Phoenix does swear from time to time. There's also a few Junior High-esque jokes (IE: "If something smells, it's probably the Butz.") But over all it's great.

You game opens by watching a crime committed, and it gets framed on your pal Larry Butz (Yes, I know, horrible, yet campy.) you are to go to the scene of the crime, investigate, and essentially, find out why Larry isn't guilty of murder. Luckily for the first few crimes it shows you who really kills the person, which helps the player find where to look for holes. Overall if your kid (or whomever you're considering the game for) likes to snoop, investigate, and/or poke holes in other people's obviously fake stories-- this game would be for them. I had a ball playing it, you can play it with or with out the microphone (built into the DS, handily) and yell "Wait a Minute!" or "Objection!"

I'll admit I did have to use an online guide a few times too, which I'll also admit I'm a big advocate of. I love strategy guides because they allowed me to play games with my brothers even when they were single player games. Some of my fondest memories as a teen are being the guide to my brothers as they played games. It made game playing more fun to hang out together and do it. I wasn't bored, and became enthralled in the story!

Back to the game at hand, Phoenix Wright has a sequel: Phoenix Wright: Justice for All with another one coming out later this year. The game play is not difficult. Mostly point and click, and if you're into it, yelling. Very simple though the matters at hand are probably more mature than you'd want your kid (5-10 year olds) playing, though it is certainly EASY enough for them.

If your Teen has been playing Phoenix Wright, well you raised one freakin' awesome kid, first of all, they probably have a fairly good grasp that killing is wrong (since they're investigating the murders of various people) The game does deal some with inner system corruption (faking of evidence and leading of witnesses, etc) which outraged me a bit. I'd recommend, just asking your teen what's going on with the story, try and start a dialogue with them regarding the story, what they think of the actions of the prosecuting attorney (the jerk!) For reference their names are: Miles Edgeworth, Winston Payne and Manfred von Karma. These prosecutors will stop at nothing to get their guilty verdict! Talk about justice and right and wrong. Discuss how far is too far to carry out justice.

<3/Video Game Momma