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| From left to right- Phoenix, Athena, Blackquill, Apollo |
THIS is the Japanese box art for Gyakuten Saiban 5 (literally Turnabout Trial 5), which is being released in Britain and America as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney- Dual Destinies. It brings back Phoenix Wright as the main protagonist, and there's still plenty of objection-yelling shenanigans. 25-30 hours of them, in fact (roughly the same as Trials and Tribulations).
Following the rest of the games, it begins with a sort of 'Tutorial Case'- however, probably due to his brother being fitted for a toupee or something, Winston Payne's baby bro takes the prosecution's bench. Happily, it's not a murder, more a terrorism charge (but I'll stop there!) The next case, Miss Athena Cykes (the ginger girl above) takes the defense (and otherwise, acts as Phoenix's protege). This is where our new prosecutor, the guy above, Simon Blackquill is introduced. And finally, the other revealed case... rejoice AJ fans, Herr Forehead and the German Rock God face off once more.
However, this is where the problems are thrown up. If you're already an AA fan, I doubt that that was what convinced you to buy this game, and if not, I hope it was. But when queuing up to buy this game, younger fans may end up having to get an older sibling, cousin or their parents to get it for them. All of the dramatic courtroom games, including Investigations (1+2), have been, in America, rated T (Teen, ESRB), and in Britain, 12+ (PEGI). And these ratings are fair enough, with the games having the odd innuendo (well, frequent innuendo) and graphic depictions of dead people (and abuse- Franziska von Karma, anyone?), and, in the Investigations series, a character who doesn't mind swearing at an Ambassador in his own Embassy.
So, what's different with Dual Destinies? Well, the massive 'M' rating staring American players in the face, and the looming prospect of a 16+ for British players is what is different. But the main question here is, what could possibly make this game so much worse than the others? That's the question. Could we be dealing with cases of sexual assault or abuse? Maybe more bad language, more innuendos? We really don't know.
Right now, I really do feel sorry for younger American fans, and I am constantly praying that we get this game as a PEGI 12. But I guess there is one good thing about this: whatever is bad enough to give it a Mature rating has to be pretty exciting, and it has piqued the interests of many people. However, the fans with stricter parents may not get that curiosity sated for a long time.
