Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is part of a very successful game franchise developed by CAPCOM about literally, lawyering. Different cases are presented in each chapter, with a variety of different characters and with over-arching story arcs throughout the series. You play as the titular character, Phoenix Wright, as you can solve these cases as the underdog lawyer who simply believes in the truth.
So how you play this?
The original trilogy of the Phoenix Wright games were originally produced for the Gameboy Advance platform, before being ported and re-packaged for non-Japanese speaking countries on the Nintendo DS. Hence, the game mechanics of the games are quite basic (an additional chapter specially made for the NDS Ace Attorney port featured several Nintendo DS exclusive features).
The franchise has been described as an interactive visual novel by some gamers (it is an established genre in Japanese games). Playing as the main character, they talk to various characters and investigate various scenes in order to gather up clues and evidence to help their client in court.
While exploring, gamers have four choices of actions within a location. They can Examine the location for additional clues, picking points of interest on-screen with the stylus or direction pad; Move allows them to go to another location that is linked to the current one; Talk allows them to talk to the character in the location; and finally Present allows Phoenix Wright to present a piece of Evidence or a Profile to the character in order to gain more information or a reaction.
The Court Record is basically the inventory screen for Phoenix Wright, displaying all the evidence, clues and his permanent Attorney's badge he has at his disposal in order to use in court.
As this is game about a lawyer, typically the most dramatic moments in the game happen in the courtroom. They are handled as a battle of wits between the defense attorney Phoenix Wright, and the Prosecutor intent on declaring his client guilty.
"Rounds of battle" occur with the currently called witness first declaring his testimony. Phoenix Wright is then allowed to Cross-Examine the witness, in order to discover contradictions in their testimony, usually by Presenting contradicting evidence or information.
The ultimate goal is for Phoenix Wright to get his client declared Not Guilty, as he trusts his clients to be completely innocent (barring certain plot-points, this is usually true). As all the cases involve a form of murder, this process also includes discovering the plot and murderer behind each case.
What makes this game memorable
A lot of kudos must be given to to the English localization team in charge of the Phoenix Wright franchise and spin-offs. In a game that revolves around listening to testimonies and logical thinking, the game's script is most important. Character dialogues are coherent and detailed enough that gamers are allowed to make logical decisions and reasoning, without having to blame any stuck point based on a lousy incomprehensible script.
In short, the game's script does not insult the player's intelligence.
At the same time, the localization writers found opportunity to pepper the games with pop culture references, and to give each character their own unique personalities to make them endearing and important to the player.
What has made the Phoenix Wright franchise endearing and successful is the attention and detail given to its characters and story. Every character is memorable, and their backgrounds, motivations and effect on one and other are not one-off and continue through each iteration of the series.
Scenes in the courtroom often escalate into dramatic tension and revelations. Nothing is more satisfying than getting your client a clear Not Guilty verdict (in most cases), but even more so is the ultimate conclusion and final resolution of the truth behind every crime. These moments can match up to the best of the courtroom dramas seen on television.
As such, the entire series is more of an interactive crime drama than game perhaps, or the best example of Japan's unique visual novel genre for a Western audience.
Current status: Phoenix Wright trilogy concluded, Apollo Justice (continuing), Miles Edgeworth Investigations (spin-off); immense amounts of merchandise and official fan/artbooks
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