Gyakuten Saiban 3

Let me quickly clear something up: Gyakuten Saiban (According to Babelfish, ”Reversal judgment", but I have a feeling it's more. My Japanese dictionary is on my other desk...) is essentially the Phoenix Wright series. See, when Capcom translated it over here in America for us blondies, they obviously had to port it so that US audiences would buy it, and it ended up being called Phoenix Wright. Even though the main character is actually "Ryuichi Naruhodou" (His family name loosely translates into "I understand"). Whatever. It's kinda like how Biohazard became Resident Evil.

For those of you who have been under a rock for the last few months, Phoenix Wright has officially become the god of the internet. For some reaosn, the law-meets-anime game really has hit it off with older audiences looking for a fun game that's not so kiddish on the old Nintendo DS. And, of course, that leads us to the new project, the fan translations of the old games. Enter Gyakuten Saiban 3.

First off, let it be known that yes, I did play a good amount of this game in the original Japanese for practice, but the translation is worth the download. The game is exactly the same, except one screen. Yep. Gyakuten Saiban really never needed an upgrade, and it really has never gotten it, which is nice. The controls are simple and arent really important, so the game feels exactly like all of the other titles (Minus the fact that the DS version had the stylus).

Of course, the big question: Were the older ones as good as the DS versions us blondehairs have gotten used to? The answer: YES. Amazingly, the series was as good at the start as it is now. Kinda hard to mess up when you don't change. The cases have the same level of complexity and intrigue, and even the intro case for GS3 is pretty hard without serious thought. This game doesn't clown around, and unless you have a solid head on your shoulders, you will again find this game too hard to handle.

Of course, speaking from the American port to this, this doesn't have as good of music as we experienced in the DS, but it's still good. The composer (Masakazu Sugimori) really knows how to make the game that much better, even if it is on a GBA sound set. Even the graphics are good, which is suprising for a system that appears so "Blocky" now. The anime style is clear and nice, and looks great even in the small resolution.

So, the overall question is, should you get this game? Yes, but only if you're a fan of the series. If you are and don't feel like learning Japanese any time soon, my recommendation is to wait until the translation (http://comebackcourt.sourceforge.net/) is done. Until then, just hit your own desk and yell at people.

4 star(s) out of 5

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