It might sound strange that somebody would make a game out of the concept of a courtroom drama. After all, when was the last time you squealed with excitement when you found out you had to sit through jury duty? Leave it to the Japanese and their anime to come up with a game pitting two attorneys against each other in a battle to stop an innocent from going to the slammer. Apparently, they know how to follow through with a quality and fun title as well. While there are some flaws that keep [i]Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney[/i] from being perfect, an engaging story, witty comedy and great detective elements make this game easy to recommend to almost anyone. If the courtroom was anything like this in real life, I don’t think anyone would object to jury duty.

The game follows Phoenix Wright, a rookie defense attorney out to make a name for himself by, well, defending the innocent. The premise of the game is fairly straightforward, and if you’ve ever played one of those Japanese dating games, this may seem somewhat familiar. However, instead of getting slapped by women for going [i]there[/i], you work to uncover and present evidence to help your client. In fact, Phoenix Wright is more of a detective caper than it is about lawyers. The game does a great job keeping you thinking on your feet, and each piece of evidence you present adds another piece to the giant, convoluted puzzle. Evidence comes both in the form of the obvious to things that have almost nothing to do with the case at hand (but you know it’ll come into play somewhere because it’s a video game).

[i]PWAA[/i] is more challenging than it may first appear. The first chapter is a pretty simple A