Friday, January 18, 2008

Harvey Birdman: Ace Attorney

I kindly asked the FUK for a Nintendo DS because I really wanted to play Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I played it a lot on the road to FU's highly-renowned state school and in Japan. It's a great game, has like five endings like the LOtR, but it's fun, funny, and really challenging. It also has cool gimmicks like this: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=213
And a neat fingerprinting thingy where you blow onto the microphone to clear the dust. I finished the game on an airplane somewhere, and to do so I had to yell "objection!" very loudly into this same microphone, and felt silly.
The Harvey Birdman game is made by all the same people, but actually has voices instead of dialogue, which I personally frown on because video games like comic books should rely more on written dialogue than the voice actors they pay through the nose to get, but since the game is based on a cartoon show, it makes perfect sense. The Harvey Birdman game plays like watching an episode of Harvey Birdman, except for the fact that Harvey Birdman is great for being irreverent, but in the video game, you kind of have to prove your case. However, this doesn't stop you, the player, from having court in a hot tub or being forced to defend people who have robbed from you.
So far the only downside is that sometimes it's too irreverent, making it hard to determine how you're supposed to progress the game, or sometimes not irreverent enough when the dialogue is tainted by the need to have some sort of sense.
Additionally, the game encourages nonsensicality by giving bonuses for the wrong answer to a question.
It's fast-paced, funny, and replay gives greater appreciation of the situations, unlockable movies, and sometimes Inch-high Private Eye squiggling around with a gagball in his mouth.
So far, great, 'nuff said.

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