If someone had told me prior to starting Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney that one of my first major investigative discoveries would be the secret location of some hidden magic panties, I’m not exactly sure how I would have reacted. Well, that’s not strictly true – I would probably have pulled a slightly confused face, made some inept attempt at asking exactly how and why this would have been occurring and then remembered that it’s the latest in a line of fantastically bizarre games and had a good ol’ chuckle. As the previous three DS instalments (well, to be strict they are Game Boy Advance ports) of the Gyakuten Saiban (er, Phoenix Wright) games have consistently proven, there’s nothing too oddball for developers Capcom to consider chucking into the mixture.

This game, of course, is the first game in which we are introduced to our new ‘hero’, with Apollo Justice booting Phoenix Wright off centre stage. I’ll readily admit as a fan of the previous games it was with a great deal of sadness that I came to the conclusion of the last of the original trilogy, and with a whole bunch of series fans I sat around twiddling my thumbs wondering how the change in focus would turn out. Ditching a cast and crew so well loved isn’t exactly taking a walk on the safe side, is it?

Some five minutes into Apollo Justice these fears being to recede. It might have a new face staring across the courtroom from the defence box, but for all intents and purposes the game just feels like it belongs with the other titles. You’re still tasked with sifting through witness and suspect statements in the courtroom to find inaccuracies and contradictions with their versions of events, and – following the excellent introductory case that sets the whole thing up – you’re still asked to travel to a number of locations to point-and-click your way around finding evidence to support your courtroom antics. It’s pleasingly familiar.

This doesn’t mean that changes haven’t been made, of course, and by bucking the temptation to make wholesale changes and instead making a few sneaky polishes here and there Capcom have added a few juicy layers to what is in effect still the same tasty onion. Scene setting is now done with some rather funky pseudo-3D visuals much in the original style of the series, whilst crucial bits of evidence and theories on how crimes took place are now also presented in basic three-dimensional plan drawings. The animations for characters have also been spruced up, with some pretty detailed expressions and motions going on during the odd moment. It’s not completely fresh, given, but it’s a pleasing update to something that was already visually appealing.

The changes aren’t all visual though, and some do make an impact on gameplay. Gone are the Psyche Locks that had players having to have mini courtroom battles with characters outside of court, presenting evidence to counter their claims and unlocking the secrets they were concealing from you. This time around Apollo has the ability to notice when a particular suspect or witness is hiding something from minute mannerisms they have when uttering a lie, and via a really rather trippy scene where the game zooms right in on the person in question whilst a rather garish red and blue background swirls about you are tasked with moving your focus area around their person to find their particular nervous twitch. It certainly keeps proceedings moving more smoothly than the Psyche Lock system, although you could level that it adds a rather tenuous angle to arguments when Apollo uses minor hand or eye movements as his main defence in court. Then again, criticising this series for relying on 'out-there' tactics to win the day is like criticising Rowan Atkinson for being funny.

The best part of this being the first made-for-DS title in the series is undoubtedly the reintroduction of the forensic tools that made a bow in the final chapter of the original Phoenix Wright game. These include using fingerprint powder to dust for prints and glue casting to take footprints from crime scenes amongst other things, and it really does add an extra dimension to the investigative portion of the game whilst also making good use of the control system of the DS. It adds a particular sense of satisfaction when, having found a sneaky clue, you can spread white powder all over the screen and blow it off to find some naughty chap’s sticky fingerprints and match them with your list of suspects, and it really adds to the sense of absorption once you’re well into a case.

Getting into these cases is as easy as ever, mainly due to the quality of the writing once more being absolutely top-notch. Part of this is no doubt down to the creative bods who sit around their Capcom tables each morning sketching out ideas for some of the most fiendishly clever crimes this side of Murder She Wrote, whilst a great deal of credit must also go to the localisation team who translate the games for the Western audience by filling it with some utterly brilliant pop-culture references. Whether it be lines from U2 songs, emo music or Harry Potter there’s plenty of little in-jokes to get you guffawing away to yourself, and with some brilliant dialogue between the rather austere Apollo and his ever-excited and rather naïve assistant Trucy it’s really a joy to play.

It does a lot right, it really does. Continuing the trend from the last Phoenix Wright game (Trials and Tribulations), presenting evidence is now a heck of a lot less vague and with a bit of thought and logic you’ll find that most instances are a matter of simply thinking things through rather than quick saving before each submission and reloading after each random guess. It’s as if the features that made previous games in the series great had gotten into the same minicab as a bunch of new, slightly improved features and all become great friends whilst being stuck in a traffic jam. It’s not massively different, but it didn’t need to be.

There are, however, a couple of things that aren’t quite so good. The game is only four cases long, and although the last one is a sprawling beast of a chapter the full game shouldn’t take more than ten hours or so to work through. As the final case ended I found myself yearning for more, not only because what I had played through had been so enjoyable but also because there seemed to have been comparatively little of it. The new characters are great too, but a few of the bit-part players do miss the mark a little and aren’t as engaging as previous felons and cohorts. There are parts to be played by some familiar faces, though, and meeting them again is a joy. Who would they be? You’ll have to find that out for yourselves, folks!

Other than the previous two quibbles, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney does what it set out to do very well, carrying the torch from Phoenix Wright over to a new series that promises to get better with each instalment. It does take a short time to adjust to the new characters and the like, but by the end of the game you’re left with that happy little feeling in your stomach you get when you play through a witty, taxing title and come out the other side. It might be somewhat of a foundation for the next instalment, true, but in practically all respects it’s one of the finest titles in the series to date, and it augurs well for the next title. Don’t keep us hanging on too long, Capcom… please!