Apollo Justice leaves me feeling...confused. (Spoiler Free)
However, as a game series that essentially lives or dies by its characters, Apollo Justice has some serious flaws right off the bat. First of all, the first two cases have the rather silly task of trying to bring characters from the previous three games into the picture with pretty much no explanation. For example, Detective Gumshoe does not make an appearance in a real sense, being replaced with a certain someone from the first game. The problem is not with said person (who is actually perfect for the role in a completely different way than Gumshoe was), but with the huge amount of questions it brings up surrounding a character who does not return. The other returning characters do the same. Let's just say that all of the characters brought back raise more questions about other characters than the game bothers to answer.
The all-new characters, sadly, don't have the aura of old. The mandatory girl-tag along is cause for downright brilliant dialogue when she is introduced in full in the second case, and her actions are quite well shown. She has a backstory that is quite interesting as well, and is by far the best of the new characters. Not all of the characters are runaway successes, though. Apollo Justice, for example, the titular hero, is downright annoying in his naivety. Its hard to believe some of the things he says in the beginning couple of cases, and his actions scream "doofus." The new prosecutor just reeks of cool, and has the distinct impression of being the only prosecutor in the series who seems from the start to be more interested in the truth than in winning. However, he has a shallow backstory. No von Karma revenge or Edgeworth self-loathing. Furthermore, he reeks of cool, by which I mean the game tries its hardest to shove cool down your throat, making it all pretty forced. Godot and Edgeworth were cool because of their actions; and the prosecutor in this game says "Frat Boy" more than anything else, spending his off the clock time whining and whatnot.
The cases themselves are pretty interesting (the first case in this game is better than any of them except the one in Trials and Tribulations, which wins on a technicality). The final case is the emotional thrill ride that the one in each game has been (along with a very interesting style of investigation and a huge bombshell thrown in at the very end), and the third case had a very surprising twist thrown in half-way through to keep you guessing (though some things in the case simply do not make sense when you think about it). The second case was funny, but some of the dialogue was a bit over the top, even considering the subject matter. The case itself was decent enough, but was more of an intro to investigating than it was a fun trial. It should be known, as well, that the new "Perception" system is not really any good. It seems like an unnecessary step to drag on case length that simply presenting evidence would have solved in past games.
The investigation is still pretty dredging at times. While the great 3D object viewer has returned, it is in no way used to as great effect as it was in Rise from the Ashes; and nearly all of the other new investigation techniques feel like gimmicky add-ons in the way they are presented (there is the return of the fingerprinting powder and luminol spray, but the game all but tells you where to look for the things you need to find, making it a shallow concession). The ones that show promise (the mixing board) also simply don't work very well because of what it requires on the player. Also severely missed is the ability to ask people about profiles, which just comes off as a way to not have to do as much dialogue.
So, we know the gameplay has some problems. But what about everything else?
The sound is, as always, excellent. Each case has its own feel, each character their own personality, each moment its own aura; all do in part to the great music. Nothing seems out of place, and I'm not even bothered by the reusing of the older music (remixes can be nice, but they can also be terrible). Apollo has his own "Objection," "Hold it" and etc. screams, as does returning schmuck Payne and the new prosecutor. You may even have your heart flutter when you hear a certain sound reused at a pinnacle moment. The only real problem with the sound is in the sound board sections, which can be quite difficult to ascertain exactly what you are looking for.
The graphics have nearly all been redrawn (some character sprites are holdovers), and while I never had a problem with the texture dot-ridden backgrounds that some of the areas had before, everything undoubtedly looks better. The 3D evidence interface looks quite good, and is better looking that it was in Rise from the Ashes; with some pretty complex evidence being represented pretty nicely. There is some tearing, and a bit of graphical hiccups here and there, but for the most part it looks spectacular. The frequent use of movies (both 3D and 2D) are all great, and in one case are interchanged quite skillfully. Even the minor characters all show great detail, better than some of the main characters in the previous games (let's just say you know which sprites are reused).
The writing is great, as it always has been, but I was pretty disappointed in the obvious shortcuts Capcom took with some of the dialogue. For example, present bad evidence and the exchanges between Apollo and the Judge are lifted ver batim from Phoenix Wright, with the names changed. Maybe Capcom did it as a throwback, but they also recreated the step ladder exchanges between Phoenix and Maya without copy-pasting them, so I doubt this was the case.
So, what is my overall point? Well, it saddens me to say this, because I hate to sound biased, but if this was called "Phoenix Wright 4" it would solve (by default) a lot of the problems. The slimming of the investigations (the Magatama MIA until the very end, not able to present profiles unless prompted) makes already overly linear sections seem even more constricting. The returning characters raise questions about the missing characters. The Perception system is a bad idea from the start, and the execution doesn't make it come off any better. Finally, the returning evidence viewer and tests aren't done to as high of a standard as before, and only a single new test stands out as being well used. Don't get me wrong, for their essential rookie effort, Capcom did a great job. But I'm at a gate, expecting the great gameplay of Rise of the Ashes with the perfect story of Trials and Tribulations, yet receiving mere simulations of both.