I've finally finished the original Phoenix Wright trilogy -- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations. It was quite an enjoyable ride while it lasted, and I really dig the streamlined adventure game tenets that challenge your ability to deduce. Some of the leaps in logic the games make are a little unnerving, of course, but none are as egregious as that infamous one in Gabriel Knight 3 where you had to... [spoiler] get cat hair and scotch tape to make a moustache to match yourself up to a fake ID -- only to find out that you have to then get a marker to draw the moustache onto the fake ID. (What?!) [/spoiler]

Trials and Tribulations, in my opinion, is the best of the three -- but is only so if you've played through the original game, as what's good about it is how it ties everything about the original storyline up in a neat little bow.

My feelings after finishing the trilogy are much like those of my cohort Alfred. It's a little sad that I won't be interacting with these characters any longer. However, what I'll miss more than the characters is the that satisfaction I got achieving my goals in the game -- that is, deducing which evidence to present in order to point out contradictions, et cetera. Hotel Dusk's level of satisfaction -- the "a ha" factor -- was nowhere near as potent. That's why I'm going to run out and pick up Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney after my next review (which should hopefully be coming before the next two weeks are up).

Favorite character outside of Phoenix himself: Godot. Dude rules. Least favorite character: Wendy Oldbag. UGH.

Side note: I would love to see Nintendo or someone else experiment with digitally distributing one-off Ace Attorney episodes.

So that's two down (I finished the original Phoenix Wright years ago, with the trailing two not being opened until February of this year).

Now I'm working on Castlevania: Portal of Ruin which I've had sitting and collecting dust ever since I bought and unboxed it. I really do like how Konami spiced up the "hey let's do Metroid" motif by adding the paintings. Just going through a big castle -- AGAIN -- would be blase, but it's great that you get to jump into alternate areas which act like spoke worlds to the main castle's hub. The whole "explore until you can go no further and then find items to overcome your obstacles" idea that's been getting old really benefits from the variety here, but it manages to avoid the forced and restrictive atmosphere of Metroid: Fusion (a game which I liked a lot but was also disappointed by). The game seems a bit more difficult too, with enemies causing you more damage and acting a little more aggressive. They're still as dumb as nails, though.

One pleasant side effect of the hub-and-spoke method of varying worlds is that, like a typical Nintendo-esque adventure (Super Mario Galaxy), it gives Konami an excuse to go out and throw in what would be otherwise inappropriate environments (who finds a frickin' desert inside a castle, anyway?. This also gives the music composer some more leeway with what kind of themes she throws into the areas, and the result is really pleasing to the ears.

The game sports two-character play, letting you alternate between John and Charlotte at will, but I have to agree with the criticism that Charlotte isn't entirely useful -- at least not as much as you'd want her to be. I've forced myself to run through areas as her, and while she's capable, there's almost no reason to use her in single-protagonist combat.

In the meantime, I'm still working on Ninja Gaiden Black and Half Life 2. Hopefully, this weekend will prove productive.