Besides the enhanced game mechanics, Apollo Justice does have some distinct differences from the other games. First off, you’ve lost the ability to present profiles to people, which was an entertaining prospect in previous games. Also, unlike previous Ace Attorney games, the difficulty did not get ramped up significantly; the game on the whole is not quite as difficult as PW3, maybe not even as hard as PW. This isn’t a huge problem, as the game may be trying to act as an additional entry point for new players. On top of that, it’s worth noting that unlike PW2 and PW3, playing the previous games is not nearly as essential to enjoyment; you should be able to jump right in.

 Like the previous games, however, Apollo Justice suffers from a serious lack of replay value. This game, like its predecessors, is ridiculously linear, so there are no storyline variations to explore, and upon completion of a game, there are no bonuses given, no incentives to continue playing in any way. And since the game is very heavily story-based, and reliant on plot twists, there’s not going to be much more to do on a second playthrough. It’s actually worse in this game than in previous games; previously, at the end of each case, you’d get a colorful, fun piece of art summarizing the case and showing off major characters, but in Apollo Justice, you get absolutely nothing. This is just frustrating, and takes away that one last bit of replay value this game might have had. If you like interacting with characters, or doing touch-screen activities, you may want to play it again, but honestly, there’s no reason to otherwise.

Overall, while lacking the powerful story impact of older games, Apollo Justice represents a bold step forward for this series, innovating smartly in many key areas and making the gameplay that much more fun; if you liked any of the previous Ace Attorney games, you will like this one. Apollo Justice gets a definite Yay! from NintendoGal. This is worth your money; you may just want to see if you can return it, after.