A big step up from Dual Destinies, but still ranks below the first four games. The sprites are significantly better (still not a fan of Edgeworth’s) and 3D is utilized in a lot more clever way (this game has the best breakdowns in the series imo), none of the cases are outright bad like 5-2 was, the soundtrack has this cool Spyro kinda vibe. Most of the introduced characters (e.g. Dhurke, Rayfa, Datz) are enjoyable.

The biggest negative is Nahyuta, who is by far the worst prosecutor in the series, the only one I outright dislike. We’re told by other characters how nice he is, how great of a kid he was, but this doesn’t really matter when he’s a massive dick 95% of the game, even in the Japanifornia cases. And not even a dick in a funny way like Godot or von Karma. The bizarre thing is it’s almost like the game recognizes how weak he is, since he’s barely given lines in the last case and is completely absent from the DLC case.

I debated between giving this a 3/5 and a 3.5/5. As a stand-alone, it would probably get the 3.5 but it’s hard not to compare it to previous entries in the series, and… definitely a downgrade.

Starting with the good, Athena and the Blackquill siblings are great. I enjoyed the new emotion-based minigame. Most of the cases are enjoyable. I might be the minority in this, but I liked the mix of playing as three different protagonists. There are also a number of quality of life improvements that started with this game, which later ports would also adopt.

Then, what I didn’t like as much.
- The soundtrack isn’t bad, but compared to other AA games I’d rank it lower (Disclaimer: haven’t played SOJ or TGAA). Only track that really stood out to me was “Difficult People”.
- Investigations are way watered down here, with not being able to examine anything but the crime scene, and often being “forced” along instead of figuring it out yourself.
- Not a fan of the 3D sprites at all, gives me a cheap mobile game vibe and the previously existing character’s designs get into Uncanny Valley territory.
- 5-2 is like watching paint dry, by far the dullest case in the series so far. Worse than Big Top.
- I recognize this is a totally unfair and imprecise criticism, but… the energy is off here! I don’t get the same feeling as when I play the 2D games.
- Some of the case-specific characters are too cartoon-ish. “But it’s Ace Attorney, isn’t that the point?” Previous games were better at balancing it, to the point where even characters with ~wacky~ designs could be relatable or sympathetic. Plus, in previous games, the weird factor often came from styling or speech patterns or quirks, not… literally looking like a statue. The new characters in DD other than Athena and the Blackquills are forgettable or hard to feel anything for because they’re so far removed from reality.

Lastly, something I’m neutral on but polarizes a lot of the fandom and should be noted:
- This game almost completely ignores the Apollo Justice (as in, the game). Beanix may as well have never existed, Phoenix is back to his trilogy design and personality.

Pro-tip: Look up nothing about this game until you’ve actually finished it. Very hard to not get spoiled.

I never understood the AAI1 hate in the fandom until finally getting around to playing this. Don’t get me wrong, I still think AAI1 is a decent (albeit somewhat forgettable) game, but this really does blow it out of the water in all categories so much that AAI1 looks a lot worse than it really is, AAI2 is just that good.

Some parts of cases 2 and 5 dragged on for me, but I think it wouldn’t feel that way if I had a way to speed up the text using the emulator, so I’m not going to fault the actual game. But otherwise… solid soundtrack & locations, memorable new characters, Kay is actually utilized and Gumshoe isn’t a COMPLETE punching bag, logic chess is a satisfying mini game I’d like to come back, and the way the story all ties together is beautiful. A common criticism of AAI1 is that it is emotionless and there’s no connection to any of the characters or plot… complete opposite here.

Also, is the Godot quote by young Raymond Shields present in the original Japanese or did the fan translators add that for giggles? Either way, I’m headcanoning that Diego met Ray at some point and cribbed that from him.

(I 100% both the main game and the Bad Blood DLC other than the online play, which I was not able to access).

- The core gameplay is VERY fun, press Q for dopamine city.
- Loved the gunplay so much that in the Bad Blood side missions I’d ignore the optional objectives like “no killing” because the pew pew is so satisfying.
- The driving in some cars is bad but most are fine, then again, I did play this game for dozens of hours so I probably just got used to it.
- Aiden is basically the most stereotypical ‘gritty white dude with stubble’ protagonist that dominated the early 2010s, but I somehow didn’t find him too insufferable. The side characters like T-Bone are much more compelling. The story was also mostly average (pacing felt off somehow but I’m not sure why) with some nuggets of interesting concepts.
- As meme-worthy as some of the NPC taglines are, the profiler is a really neat mechanic to make the city feel more alive. I remember when I started playing just running around and listening to all of the convos.
- The side activities were all enjoyable by themselves, but in true Ubisoft fashion there are so many you might get tired of it, in Bad Blood for example there is seriously no need to require 60 of basically the same 3 variations of an activity for 100% completion.
- The radio was really lackluster, maybe I’m spoiled by other open-world city games but really, two dozen songs? What happened there?

This was the first “real” video game I really got into and played on my own, and I’ve replayed it a lot of times. It will probably always have some nostalgic power over me. But, if I’m being honest, it’s a good game, not a great one. I realized that more after I first played Saints Row 2 a few years back, which is genuinely a masterpiece (with a horrible port).

Let’s start with the positives. It is a lot of fun, they got rid of some of the more tedious activities from SR2 (looking at you Crowd Control) and the new Genki activity is a blast. It is very much an early 2010s period piece which adds to the charm. The gangs and the new characters are all solid.

There’s two major downsides with this game. For one, the story is way too short. Granted, I’ve replayed it so I can go through it quicker than someone coming in fresh, but around 1/2 of the “missions” are just cut scenes or activities, so the mission number is padded a lot. But on the flip side, if you’re looking for an open world game that doesn’t take 70 hours to 100%, SR3 is great.

The second thing, Steelport is a dead generic city compared to Stilwater. Outside of the downtown area (which is mostly generic skyscrapers), all of it pretty much looks the same, there’s no unique areas like the university, Chinatown, trailer park, mall, etc. The NPCs have limited animations and appearances compared to SR2. Even as many times as I’ve replayed this game I generally don’t mess around in Steelport after 100%ing the game itself, there’s nothing to do and you’re basically invincible at that point. I don’t know anything about the circumstances behind the development, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a lot more planned that got scrapped.

And, this is something I’m personally neutral on but I know a lot of fans disliked, the tone is VERY different from SR2. With the exception of something in the very beginning and one of the possible endings, there really aren’t many intense moments and it’s all very slapstick-y. The physics in this game are absolutely ridiculous, which I love.