Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

 3DS
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 262 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 201 out of 262
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 262
  3. Negative: 31 out of 262
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  1. eefeef
    Aug 31, 2023
    5
    There's definitely something appealing about this game. A refreshing female newcomer and a returning protagonist from the previous game, a clichéd but cool prosecutor... But a lackluster main villain and story undermine all that charm.
  2. TianLong1
    Mar 31, 2023
    10
    Epic trials, lots of plot twists and engaging story. New characters and game mechanics manage to improve upon the already successfull Phoenix Wright series. One of the most memorable and chilling turnabout happen in the final trial.
  3. Jofe
    May 16, 2022
    7
    My least favorite. The second case is really uninteresting because the game spoil eveything itself. And the final case isn't the best final case in the series.
  4. Loxagon
    Feb 22, 2022
    0
    No EU 5 Text (3DS/PS4) = for me automatic 0 Points!

    In this Game you must understand ALL!
  5. ElleSeeWhy
    Jul 31, 2021
    7
    Dual Destinies puts your through the normal Ace Attorney lawyering stuff with three protagonists at the helm. At it's core, Dual Destinies doesn't do anything too special in comparison with previous games. However, if you have played any of the Ace Attorney games, you should go into this knowing what you are getting which is a story full of twists and turns, clever deductions and wackyDual Destinies puts your through the normal Ace Attorney lawyering stuff with three protagonists at the helm. At it's core, Dual Destinies doesn't do anything too special in comparison with previous games. However, if you have played any of the Ace Attorney games, you should go into this knowing what you are getting which is a story full of twists and turns, clever deductions and wacky characters. The story starts off explosively (quite literally) then slows down to provide some background to two of the protagonists (Apollo and Athena), but ties everything together in perhaps one of the best ending to an Ace Attorney game yet.… Expand
  6. giannis2001
    Nov 26, 2020
    8
    Overall it was a good game but not as good as the Trilogy or Apollo Justice by my opinion. They changed some things that deteriorated the experience a bit. They added 3D Sprites for some reason, and while animations felt better and fit more in this game, I still miss the old simple ones. The biggest problem though was that they changed the voice actors and there goes the legendary voice ofOverall it was a good game but not as good as the Trilogy or Apollo Justice by my opinion. They changed some things that deteriorated the experience a bit. They added 3D Sprites for some reason, and while animations felt better and fit more in this game, I still miss the old simple ones. The biggest problem though was that they changed the voice actors and there goes the legendary voice of Phoenix Wright and everyone else, since the original were way more engaging and fitting to the passion of a lawyer. The worst change was Edgeworth's voice.. Gameplay - wise, the game introduces widget, which is a gadget used by Athena, and is capable of reading the emotions of others. So the testimonies add this feature and become more interesting, but the change isn't that incredible. As of the cases, they weren't as good as the Trilogy or AJ, but the ones that were plot related were amazing, like the last two (the last has a mind blown twist that you literally never expect), because they make you empathize with Apollo and Athena, since those cases are part of their backstories. The other 3 aren't bad but they didn't feel as good to me. The DLC one was awesome though.

    Also, the game introduced some incredible interesting characters like Prosecutor Blackquill which is an unforgettable personality and Athena which is the new member of Phoenix Wright team and is quite likeable. And the soundtrack of course is great here as well. Another thing I want to mention is that they used a different approach in humorous dialogue. They made it a bit more "family friendly" let's just say. I found the Trilogy's one way funnier and better though. If you have played the Trilogy and AJ and loved them, you will find everything that those games offer here as well, but with some alterations that are subjective to liking them or not.    … Expand
  7. SagiR1
    Jan 24, 2021
    8
    PHOENIX WRIGHT: ACE ATTORNEY - DUAL DESTINIES is awesome. New character like Athena and very awesome story with many potential as well. Blackquill is one of great Prosecutor that would be great for this game and future story.
  8. pcschmidt00
    Dec 18, 2020
    9
    The switch to 3D and voice acting felt off at first, but I got used to it as the game went on. As for everything else: Athena was a great character, Apollo got edgy, and the cases just got better and better. Overall, a great game
  9. FSL
    Nov 18, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Best ace attorney game comparing to the other western games in the series, the story aspect is stupendous, the graphic was an outlandish to the series but by the time I got accustomed to it, and one of the best things about the game is the prosecution, unlike the others in the series he isn’t helpful and also every time I face him I feel like this is the prosecution I was anticipated for a formidable antagonist, and the most shocking thing about the game is the culprit in the final case. THIS IS A MUST BE PLAYED GAME!… Expand
  10. Alexeuid
    Oct 5, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Vaya basura de juego que mato ala saga. Primero arruinan a un gran personaje como Phoenix Wright y es algo más aburrida la historia, un personaje que se jubila y deja que las nuevas generaciones actúen en vez de el pero es de vuelta de forma forsadisima.
    Vaya mierda divina d juego que mata a Phoenix Wright y a ace attorney ¿ Por quequno tenemos nueva entrega? Por culpa de este juego. 5.6    … Expand
  11. Teixeira
    May 26, 2020
    8
    Nice chapter because the gathering of Phoenix and Apollo (Athena was also a nice add) but the plottwist at the end is kinda lame and also the ending. Some nice turnabouts.
  12. AtomoDelFinal
    Apr 8, 2020
    3
    Worst ACE ATTORNEY game I've ever played. This game IS NOT FINE.

    PROS: 3D animations are great, music's epic as always. CONS: the story. It's as if the people who wrote it had forgotten all the events in the original trilogy. So a weeb samurai prosecutor killed a woman 7 years ago, and ONLY because of that, lots of lawyers started using forged evidence. Then the "dark age of law"    Worst ACE ATTORNEY game I've ever played. This game IS NOT FINE.

    PROS: 3D animations are great, music's epic as always.
    CONS: the story. It's as if the people who wrote it had forgotten all the events in the original trilogy. So a weeb samurai prosecutor killed a woman 7 years ago, and ONLY because of that, lots of lawyers started using forged evidence. Then the "dark age of law" started.

    Do you guys remember how Manfred Von Karma used forged evidence/dirty tricks for 40 years straight and how that truly became a real dark age of law? CAPCOM DON'T.    … Expand
  13. onereview
    Aug 10, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. sometimes you just have to be honest with yourself, and your soul. this is no masterpiece of a game. it's also not a zero, i give it that because this having a higher score than Apollo Justice is ludicrous, even though it's also not great. ultimately, the largest contrivance i actually have is my vehement hatred of the lack of identity of the phantom. i could write an entire essay about how important the final reveal is, but suffice it to say, the fact that the largest, most important reveal in the whole game is literally noone, and the fact that that leads to no real reveal about the internal motive of the character, what caused this injustice, that for no reason caused a great period of injustice with the legal system that already existed without him for no specific reason, which was on its own slightly irritating, but now has compounded with the specified corruption of the system, which is insane to imagine, because Manfred von Karma, Damon Gant, and Sebastian Debeste were all corrupt higher-ups in the system before, implying that because only now the dark age of the law has begun apropos of some random guy with NO IDENTITY, that somehow previously there was nothing wrong with the system used that needed to be fixed. it's clearly some irritating copout because the system showcased in the first games was too accurate to Japanese courts in some specific way such that criticizing them would be wrong, except for that last part i'm talking out of my ass. This corporate legitimizing and illegitimate holding of the rights for the characters, taking their stories and sculpting canon to be so irritating, contradictory, and boring, this is the soul, this is capitalism, this is what this game deserves. exactly its emotional output, which is exactly that of the phantom, all of which to say the game is trash and you should throw it there… Expand
  14. aditya1101
    Sep 4, 2018
    7
    This game takes a lot of the new stuff that was introduced in Apollo Justice and wraps it around a much more compelling story and much better cases. The characters in this game are also great. This is an A tier Ace Attorney game.
  15. Diegochocho
    Jul 3, 2018
    8
    El cambio de plataforma obligo a re modelar todo en 3D, adaptándolo bien a la saga, la historia como siempre a la altura de la saga.
  16. tianyujojo
    May 26, 2018
    6
    As a Phoenix Wright series fan, I think the story is a little bit bored. However, I still have fun with playing it.
  17. Steeldude
    Dec 3, 2017
    8
    A solid entry in the whole series. Nicely continues the stories of both Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice. There are 6 cases in total (one of them being DLC but totally worth it) and all of them are interesting in their own right. There are no "mindblowingly amazing" cases like in AA1 or AA3, though.
  18. OnlyLegends
    Oct 10, 2017
    10
    What can I say? I love this game. I have made sure to play all the games in order (AA, JFA, T&T, Investigations, Apollo Justice, Investigations 2, and now this one.) Next I will be playing PW meets Layton which I'm sure will be good. I was hesitant about Apollo when he was introduced in his game, but by the end of the game, I loved him. Same story here with Athena. Ace Attorney series isWhat can I say? I love this game. I have made sure to play all the games in order (AA, JFA, T&T, Investigations, Apollo Justice, Investigations 2, and now this one.) Next I will be playing PW meets Layton which I'm sure will be good. I was hesitant about Apollo when he was introduced in his game, but by the end of the game, I loved him. Same story here with Athena. Ace Attorney series is one game that can introduce new characters without ruining everything. Simon Blackquill is chill af and Athena's powers are very cool. They even added a little checklist thing so you don't have to rely on a walkthrough if you get stuck (I try not to use it too much so it's not like handholding). Overall, great game, great story in this game, and I really enjoyed every episode (unlike some of the other games). I actually didn't expect the ending to this game (in the other games the end is kind of predictable). One of the best games in the series and I'm sure there's more to come. I only have PW meets PL and Spirit of Justice left to play, so hopefully they can come out with another game before I finish those! (a Switch Ace Attorney would be lit)… Expand
  19. syscro
    Sep 17, 2017
    3
    Era fan de su serie en Nintendo DS
    Una aventura gráfica con pequeñas partes de RPG no Traducido al Idioma del jugar repercute directamente en el juego. Lo vendí a la semana.
  20. Cosmozerk
    Dec 23, 2016
    8
    After reviewing the first 4 Ace Attorney game I see no reason to wait any longer for DD

    STORY: The story of DD begins 1 year after the events of Apollo Justice. Phoenix gets his attorney's badge back, along with Apollo and new character Athena Cykes. Because of this the Wright Anything Agency finally goes back to lawyering and with this you'll have resolve 5 cases in order to stop what    After reviewing the first 4 Ace Attorney game I see no reason to wait any longer for DD

    STORY: The story of DD begins 1 year after the events of Apollo Justice. Phoenix gets his attorney's badge back, along with Apollo and new character Athena Cykes. Because of this the Wright Anything Agency finally goes back to lawyering and with this you'll have resolve 5 cases in order to stop what the game calls "The Dark Age Of The Law". Basicly a series of events that happend years ago made people distrust both Attorney's and Prosecutors and it's up to us to put an end to this.

    The characters introduced in this game are not the best, but also not the worst either. Athena is a likable character that in my opinion rivals the likes of Maya for best companion I've had, her interactions and colorful personality make her a welcome edition. The game definitely focuses on Athena the majority of the time, which can bother some players, but I really wanted to learn Athena's, very dark, backstory, so focusing on her wasn't really an issue for me. Apollo this time around is more experienced and more bad*** than ever and we got to see more of his childhood, but that's about it for him. New rival prosecutor, Simon Blackquill, does a great job of being the guy who constantly interrupts you and throws your theories to the ground, heck he literally attacks you in court with a freaking Katana and yells "SILENCE!" when he wants you to shut up. His backstory may not be all that interesting, but he's still a great character. There's also a new detective, Bobby Fulbright, who is just amazing every time you see him, he's a champion of JUSTICE! And never fails to put a smile on my face with his wacky interactions...however he does have a problem in the end of the game that ruined the character for me. Other than that the secondary, characters like Trucy or pretty much anyone else have little purpose, but to keep the story going and their wacky personalities make the investigation segments more entertaining. Really my only big problem with the characters is Phoenix himself, since now he doesn't act like the mature Phoenix from last time, but rather he now he seems to have forgot everything that he has learned and acts like the Phoenix from the first game...WHAT?! This completely annihilates his character arc from the previus 4 games and while I'm still glad he's back, I feel that giving Phoenix his old characterisation was a mistake.

    PRESENTATION: Do you remember the sprites from the previus games? Well throw those out of the window because now we have 3D my friend! Yes every character and background are now in the 3D realm...and it looks pretty good. Do you remember how in my PW vs PL review that I prefer the model of Phoenix in that game to the one over here? While I still have that same opinion, this Phoenix and every other character has something that PW vs PL lacked...EXPRESSIONS! Every character is expressive and well animates which is one of the things I enjoyed the most in the other games and DD does a great job. The old animations have been converted flawlessly and new ones look just as good. And you won't guess this part, but the soundtrack is AMAZING! and this time they used real instruments for the songs and it sounds goooooooood. Now there's even some really well made artwork that looks very smooth. My only complaint here would be the voice acting for the anime style cutscenes. While the animation is self is fine, the voice acting can be sometimes at the levels of Symphony of the night and I'm really not exaggerating, but since these scenes are few and far between they aren't a big issue.

    GAMEPLAY: You want me to explain the mechanics? Go see my other Ace Attorney reviews, because I don't like repeating myself...you did? Good, now let's see the new stuff. First of all the investigation segments have seen a pretty good improvement, now you can go to any place at any time, making navigation more streamlined than before. When you examine scenes the game will let you know what you have examined making the process a lot faster, plus since most of the background are now 3D you can rotate and look the crime scenes from different angles...and yes I said CRIME SCENES, because unfortunately DD doesn't let you examine anything that that it doesn't have relevance to the plot, which is big mistake in my opinion, because examining other places led to more wacky and funny interactions that are now completely missing. The new gameplay element is Athena's Widget, which lets her hear people's emotions when they're testifying, if you see a contradictory emotion you point it out. It works well, but I feel like it was used way too much in places were presenting evidence would've done the job perfectly fine.

    In the end DD is a great game, however I believe only fans of the franchise should try it out...But if you're a newcomer then you should start with square one.

    With that said i'll give Dual Destinies an 8/10    … Expand
  21. Narigaur
    Aug 25, 2016
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Even after Shu Takumi didn't want any involvement with the Ace Attorney series, Dual Destinies is still a great game. But I am sad to report that the new voices and character models aren't very good. Phoenix sounds just like he lost his voice, Apollo sounds like his voice instantly got deeper, Edgeworth just sounds ridiculous. The models for Phoenix and Edgeworth just completely killed the characters. Phoenix has that extra hair, and Edgeworth has glasses. Not to mention none of the voices and models go together very well. The addition of Athena Cykes got me scratching my head at first, with me being all like "Hey, hey, you can't just go adding characters like that!" But when I kept going, she started to become a really lovable character. One thing I truly love is the addition of the FMV 3D anime cutscenes, although there are leftover bits from the Japanese version of the game. Unfortunately, with all this 3D going around, the game just lost it's buttery-smooth framerate, but I can't deduct points for that since nearly all Nintendo 3DS games suffer from the same problem.

    Even if the graphics and the sounds aren't very good, the gameplay is still the same, but they removed the ability to present profiles during a cross-examination. This ability only appears at certain moments in the game. The character abilities have also been slightly toned down. Apollo's bracelet appears only during investigations and during a trial only once for the whole game. Phoenix's magatama to break psyche-locks appear only a few times and even then there is no penalty for getting something wrong. Trials are untouched from the last games, except for the presenting profiles thing.

    It's a good game, but there are some quirks that may be a deal-breaker for you.    … Expand
  22. MrCafecito
    Jul 5, 2016
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This was my first ever Phoenix Wright game, and as a newcomer, it made me want to play all the other games!
    The graphics are good, although the outlines the characters have make them look like sprites, which in turn makes them look ugly.
    The music is a highlight for me, in my opinion it has one of the best soundtracks of the franchise, and it is also orchestrated, surely a delight to hear.
    The story, though, may feel a bit cheesy, specially with characters constantly reminding you of "The Dark Age of the Law", when the cases feel completely normal.
    In conclusion, this is a great game both for newcomers, and for longtime fans, although if you're the former, it would be best to play the games in order to have the full experience.    … Expand
  23. Falcon4242
    Jun 3, 2016
    6
    I've loved this series since the first game, and the original trilogy is on the top of my favorite games list. However, this gamd just doesn't feel the same. It didn't grip me the same way previous installments did.

    Let's start with the graphics. They're nice, but it is kind of odd that they went with the 3D models instead of the traditional pixel art. Now that the characters look more    I've loved this series since the first game, and the original trilogy is on the top of my favorite games list. However, this gamd just doesn't feel the same. It didn't grip me the same way previous installments did.

    Let's start with the graphics. They're nice, but it is kind of odd that they went with the 3D models instead of the traditional pixel art. Now that the characters look more realistic, witness breakdowns and character expressions look really out of place. In previous titles the characters already looked cartoonish so the over-the-top reactions fit well with the atmosphere. Now there is a strange disconnect between neutral expressions and the breakdowns we love so much. I would have preferred pixel art to be honest.

    As for the story, honestly, I didn't finish it. I'm on the third case, so I don't know if the finale is fitting or not, but so far it's just kind of bland. The humor is uninspired, the characters seem too one-dimensional, and there isn't a lot of charm in the writing.

    The thing that made the original trilogy so good was that we saw gradual character development over the course of three games. Nick, Maya, and Edgeworth all changed dramatically through those games, and that was only accomplished because the writers kept a consistent bond between the characters throughout the trilogy. Apollo Justice and Trucy could have developed a similar bond if the writers gave them a chance. But now we have an over-saturation of characters that ensures any character development will be very hard to notice. We have 3 protagonists, a new prosecutor, a new detective, and new side characters. Now that we know the main setting of AA 6 is somewhere else, we probably won't get the same level of character development we got in the original trilogy, and that really disturbs me. It's very hard to write that many characters with development in mind without that development becoming trite and unoriginal. I'd love the cast to either be condensed back down to the original characters or throw all of them out in order to create a brand new cast. Until then, we'll be stuck in this limbo where players come back to interact with their favorite characters but don't get any substance from the experience.    … Expand
  24. alphaweapon
    Feb 18, 2016
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The first and foremost problem with this game is that the main story relied on WAY too many characters.
    Apollo was barely established as a character and had not space to grow. At the end of the game he still felt like a carbon copy of Phoenix.
    Athena is the overly cheerful but clumsy power of friendship girl. That's the most accurate description I can give. Felt like a collection of generic cliches to me. [spoiler] What made me mad the most was the 2D emotional depth of "black locks cause permanent damage if not treated carefully" "yo athena you didn't kill your mother" "ur right lol now i remember"
    Blackquill was ok... I guess?
    Fullbright's character is being able to yell IN JUSTICE WE TRUST at all times (barring the last case as it's not the same character that you see the whole game)
    Trucy and Pearl were put in just because. Their usefulness approaches negative levels.
    Then you get characters that apparently the main trio cares about but you're not physically able to give a **** because they didn't even present them (Clay) or are absolutely unlikable (Starbuck)

    The second problem is that it's TOO. DAMN. EASY. And I don't mean just because the main culprit is obvious from the start of the trial (which the first THREE cases are guilty of), but because you have your hand held the whole time. Like, seriously, I don't remember the other games having Phoenix being so damn descriptive of his suspicions on a testimony. Sometimes you're basically told what to present and when. Also, penalties are useless because there's no game over.

    Overall an enjoyable game, although not as good as the first trilogy, but still made me annoyed enough to spend time writing this review.    … Expand
  25. VidyaBum
    Feb 4, 2016
    8
    No spoilers review:

    Case 1: They make the HUGE mistake of showing the face of the villain in the intro cutscene. Apart from that, it's quite nice, it's the tutorial case and it introduces Athena as a character and her mood matrix gimmick well. Case 2: Same mistake as in case 1. It's not as bad because the villain is painfully obvious and the real fun is push him to admit his guilt,    No spoilers review:

    Case 1:
    They make the HUGE mistake of showing the face of the villain in the intro cutscene. Apart from that, it's quite nice, it's the tutorial case and it introduces Athena as a character and her mood matrix gimmick well.

    Case 2:
    Same mistake as in case 1. It's not as bad because the villain is painfully obvious and the real fun is push him to admit his guilt, but still...in any case, the case's charm is sort of lost on me. AA has made some great moments with circuses, magicians, and a lot of occult side dish, but the whole youkai thing was bleh. It was just poorly exploited IMO, you could have gone with far more extreme-looking characters, and it never really goes crazy. Still, nothing dead wrong with the case.

    Case 3: I was told it's the bestest case ever, and uh no. Turnabout Academy isn't horrible, but its final twist is a bit silly because it comes off as a cheap last-minute element that should've been cleared long ago. I guess people like it because it's the most "emotional" case with Athena's childhood friend being the defendant, and yes I did like her, but nothing amazing...the characters were probably the most over-the-top here though, apart from Yuri Cosmos in case 4. And just like the prior cases nothing ever really goes wrong in this case.

    Case 4 & 5: I take them as two since they're intertwined, just like the last two cases of ME Investigations 2. As usual the last cases are the most complex and the longest, and probably the best cases in the game. I liked them both, the latter especially, and its twists were interesting despite having been somewhat spoiled for me. Easily a good case, but not to the level of the final cases of any of the original trilogy or Investigations 1 or 2 IMO.

    DLC Case: Excellent case, possibly the one I enjoyed the most, due to it having more difficulty than the others. All-round strong and fun.

    Now I must sound like a broken record by now for having said it at least once for every case, but there isn't any "bad apple" here. Cases like Turnabout Samurai and its endless backtracking, Turnabout Serenade and its general awfulness, and the other famously meh cases simply don't exist here. This is an all-round good game.

    However the characters aren't as over the top as they once were and the writing gets a little too "for kids" to my taste. There are many moments where good writing is suddenly supplanted by "now we're gonna explain to you what we just told you, in case you needed clarification".

    I could just call DD a victim of "they don't make them like how they used to" syndrome, but I played Miles Edgeworth 2 right before DD, and the writing quality and difficulty were far higher. And the game isn't very much older than DD!

    The difficulty is doubtlessly the biggest issue of DD: there is none. While the older games got frustrating often with poor logic or a case of "press/present/examine everything to move on", here they evacuated those issues by simply putting everything on autopilot.
    In every instance of the game, you're told what to do. The game plays itself. You're told when you've completed an interrogation and where to go next, often even teleported there. While I can applaud the disappearance of the frustrating old gameplay, the fact is that the new gameplay has NO difficulty. In the entirety of the game I never got stuck once! Only with the DLC case did I get a game over. The lack of tough moments makes a lot of possibly excellent moments weak because you don't get the satisfaction that stems from beating the adversity.

    DD is too "friendly". It's friendly to kids by giving messages about hope and friendship in the most explainative manner, it's friendly to idiots by never giving you difficulty, it's smooth and never gives any bumps, smooth as its excellent animations...but because of the smoothness, there is never any really strong memory to tie to this game. Which is a complete shame, because after doing the whole game, I bought the DLC case and have enjoyed it greatly, moreso because it's probably harder than the others.

    DD has the right spirit and techniques, and the gameplay is generally an improvement, the writing or character-building weaknesses really aren't a problem, but the real issue truly is the lack of defiance to the player. It plays too easy on all fronts. With more difficulty, the same team and the same principles, I'm sure the next AA will be absolutely brillant. This one is already mighty good-looking, I just wish it got more daring or more creative and gave us actual difficulty, but apart from that pretty bad black spot, it has no bad cases and no true flaws, and it is a much more honest addition to the series than Apollo Justice was.    … Expand
  26. Digibutter64
    Sep 21, 2015
    8
    This game got me hooked on the series. Full of humour and emotional moments, as well as some awesome music (Apollo's objection theme FTW!), this game is much better than I initially thought it would be. It's not perfect (numerous typos in the text, for example), but a fun and engaging game, and a great way to spend your time.
  27. KushAstronaut
    Jul 24, 2015
    10
    It's a fantastic game and a title well deserving of being amongst the Ace Attorney saga. If you haven't played it, what are you waiting for? It's one of the best games out for 3ds!
  28. vahn
    Apr 4, 2015
    10
    When I heard of a new PW game being developed after a long time of pause, and on a console that I still pretty much can't get my heads on it (I loved the original DS mind you, just not the 3DS), I was really scared of it being a huge failure: I'm a huge Phoenix Wright fan and I finished each game, including AJ and AAI, at least 4 or 5 times each so this game really scared me out, "if itWhen I heard of a new PW game being developed after a long time of pause, and on a console that I still pretty much can't get my heads on it (I loved the original DS mind you, just not the 3DS), I was really scared of it being a huge failure: I'm a huge Phoenix Wright fan and I finished each game, including AJ and AAI, at least 4 or 5 times each so this game really scared me out, "if it fails, the series is dead!" I thought.

    But gladly, this game turned out to be one the exact opposite of what I hoped...and my God, I'm almost sure this game is probably one of the best of the entire series, probably T&T levels of goodness on some points.

    Storywise, the game is set after the events of AJ (one year, if I'm correct), and the story is revolved around this dark age of law, where it's essentially a big mess when it comes to proper legislation. The game's main protagonist this time are actually three: Phoenix Wright (who, if you remember, lost his badge), Apollo Justice and a new girl called Athena Cykes, which is also the main gimmick of the game as well. Unlike previous games, this time you'll be using certain characters on certain cases, making the cases quite unique on their own and I really appreciate when they made those choices back in T&T.

    The game itself it's pretty much the same as the previous ones: you have an exploration section where you gain evidence and try to figure out anything wrong, and the courtroom section where you'll need to discover the truth, and it's still the main focus of the game. Alongside the cases there's a thin line that connects all of the 5 cases (the 6th dlc case is completely unlinked to the rest) and that's probably the best thing about the latest AA games did (especially AAI, with all 5 cases completely linked to each others).

    However, what changed in the game now is the new girl's gimmick, where she will occasionally have to use her robot called Widget and start analyzing the witnessess moods, trying to see the contradictions by the emotional level....and frankly I did not like this new mechanic: I just pressed randomly in hopes to find the right answer, because it wasn't always clear of what was the right choice.
    Maybe some might like it, but I really didn't.

    We will be able to use Apollo and Phoenix's mechanics as well, which is a great come back from the latest games: with Wright and his magatama, which is able to see the lies, and Apollo's bracelet, which is able to see the strage move-sets of the people, the game is very diverse unlike the predecessors and I truely enjoyed seeing all three together in a team-like game, without mentioning that I was happy to see Phoenix acting a "tiny" bit more mature than previous games. A tiny bit, mind you.

    Is the game flawless? I think it's actually quite flawed in some aspects that definitely required some more cure and detail. For instance, Apollo is almost completely bland in here and I really saw him going nowhere: sure you see him struggling at the beginning and becoming all "serious" for some reason that I won't spoil, but it wasn't enough to make me care, resulting in him being forgotten pretty quickly.
    Athena is good but she's also quite...generic and I really couldn't feel sorry for her when she was having issues later in the game, and the new prosecutor, Simon Blackquill, is very VERY annoying in my opinion due to his high honor and sense of Loyalty, but without actually being "interesting". I like an honorable opponent, but he's just too bland for me to care, especially at the end.

    Also you won't be using Apollo's bracelet in courtroom and you'll be forced to use it only in the exploration section of the game (because....Simon's bird would attack him. I have no clue here), and Wright's magatama isn't used very often unlike the previous games.

    And for last...I really enjoyed only the first and the last two cases (because they're essentially one case splitted into two), while the rest was pretty weak: the first two cases literally show you the real murderer, pretty much ruining the supence while the third case while being good, it felt a little too dragged out.
    However, the last two cases are probably the single best cases of the entire game and, I won't lie, my jaw dropped at the sudden plot twist I read at the end: only the few games made me feel that surprised so far, and this was one of those. Sure this is all personal and not everyone might feel the same, but I really felt surprised by the case's end.

    And frankly, that's more than enough for me to recommend this game: it has its flaws, even big ones, but the game has a lot of good points and the end really "takes" the cake for me; on top of that the game has 5 cases plus an additional dlc case that it's probably the best in terms of development, with lots of cutscenes and a price that it's very affordable.

    In other words this is what the fans were waiting for: a good PW game, and I'm glad to see that we might see more eventually. Long live Phoenix Wright!    … Expand
  29. LucaxCubix
    Oct 25, 2014
    10
    THAT ENDING DOE, SERIOUSLY THIS GAME IS A MASTERPIECE I loved every freaking case :3
    EVERY. FREAKING. CASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    and Athena's cool too, plus Apillow (Apollo) Justice is more likable now, and phoenix is no longer a hobo, FANTASTIC :D
  30. catzzye
    Oct 4, 2014
    10
    This is easily my second best game of all time, and I played a lot of them!
    I really really liked it!
    And Mood Matrix and Psyche Locks are such a great features.
    Athena and Apollo are GREAT!
    Story is WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!
    Music is
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Awards & Rankings

12
#12 Best 3DS Game of 2013
15
#15 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2013
20
#20 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 63 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 55 out of 63
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 63
  3. Negative: 0 out of 63
  1. SpazioGames
    Apr 13, 2014
    80
    Capcom has put together yet another fun and witty game, that makes us use the gray matter and will please children and adults. However, it should also be said that, several years from the first game and with only few changes added from time to time, the series may need something new very soon.
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  2. Adventure Gamers
    Mar 12, 2014
    80
    One of the best of the games in the series, Dual Destinies takes a while to build back up from its explosive beginning, but it’s more of the same fun characters, stories, and gameplay fans have come to expect.
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  3. Pelit (Finland)
    Feb 13, 2014
    83
    Dual Destinies' main plot falters a little and the simplified puzzles are a shame. DD might not rise to the brilliance of the earlier Ace Attorney games, but it's still a worthy and welcome addition to the series. [Jan 2014]
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