So, over the weekend, I had an oppritunity to try out Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney. This little pulp anime/Law and Order crossbreed has one controlling the evidence gathering and trial sections of legal cases (which is, surprisingly, much more fun than it sounds). It’s a graphically shiny number, and localized well enough to be pretty humorous throughout.

The point I would like to get to here, however, is this: No game in recent memory has as effectivley used audio tracks as Phoenix Wright has.

I mean, sure, there’s actual music games which have boasted stellar audio as a whole (Um Jammer Lammy and Gitaroo Man being excellent examples), but given the subject matter, you would expect this. I mean, a game featuring, say, the musical stylings of Lawrence Welk would not fare well, and titles in that genre almost always have excellent soundtracks. Phoenix Wright, though, takes an otherwise mildy entertaining graphical point-and-click style game and uses the background score to make it, frankly, pretty amazing. Presenting evidence succesfully in a trial sequence is followed by a dramatic silence, a plot point, and then some frenetic fast-paced tune, punctuated with occasional shouts of ‘OBJECTION!’ by the games characters. It’s slickly done, and in the case of myself and the friends who had played or were watching the game, the combination of over the top visuals and sound served as a means of getting totally pumped.

Also in the realm of audio fun, the game takes some limited input from the DS’s mic, mostly limited to yelling “Take that!” or “Objection!”. This is a highly entertaining thing to do in a room of otherwise unsuspecting people. Try it! You will be pleasantly surprised with the incredulous looks you recieve.