When I was younger, and I managed to stay up past 11:00 PM, I’d catch a glimpse of Perry Mason (reruns of the classic), one of the first courtroom drama’s to grace television screens. In that classic show (this was when Ramond Burr wasn’t larger than a small sized pickup) the original "ace attorney" would take on clients that he believed were innocent and defend them with every fiber of his being. After uncovering countless clues leading to another guilty party, Perry would methodically take down this person on the witness stand, inevitably leading to a courtroom confrontation and confession. It happened every week – as far-fetched as that concept is -- and Perry would feel good knowing that he had saved another desperate soul from prison.

Of course in the real world these sorts of things rarely happen, but for all intents and purposes we aren’t talking about the real world. Only in television and in videogames like Capcom’s Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All can we have such drama and such a breakdown of reality happen, as evil people are brought to justice and the innocent remain free.

Justice For All captures all that drama and more as ace attorney Phoenix Wright methodically picks apart suspect testimony, examines medical reports, double checks evidence and investigates crime scenes in a bid to get to the truth. The end result – if done correctly – is a grateful client and another criminal put behind bars. If handled incorrectly, the judge punishes you, your client is instantly found guilty, and the game ends with little fanfare.

The first thing to note about this game is that it portrays a pretty strange legal system where the judge is an all-powerful entity that can bring the entire proceeding to a screeching halt and render an instant verdict. Thank god this isn’t the case in the real world… This is far from an accurate portrayal of any legal system in any country that I have seen, but this format works well with a game where you basically push your luck until you’ve run out of “fire” and are ruled against.

Justice For All, at its core, is an adventure game. The game is basically broken down into chapters and these chapters are in turn divided into scenes. There’s of course, a prologue, the court-room action, investigative phase, intermissions where the story is pushed along and clues are revealed, and the epilogue – depending on whether or not you were successful.

While many of these phases are important, the bulk of your time will be spent in the courtroom. You use several important tools to reveal truths and challenge testimony. One is the straightforward Objection. This allows you to call in question lies and inconsistencies in testimony (you can use the DS microphone to yell objection when you are in the challenge phase at anytime). The other is the ability to use evidence which lets you use your inventory of items to further challenge what witnesses are saying. Players will gather these items from crime scene investigations, from items that other supporting characters might give you and items that have been submitted into evidence during a case.

Finding the right mix of objections and evidence is important because things aren’t always as straightforward as they first appear. Player have to pay careful attention to the evidence and to the testimony being submitted into the record. Some witnesses may remember events differently than they really happen and other witnesses may go out of their way to blatantly lie. It’s up to you to find the truth and unravel it to save your client and win the judge’s favor. If you continue to fail by either presenting irrelevant objections or pointing to the wrong evidence you’ll lose health. When your health is gone so is the judge’s patience and your client will be found guilty.

The newest feature in Justice for All is a special courtroom tool called psyche-lock that allows Phoenix unlock secrets that witnesses are hiding. Players will actually see chains and locks that represent this “web of lies” appear over a person when they have a secret that they don't want to share. To remove these obstacles and get to the truth, players will have to use evidence and questioning to break the witness down.

While all these components may seem pretty simplistic, the courtroom action is very appealing and finding the right mix of objections and evidence is a real challenge. The most exciting part of the game is how all the action is delivered. The stories driving the handful of cases you’ll take on truly are well crafted, engaging and fun. If you don’t mind wading through screens of text then you won’t have a problem with the bulk of the game. While there is a lot of narrative and dialogue within this game, the anime style graphics put the icing on the cake and the comic-book style objections are a nice exclamation point on the most heated and dramatic moments. It’s also pretty amusing when Phoenix lodges an objection or presents evidence that doesn’t work, and the judge admonishes him for his stupidity.

Justice For All is not a perfect game for a couple of reasons. For one, the game is still linear so you’ll have to wade through each case in the order the happen. You will also find it frustrating when you fail a case because you’ll have to start at it save point and having to wade through text and scenes you have already enjoyed can be a bit tedious. Still there’s a lot of meat on the bones of this game and some trial and error is part of the game’s challenge…