Ace Attorney Trilogy HD Reviews

by SickOfBadContent

As the title says above. If you’re wanting to get into the series, any other port would be a good way to play them. Including emulation. The iOS port is absolutely abysmal, with music from 2 of the 3 games having been replaced by the older tracks from the GBA versions, or just missing and replaced by different tracks entirely. The interface doesn’t work well. There’s constant glitches that affect gameplay and knowledge of cases. And it is, bar none, the absolute worst looking version of any of the ports of the game, including the original on the GBA. Animations are missing 50% of the frames so they’re composed of only key frames, making them look jarring and move robotically. This is one of the best visual novel series’ of all time, but please, do not play this port. Pick it up on Switch/PC/PS4/XBOX, the 3DS, the DS or the emulated DS version (using a legally obtained copy, of course). But do not play this port.

by Invasion-J

I played the cases you get for free & loved it. The first 2 games were great. The third game, however, is why I’m writing this review. I started the 3rd game’s 1st case & all of a sudden, various sfx cut out! To restore it, you have to close out of AceAttorneyTrilogyHD ! The games really aren’t the same w/o sfx. This happened before with the 2nd game, but it wasn’t frequent enough to be an issue. With the 3rd game, it does this every other freakin’ minute! It’s insufferable! It completely sabotages the game’s tone & pacing. Right as I start to get invested- boom, the sfx cut out. But the sfx issues aren’t the only things wrong, oh no. Typos are incredibly persistent, at their worst in the 5th case of the 1st game. For example, easy stuff like a steak was typed as “stake” once. Punctuation was forgotten often. In fact, one item’s description was a repeat of another item’s description, only missing the first line!! How is this kind of stuff acceptable? Furthermore, I was looking up how to fix the audio problems earlier, and saw people talking about how the iOS port butchers the music (which is one of the critical parts!) & and the visuals of the originals. Truly disappointing. I’m regretting having paid for all 3 games. If you’re dead set on buying at least one of the games, I beg of you, DON’T BUY THE THIRD ONE!!! (The writing, gameplay, & music are top notch but that’s really thanks to the devs of the originals.)

by Tiberius_Edgeworth

I’ve been a fan of the Ace Attorney franchise since 2013, and my first introduction to the series was on iOS. Back then, this game was awesome. But in the last seven years, the trilogy has been remastered for the Wii, Switch, Xbox, PS4, and PC (via Steam). It looks and feels a lot more crisp on all of those platforms. As I write this (July 2020), it has been over two years since Capcom last updated the game for iOS (which added iOS 11 support). For whatever reason, it seems a bit like they’re cutting loose the iOS version and users. If you buy the trilogy and all the cases on iOS you can still play it all the way through, but don’t expect much in the way of updates. I can’t imagine it would be especially difficult to bring AceAttorneyTrilogyHD in line with the other remasters, though.

TLDR; don’t buy the Ace Attorney Trilogy on iOS unless Wii/Switch/PS4/XBox/Steam aren’t options.

by JITWGaming

So at around April-ish, I started playing the Ace Attorney series for the first time on a ROM on my computer (dont worry, I had already bought the game). When I saw that the rest of the games were on AceAttorneyTrilogyHD Store, I was ecstatic. I downloaded all the apps and started playing them. When I was playing the game on AceAttorneyTrilogyHD, something was really off. AceAttorneyTrilogyHD seemed glitchy, buggy, and not really well put together. Now, there were a couple of glitches i understood, but when I got to Rise from the Ashes, my gosh, that case is a nightmare. I don’t even know where to start on the bugs. Compared to the other Ace Attorney games, which I’ve finished all of them, AceAttorneyTrilogyHD seems rushed and not well put together. I wish the devs in Capcom would give AceAttorneyTrilogyHD a little love and fix some of the glitches and make the UI more user friendly.

by Thepbqueen

I really want to begin this saying that this isn’t a rating on the games themselves, but how awful this port is. The games, solid 10/10, 5 stars, however you’d like to phrase it. This port, however, is not good.

I’ve been primarily using my iPad for this, and am currently on the fifth case of the first game (1-5). There have been the occasional odd typo here or there but case five has been absolutely riddled with bugs and typos and the wrong text for the wrong evidence. It’s made case 5 loads harder than it needs to be, especially considering how tricky it already is.

However, as far as the games themselves go, I am HOOKED. If you haven’t ever played one before, and want to try before you buy, the first two cases (a tutorial and the first “real” case) are free through this, but you can purchase each after that point on here. Just get it through another method to finish, if you can. There’s a release via the Nintendo Switch, as well as through Steam on PC. Please play it on either of the other two, if you have the ability to. I’ve helped my bf through his playthrough on Steam and it looks, plays, and feels so much better than the iOS version.

by Petradactylus

I’ve been playing this series for the first time, and I really want to emphasize how much fun the game itself really is. Very fun characters with highly entertaining murder mysteries that are enjoyable to unravel!

However, I highly recommend not getting this series on mobile if you happen to have a Steam account, Switch, or Nintendo DS or 3DS. The mobile version is very buggy, and it really dampens the experience of playing these games. The sound effects cut out all the time, and often won’t come back until the game is reset. I’ve had the game freeze on me, crash multiple times, and one time glitch out especially bad with missing menus and no dialogue pop ups.

Despite the series being fantastic, I regret buying this on mobile and have been telling others to buy it on different platforms.

by DARKDEATH98

Okay, so I played these games on the GBA (imports), the DS (North American Releases) AND the Wii (straight ports). And then I saw this and thought:
"Updated graphics? Retina display support? I'm sold!"
So, I bought the full bundle and started playing. Then I noticed something. The graphics AREN'T updated. They no longer look like sprites, and than means their movements, compared to the other options to play this game, are incredibly lame (and choppy). Sure, the larger screen, retina clarity and smoother lines are nice, but come on Capcom! Update everything or update nothing, cause people are going to notice! Overall, if you have any of the three options I named above, get those. If this is your introduction to the series, it's not great, just don't play the earlier versions or ports and expect the graphics on this one to be better. Overall, Capcom doesn't;t deserve any more of my money until they decided to "un-cancel" Megaman Legends 3...

by Prismnebula

So I am new to the ace attorney series and I figured I should get the ios port. I am currently on the second game and this series is very fun to play, however there are a few glitches. For example, in justice for all case 2 trial 2, Phoenix says a line and then Franziska fills in the rest of the textbox with her line which I thought was kind of weird. And there have been a few instances where the name didn’t match up with who was speaking. Also, when I close out of AceAttorneyTrilogyHD and get back into it sometimes, the music either overlaps with itself or the text sound effect disappears. However this has only happened to me a couple times. I’m pretty tolerant of these glitches, however if you don’t think you can deal with the glitches I previously mentioned then I don’t recommend getting this. Other than that, the games themselves are fantastic.

by Torenflame1172YT

I never really understood exactly what this game was. I first found out about its theme from Henry Stickmen, the prison break one. I never knew it’s name, nor what it was. Just that it wasn’t originally from Henry Stickman. Then, many years later, a few months ago to date, I saw a video on Completing the Mission, and someone referencing the scene as Ace Attorney. My interest piqued, I looked it up. A detective game, seems fun. Never looked to far into it though. Lately, I was watching a video with music from the game, and wrote a comment. Then, thinking about said comment, I though to myself “Maybe I should try this game out. Can’t end to bad, right?” So I look it up on AceAttorneyTrilogyHD Store today, and what do you know but I am thoroughly addicted. A great game, great storyline, amazing everything in it. I played for 3 hours straight and am tempted to buy the whole thing no matter the cost(even though I don’t know what the cost actually is). All I can say is, great work!

by Kaelef

I haven't played the DS originals, so I can't compare theses games to those, but overall these are fun "visual novels" that do give you some sense of participation. The characters and stories are fun and creative, and there's a surprising amount of humor sprinkled throughout.
The collection loses a star because there's no way to skip ahead when you're reading stuff you've already read before, and you'll find yourself doing that a lot in these games.
The "Apollo Justice" sequel handles this better by sometimes (but not always) allowing you to skip ahead or display text more quickly. There's no reason they couldn't add that feature to this trilogy.
Besides the sometimes-infuriating requirement of reading the same text over and over, the lack of a skip feature and/or any sort of text speed setting easily makes playing through these titles take at least twice as long, unnecessarily, as they would otherwise. And these are not short games.
There are numerous textual errors and cases where one character's dialog seems to be attributed to a different character, but these weren't show-stoppers. I assume they were carried over from earlier versions of the games.
Also, you may end up looking for online help in some spots where your next step is not clear.
The stories are fun enough that I stuck with it despite the frustrations.

by Tedd3rs

I love this series, absolutely love it, I would however say that you would be better off playing on a different port if you can. I can’t however, so I’m using this port, currently I am struggling to play case 1-5 due to the fact there is a glitch with a new mechanic preventing all forward progression (luminol fluid in gant’s office isn’t working). Looking at other reviews, they don’t seem to be having such a problem, so I’m hoping this clears up, but it’s certainly frustrating. The sound effects seem to come and go on a whim, which is annoying, but far from game breaking. The one complaint I have with the game itself rather than the port, is how much flashing there is. There is an excessive amount of flashing lights and no option to turn them off. All that aside, I am in love with this series and as soon as this glitch is gone I will eagerly continue.

by TheGntaco

I really liked the Ace Attorney games for a while. This was the first time I actually played Ace Attorney. After playing Apollo Justice and Ace Attorney: Investigations, I decided to download this game again. I have noticed that the resolution of the actual game itself was smaller that what I thought it would. I kinda didn’t like that, since I really liked the game’s art. I started to play the game, and noticed that the game is more choppier than the other ports. This bothered me since I like how smooth the other two games are. The game itself, however, is really great. I really enjoy deducting lies within each persons testimony, and the games art is great, like I said earlier. I really enjoy this port, but I highly recommend updating the game’s performance.

by Indecisiveness101🤯

I haven’t bought anything but this has definitely won me over in terms of how much I enjoy this. If they cleaned up the menu a bit and fixed a bug where I can be guaranteed sound without any Bluetooth device when I disconnect said device in game, that would be great. I suppose I use my speaker and headphones mostly though so no skin off my nose. As far as purchases, I’m not sure I can pull seventeen bucks right now, and saving three bucks sounds nice if I buy the whole trilogy because I might buy the whole thing anyway. BUT as far as the initial game it’s conceivable that I can pull of 20 bucks at l a later date gradually over time, so then the only question is whether the original ace attorney game is worth it with only three episodes left for six bucks, a 2$:1 episode ratio. I suppose what would determine THAT is the amount of trials held in court each episode, yet just knowing that would spoil story.
As to reiterate on above, I’m also trying to buy a Fire Emblem, (not that shameful excuse of an app,) or Splatoon 2, a new 3ds xl, and Switch online services, not to mention Luigi’s Mansion or bowsers inside story for 3ds. So it’s conceivable that I wouldn’t get back to buying the trilogy. 😖
Ergo, (😁👍) my indecisiveness. I’ll ask a fan who’s knowledgeable about this. In a way, this is a problem that one can love to have. 👌🧐

by Towels Are Awesome 42

Let me begin by saying that this collection is amazing. The amount of content in the first game alone feels worth the whole price so having two more games after that is just incredible. The story is excellent, the characters are memorable, the pace and tension-building are top notch, and the gameplay can be quite fun. I would highly recommend this game on this or any other platform based on content alone.

As for the iOS port specifically, it’s a bit buggy. Sound effects (and occasionally even music) like to disappear without warning or reason and won’t come back until AceAttorneyTrilogyHD is completely reset. The music track sometimes doubles up and won’t reset to normal until you exit and re-enter AceAttorneyTrilogyHD . The screen rotation occasionally gets locked and won’t unlock until AceAttorneyTrilogyHD is reset. Lastly, though it’s not a bug as far as I can tell, the game doesn’t actually change the real screen rotation no matter how you hold your device. The game looks like it’s horizontal, for instance, but normal phone controls like the notifications menu are all vertically oriented at all times. This can be annoying occasionally and is a truly strange design choice.

Overall, the convenience of having these games on the go is well worth the bugs, but I hope that someday this game gets patched so that it’s a bit more stable. Well worth the purchase, regardless. After playing the first two trials for free, I was hooked and never looked back.

by Midnight678

I downloaded this game and bought everything at around the age of 9, it’s been five years now and I’m 14. Ace Attorney was officially my first fandom and my favorite. This trilogy can show why that it. The story is perfect, I wouldn’t change it a bit. (Although you should bring Iris back in your next game, wink wink) But the mobile version is buggy. Mainly in two ways. Sometimes while just playing regularly, all the sound would just stop working, music and all. I have to close AceAttorneyTrilogyHD and open it again for it to return. Now, if this happened every other chapter or so, I wouldn’t mind. But this occurs every three minutes, and it becomes unbearable pretty quick.
This second “bug” isn’t really a bug, but a plea to fix the boarder. I’m on an iPad and the logo makes the game feel like it’s much worse than it actually is.
Thank you.

by Justin Strong

I just download AceAttorneyTrilogyHD Tuesday April 26, 2018 and just downloaded the full Ace attorney: Phenix Write in app purchase yesterday. Needless to say, AceAttorneyTrilogyHD has been better improved in clarity and colors but, now the 2.5D main characters in a case seem not to fit the 2D backgrounds. I can see why they did this: to let the main characters feel more immersed and alive in the story which it does accomplish. I would say most reviewers on here don't enjoy the 2.5D characters since it ruins their nostalgic view from the original DS game however, This is a better port overall for the reasons listed above!!
I do have one negative about this game which is it does get really laggy switching throughout the menus and trial days but, that's all. Overall, this is the same game as the original DS version, and except the the updated 2.5D characters and clarity is it really such a bad port?!? Great work Capcom!!!

by Anonymous Central

I will start with this: Ace Attorney is a wonderful series, and I recommend both the games themselves and this mobile port.

I originally played the 2019 version on Steam, but wanted to buy a mobile version for convenience’s sake. I was initially hesitant from the screenshots pictured above and the reviews I read. The UI takes getting used to (it sure isn’t pretty :{) and there is fairly regular white flashing (it doesn’t bother me, but it might be a problem for photosensitive people(?)). There’s a few spelling errors here and there (missing commas, using homonyms like “stake” instead of “steak”, etc) but it’s forgiveable due to just how much content there is. The updated art is wonderful (much nicer than the original pixel art, though many might disagree) though not as clean as the 2019 version, and is in desperate need of some anti-aliasing.

I would say it’s absolutely worth the price of admission, even if the UI takes some getting used to.

by SMCMSMCM

I’ve been wanting to play the Ace Attorney games for a while, so I looked up where I should start. I was directed to the HD trilogy. Once I’d found out that it was on mobile, I jumped on that because I wanted to have it on the go without having to carry my DS with me everywhere. And so, I paid the fee and got all three games in one; a risky play if you ask me. If I didn’t like the games then I’d be stuck with them after spending 15 dollars. Thankfully, however, I love these games now.

The idea of a courtroom based game where you play as a lawyer doesn’t seem like something that’d be fun, but boy is it ever. After the first chapter I was hooked, and I’m currently nearing the ending of the first game. The writing in this game is genius, the artwork is all beautiful in HD, and my only complaint is that I hadn’t played it sooner.

I recommend you get this game and play the first trial before purchasing, just so you know whether or not this game is for you before making such a significant purchase. But if you’re like me, you’ll fall in love with this game real quick!

by BurgerQueenTemmie

I LOVE Ace Attorney. And it’s all thanks to AceAttorneyTrilogyHD!!
As a 15-year-old kid who missed the bus for the original DS version and didn’t really ever hear of this game till it came out on AceAttorneyTrilogyHD Store, AceAttorneyTrilogyHD is literally the first contact I made with something I now talk about on the daily. It’s exactly the game I’ve been looking for for a long time, and it got me into forensics and mock trial at school. I know it’s got some bugs, and after getting the third game for my DSi, I do think it’s a little cleaner in its original version, I think AceAttorneyTrilogyHD still embodies the best part of the game (and is basically the only thing I do on my phone). The convenience of it being an app outweighs most of the glitches.
The only thing that really bugged me was the problem with Rise From the Ashes where the luminol was ineffective, and I basically have to skip ahead in order to move on. Also, I used to be able to see achievements on Game Center, but I can’t access this part of AceAttorneyTrilogyHD anymore.
All in all, it’s not perfect, but it’s my favorite game on my phone or elsewhere!! :3

by 101silverstreak

This Trilogy is the best port of I’ve seen in a long time for an iOS device. Coming from playing the trilogy on the DS, this is a great improvement. I wouldn’t go as to say this is a 1080p HD remaster but it certainly is way better than what you see on a pixel handheld which confuses me why people would think the DS Versions look better? I’ve had almost no problems with playing the trilogy other than a few text errors. One thing I love about this Trilogy is that they used the original GBA soundtrack which we never got to see the light of day in North America. This trilogy almost gives you that classic GBA feel to it with the music and being able to play it from a horizontal angle but with great colors and graphic improvements. Can’t really complain if it still tells the same story just in a better graphical standpoint. Would highly recommend for a fan!