Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney/Gameplay

The gameplay is split into two modes: Trial and Investigation. During trials, you have to cross-examine witnesses, present evidence, point out contradictions, and make important decisions that will affect the outcome of the verdict. During investigations, you must find clues and talk to people in many locations to gather evidence before each trial mode, except for the first case. All of these are very easy to pick up.

Trial mode
This mode is played in third person view. Your actions during trials will decide the fate of your clients. There are five exclamation points at the top right corner; each will be lost as penalty for a severe mistake. The game is over if you lose all five, as the judge will end the trial with a "Guilty" verdict. You can access the Court Record at the top right corner of the touchscreen.

Cross-examination
This is a crucial part of gameplay. During trials, witnesses will provide testimonies for the court, then the cross-examination will begin. You must find contradictions in their testimonies and present evidence to support your claims. The touchscreen has forward and backward arrows in the middle, along with "Press" and "Present" at the top corners.

Press
You can press any part of a testimony, doing so will generally provide a little more information. There are almost no risks, so get in the habit of pressing all statements. There are times when you have to press certain statements in order to proceed. Sometimes, pressing a statement will cause witnesses to provide new ones.

Occasionally, pressing a statement will provide you with a multiple-choice decision. You need to choose the correct option to advance most of the time, but if you choose the wrong one, you can simply press the same statement to display the multiple-choice screen again. If there is an important multiple-choice decision, the judge may penalize you for making the wrong choice.

Present
When there's a detail that contradicts a piece of evidence in the Court Record, you can present it to the court. This will make the witness unreliable and ultimately help your client. If you present the wrong evidence, or present it against the wrong statement, you will be penalized. Every so often the judge will ask you to present evidence to back up your arguments. Like in cross-examination, submitting the wrong one will get you a penalty.

Court Record
The Court Record contains two parts: Evidence; where items related to the case are kept, and Profiles; where information about people related to the case are noted. These can be collected in both modes. The Court Record can hold eight entries per page; you can toggle between pages to view them. Clicking on an entry will give you a brief description of it. You can also "Check" some specific items to take a closer look at them.

Case 5 introduces more ways to examine evidence, like viewing them in three dimensions. You also receive additional tools to perform many tasks, as scientific investigation is the key in this case.

Investigation mode
This mode is played in first person view. You will find yourself in a number of different locations, like the crime scene or the Detention Center. In order to advance the plot, you must find certain evidence and talk to certain people. You can't get a "Game Over" during investigations.

When you complete everything you need to do, the chapter will end automatically and you will begin the next day in court. You can access the Court Record like in Trial mode to keep track of the evidence you have. The touchscreen will display four different options you can perform. Select "Back" to return to the main screen from any of them.

Examine
This option allows you to use a cursor to select objects in the current location. If there's something you can look into, an "Examine" button will appear at the bottom right corner of the touchscreen. Clicking on it will trigger a discussion, which will either add the object to the Court Record or give you some information. Examining can be tricky, but it's required many times in order to proceed. Be sure to examine all you can at each location.

Move
Using this option will show a screen with different locations you can go to, some can only be accessed from another. You may have to visit the same place more than once in a case. When certain criteria are met, new people or new evidence may show up at certain locations.

Talk
This option is available only if you meet someone at a location. To gather information about the case, you must talk to people using this option, which will display a list of topics to discuss. You may unlock new topics by discussing one or by presenting items in the Court Record to a person. A covered topic will show a red check mark before its name. Remember to cover all available topics with each person; there might be useful stuffs.

Present
Presenting items during investigations is basically the same as in court, but you will not be penalized for doing so. This means you can present any items to any people as much as you like. Sometimes you need to present an item to a certain person in order to get more information and advance the plot. Like the "Talk" option, you can't present items if no one is there.

Save
You can save anytime by pressing the pause button. The game will also ask you to save after finishing a part of a case (when the "To be continued." appear). It's important to do this often to avoid being stuck.