Case by Case:The First Turnabout

Sorry for the delay I've been sick the last few days and not been in a writing mood.

This is the first episode(?) of Case by Case where I faff about and talk about every case of original Phoenix Wright trilogy. Why not include Investigations or Apollo Justice? Mainly because I haven't played the former and don't really want to do the later right now(and I lost my copy). If you want explanations of what Phoenix Wright is and game play malarkey that's what Wikipedia is for. Here I'm talking about plot,and how the cases compare and to somewhat determine the best case.

As this is the first episode it makes sense we start with the First Turnabout. It's our first time seeing our lead and like us he's greener than grass when it comes to being a lawyer. You get a good feel for Phoenix in this case as the man who believes in his clients. There is also the lovable loser Larry Butz who pops in and out of this series usually to unintentionally ruin Phoenix's day. He shows what the series is really good at which is characterizing even minor characters. Even when we only get a few lines of dialogue you can instantly know what kind of person they are.

The plot is really nothing special in this one but it does set the template of your client looks suspicious but they didn't do it. It's the formula that holds this franchise together and gets deconstructed wonderfully in Justice for All. Sadly the writing for this case is just not as sharp as others though it does get the awesome line: Mr.Sahwit,more like Mr.Didit. On the other hand there is the cringe inducing Harry butt joke from Mia who is in no way that naïve to not realize what she's say.Also introduced is the series' love for puns and half the fun is figuring out the weirder puns like Dustin Prince.

Along with the simplistic plot is always some pretty simplistic testimony that falls apart like wet toilet paper. On one hand it's ok as this again is the first case but it's jarring as the case right after it was difficult for me my first time after breezing through this case. The prosecutor,Payne,also puts up little fight as you take down his witness. It doesn't even make you establish motive which every other case does even the tutorial cases(where Payne is the prosecutor)from games two and three.

As a side note Mia's facial expressions are hilarious in a way not seen with her later appearances. I don't know if it's early installment weirdness or it was intentional but dang are they funny.

I feel like I'm beating up on this one just for doing it's job and it's really not a bad case just lackluster compared to other cases. Till next time Stay positive

The First Turnabout : 3 out of  5