Trilogies seem to be a popular way of ending series and the Gyakuten Saiban (“Ace Attorney”) series has just done something similar ending Phoenix Wright’s court legend with three titles. Now Gyakuten Saiban 4, which takes place 7 years after GS3, is to mark the beginning of a new young hero named, “Housuke Odoroki”. Again, our hero’s name has been created with a bit of word play, with “Odoroki” meaning “surprise” and “Housuke” roughly meaning “law boy” so you can expect the some similar comedy in this latest instalment. Expanding on the 3D forensics system introduced in the extra case of the GS1 remake and also a new “Minuki” system, GS4 is also the first true GS title to make better use of the DS’ hardware.

As with every GS title so far (with the exception of the GS1 remake), GS4 contains four cases to solve with each one longer than the others. In the very first case “Turnaround Trump”, there is already a little bit of djà vu as the nervous Odoroki is about to take on his very first case with his calm mentor Kirihito Garyuu at his side. He’s been practicing his speeches in as loud a voice as he can but continues to stammer when he talks. Odoroki’s client has been accused of murder over a game of poker and fans should recognise the accused right away despite his changed appearances over the 7 year gap. If you don’t then I guess it’s that hat he’s wearing!


It’s Crimson Mindreader! I mean, “Housuke Odoroki”!
Although the story does off to a bit of djà vu, you’re actually taken for quite a ride with the number of twists they give to the story. In fact, the twists are so good that you don’t want to leave the game until you find out why certain events have taken place. I don’t want to go into too many spoilers so you’ll just have to wait and play the game for yourself!

The main way the game proceeds is not different from previous titles. You get yourself a client in each case who is accused of a murder and, it’s your job to prove them not guilty by finding contradictions in witnesses’ testimonies. That means going around finding evidence from crime scenes to use and paying attention to paragraphs of text while in court.