Game Reviews

Devil's Attorney

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| Devil's Attorney
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Devil's Attorney
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| Devil's Attorney

There's a thread of knowing mid-'80s immorality sewn into the garish suits of Max McMann, lead for the defence in Devil's Attorney. Here's a vile man who'll do anything for money, and it's your job to try and help him.

While the Ace Attorney series is all about doing the right thing and making sure the innocent get off, Devil's Attorney concerns itself with filling up your apartment with possessions, buying the very best piano key ties, and making sure that whatever happens you come out on top.

Lawyers 4 U

From the moment the game loads up and you're treated to a theme song with accompanying animations, you know exactly what sort of experience you're in for. This is the law played for laughs, and it's an idea cemented by the conversations Max has with each of his opposing prosecutors before a case starts.

The court cases themselves play out like turn-based RPG battles. You have a certain number of action points to use, and a variety of skills that you can spend them on. The opposing side of the case can be made up of any combination of a prosecutor, witnesses, evidence, and experts.

Each member of the prosecution team has a credibility rating, which is basically its health. Batter this number down to zero with cross examinations, evidence tampering, patronising, or one of your other skills, and you'll take them out of the equation altogether.

Your own health is represented by a meter at the top of the screen, and if it reaches zero, the judge finds in favour of the prosecution and you'll need to start your case all over again from scratch. Just like in real life.

Off the hook

The money you make for winning cases can be spent on sprucing up your apartment or buying new items of clothing. These add points to either your Materialism, Decadence, or Vanity tracks, which are essentially your skill trees, with new courtroom abilities unlocked as you spend more.

Devil's Attorney is an oddly compulsive game. The courtroom battles don't take very long, but there's a satisfaction in beating down the truth with lies and posturing, then using the ill-gotten gains to add a new bearskin rug to your opulent condo.

It might be immoral, and it might get repetitive after a few hours, but Devil's Attorney is still an awful lot of fun.

Devil's Attorney

It might not have the drama of the courtroom, but Devil's Attorney is still a great way to waste a few hours getting criminals off the hook
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.