E3 2016 round-up
Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice
How to write about a short hands-on demo of what is essentially a visual novel? Phoenix Wright is back, and everything you’ve come to love about the series – its humor, puns, characters, and evidence-and-objection-based gameplay – has returned. So have some familiar faces, including Maya and Apollo Justice, who’s at home minding the store when he gets his own case to crack while his mentor is away. There will be plenty of oddball new characters as well, and some new gameplay mechanics to master, but perhaps making only iterative changes to the tried-and-true formula is the best way to keep this popular series moving forward.
I didn’t spend more than about ten minutes playing the game’s opening scenario; truth be told, I put my 3DS down before some of my fellow gamers. Phoenix Wright is the kind of game that’s best enjoyed as a full experience, giving the cases time to unfold, letting the twists and turns play out while enjoying the offbeat comedy winding through the entire experience. So once I’d gotten a sense of the game, I was more than happy to step back and wait for the full release.
The gameplay of any Phoenix Wright title is essentially the same: take on a case to defend a client accused of a crime, search locations and speak to witnesses for evidence, then participate in cross-examinations in the courtroom, exposing lies and half-truths and ultimately proving your client’s innocence. All of this looks like it is present and accounted for in the new title, though I did not play long enough to get to search for actual clues on location.
As the game opens, Phoenix is off traveling, visiting a foreign country. As soon as he arrives, it seems, his guide is arrested right in front of him, charged with a crime. Phoenix being Phoenix, he immediately volunteers to act as the defense lawyer, only to be hit with the game’s first plot twist: this is a country that despises lawyers, going so far as to having replaced them in the courtroom with spiritual mediums who simply glean the outcome of each cases by conversing with the spirits. Even his own client doesn’t trust him and wants nothing to do with him, what with Phoenix being a lawyer. The judge, who may as well be a long-lost twin of the familiar judge we know and love from Ace Attorney games of the past, grants Phoenix the opportunity to prove his worth, much to the accused’s chagrin. Thus begins another highly unusual case, with every card in the deck seemingly stacked against Phoenix this time around.
I played just long enough to finish the introduction, setting the game aside when the first cross-examination began. Here, I told myself, is where the real nitty-gritty of weighing each and every word against the case files and notes begins. It was time to put the 3DS down and wait for the game’s digital release in September.
Troll and I
Last but not least (in fact, it was my very first adventure-related stop at E3, which happened by simply walking around on the show floor, seeing what’s what) is Troll and I, an indie game with action elements developed by Spiral House and published by Maximum Games. First adventure, and it hit me right in the feels. Or at least, I’m fairly certain it will once it’s out and I’ve had more than the twenty or so hands-on minutes I got with it this time.
Troll and I is a dual-character game, meaning you’re controlling two protagonists: Troll, who is exactly what his name suggests, and Otto, a young man-slash-teenage boy. Think Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, but without the dual-analog stick control scheme. In Troll and I, you take control of one character at a time, switching between them at will. The only time they’re controlled together is when Otto scrabbles onto Troll’s shoulder for a ride, at which point you’ll move Troll while using Otto’s spear-throwing ability.
The demo started with Otto waking up in a forest clearing – next to him, the colossal figure of Troll. Seeing the hairy mountain, Otto recalls an event that happened the previous day, during which Troll apparently saved him. Realizing Troll is real and not just a figment of a dream he was having, Otto sets out with Troll to explore his surroundings. Soon it becomes apparent how the two of them must work together to progress on their journey, as a steep cliff must be ascended to continue. Though Otto is able to explore on his own in some situations, here he clambers onto Troll and lets himself be carried up the cliff while his new friend does the climbing.
Once at the top, I got my first taste of combat. Passing the wrecked fuselage of an airplane (the game contains some realistic elements too), I encountered little kobold-like creatures, a little smaller than Otto, and their slightly bigger cousins – some wielding swords, others just generally scratching and clawing at their victims. Otto is armed with a blade as well, and it’s your choice as the player whether to engage in blade-to-blade combat or switch control to Troll, who towers over his enemies and can literally pound them into pulp with his lumbering arms. Troll will also have the use of magic in the final game, as evidenced by some enemies releasing magic energy when crushed by Troll, which flows into him and fills up a magic meter at the bottom of the screen.
Shortly after defeating the horde of foes (a split-screen co-op mode will allow two players to play simultaneously), I came to a puzzle that required the pair to split up. Two climbing paths were ahead of me, one with footholds too small for Troll, the other’s too large for Otto. Guiding Otto to the top of his wall, my demo ended when I miscalculated a jump between ledges and plunged to my death. Keeping both characters alive and in good health is an essential element of the game.
Along with some fighting, Troll and I will contain elements of stealth, crafting, and environmental puzzle-solving. But at the core of all of that is the relationship between the two unlikely companions. Troll is a giant brute of a creature with long dreadlocks and covered in a wooly pelt. My mind immediately made a logical leap from young man and his shaggy but loveable protector to an ending that could potentially tug at the heartstrings, just when you’ve gotten to dearly love Troll. It’s not unlike Shadow of the Colossus, if you replace Agro with Harry and the Hendersons.
Of course, the developers would neither confirm nor deny my hypothesis, but I’ll definitely keep a box of Kleenex handy when Troll and I releases on Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Originally meant to launch in 2015, the game has been pushed back indefinitely, though I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a release sooner rather than later.
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