More Gameplay, Level

My images are not working right now, so for now just bear with me guys ><.

There's only one winner in Apollo Justice, unless of course you count the defendant as a winner along with you as the attorney. The game's victory conditions are mostly based on Apollo being competent enough at defending to get a Not Guilty verdict. In a way, there are four victories- one for case that the player must get through, each having basically the same condition. I wish there were multiple victory conditions, but the story doesn't really work any other way than defending someone in court. Implicit loss conditions are the same, of course: you lose if you get the Guilty verdict.

Game theory applied to the types of conflicts that exist in a game, and hoe the player responds to the conflicts. Apollo has more challenges in the game than one might think. For the most part, the challenges are "zero-sum", which means that it is impossible for both sides to ulitimately get what they want. However, the night is still young. I have not played the final case yet, but I wonder if Apollo may end up helping the prosecutor somehow. In previous games, Phoenix would win a case against Edgeworth for the sole purpose of helping Edgeworth get the not guilty verdict on a case he was forced to participate in. Challenges are based mostly on the story, but there it really no strategy involved in order to get past these challenges-the player will always figure out what to do eventually, without having to worry about any other players standing in their way. I found these specific challenges in Apollo Justice: Advancement to reach a the second day of each trial; puzzle-solving when figuring out codes for safes and footprint analysis; exploration of each area that might include evidence or people to talk to; conflict between the two sides in court; and outwit, which uses knowledge to defeat the opponent (Apollo has to do a great deal of this last one).

Types of challenges relate to the genre, and I can say with ease that no part of Apollo Justice seems innapropriate for the adventure-visual novel-comedy genre combo. Apollo is provided with a lot of imperfect information. It's all part of the challenge of being a defense attorney- he gets evidence that he doesn't fully understand, and then must make the best desicision he can with this evidence in court. Imperfect information like the evidence allows the player to feel more engaged in participating in the world of Apollo Justice. It's almost like a mystery, as you don't know what evidence is going to prove what until a witness triggors Apollo's thought process. Sometimes the player themselves doesn't even know how Apollo is going to explain the evidence. However, extrinsic knowledge can be of great assistence to the player, especially when it comes to understanding the evidence. The court system in Apollo Justice is not exactly a mirror image of ANY real court system, so the extrinsic knowledge can only go so far to meet the challenges of the game.

Apollo Justice does incorporate level into the gameplay. Different environments, differerent days of investigation and trial, different missions that must be accomplished before trial begins...these are all part of level design. The levels help structure the game mostly, dividing two investigation days and two trial days. The objective of the investigation levels are to explore each area and find every piece of evidence and get all information from people you meet. Only then will the game allow you to advance to trial. Think of the mess you'd be in if you went to trial without all the proper evidence! Actually, that might make the game a little more challenging to play...but also much more tedious. The investigation days have a particular flow: Apollo is prevented from gaining new information from a certain area until he picks up the right evidence from another area. If he doesn't find those lost medical forms in the safe, there's no way he can get medical information from the retired doctor who's helping with the case. Some of these objectives are self-explanitory, and some the player really has to think about. Like, how was I supposed to know that the slippers I found in the garbage can would unlock a new piece of information if I present them to the police detective?

As far as progression is concerned, the game doesn't exactly get more difficult with each level. However, each of the four cases are more difficult than the first. They build on Apollo's skill and confidence that he gains in the prior cases. Other than this, difficulty is mostly flat. The player will not find the fourth case horrifyingly difficult compared to the first, although the unfolding murder story in the fourth case may require investigation methods that differ from the methods of other cases.

The concept of time depends on the flow. Passage of time is a game characteristic- the date and time change with each level, but do not change until the player has found all evidence. The trial day, on the other hand, only changes when Apollo can prove that the case has enough evidence to extend the trial. Time does not pass until all goals are met...so there isn't a time limit (thank god!)

As I mentioned in previous entries, the POV changes: the player sees through Apollo's eyes during investigation, and the player follows the trials in third person in order to see Apollo's reactions in court (which are ALWAYS hilarious). The POV is related to the perspective, or how the player views the game environment. The view is mostly just side-scrolling- but each exploration area is mostly viewable completely in just one screen. The camera doesn't move a whole lot, as technically the only way you can move Apollo is if you leave an area and go to the next one. The boundaries of the game limit the player to about a dozen investigation screens per case. Scale is never distorted- the size of the space is not much of an issue when looking through Apollo's eyes. He could be standing at virtually any distance. The evidence can be analyzed by zooming in using the menu options.