Dual Destinies DLC - Turnabout Reclaimed Review (Spoiler Free)

Let's start this off with an announcement of how rubbish the Nintendo eShop is. It sucked on the Wii, I can only assume it sucked on the original DS, and it still sucks today on the 3DS. There was no announcement of any kind on the shop that the Ace Attorney downloadable content was out, it was only through scrolling through official Capcom games I realised it was out but you had to start up the actual game to download it. Also, when downloading the relatively big file for Dual Destinies that takes about 20 minutes, you get nothing but an animation of balls being dropped over and over again, when downloading DLC for the game that takes about 20 seconds the 3DS is kind enough to give you an actual progress bar. Someone explain that one to me. 

Anyway, the first and presumably only DLC case for Dual Destinies is here, if you didn't read the review of the main game here's a brief summary: Great animation, great music, ingenious scenarios marred by rushed localisation, relatively weak character drama and a lack of identity. This "special case" titled Turnabout Reclaimed follows Phoenix Wright in his first case after regaining his attorney's badge bridging the gap between the events of Dual Destinies and Apollo Justice. That's what Capcom claimed anyway, bizarrely you can't actually play the case unless you've beaten at least the first case in the main game so there's no option to play this prequel case first if that's how you roll. I assumed this was so the DLC didn't require any tutorials to be included...but it does have tutorials for the Mood Matrix and investigation segments anyway so who knows.

The story revolves around a murder that's taken place in an aquarium, with Wright tasked to defend an orca whale in the courtroom. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say that there is a bit where you have to cross examine the whale for comedic effect, and veteran Ace Attorney fans will no doubt recognise that this is very similar to something that happened in the first entry in the series and Dual Destinies is only happy to remind you of this....four times by my count. Four times for a callback, a fan is going to get it immediately anyway and someone who doesn't get it is going to be clueless no matter how many times you reference it you silly game. 

On that note, recurring character Pearl Fey appears in this case too, her appearance in the main game was pretty pointless fan service in itself but I gave it the benefit of the doubt with the understanding that her role was going to be more vital in the DLC case...but nah, it's still pointless fan service. I don't even get it, it's not even good fan service, did anyone who likes this character really want to be shown the story of "she grew up and is basically a normal (boring) person now". Fanboys of any franchise will never concede this, but some tales are better left to your imagination. The point is Dual Destinies' rather icky trend of fan service and lacking it's own identity, for better or for worse, is still present in the DLC case.

Still, it has to be said that Turnabout Reclaimed is actually a strong entry to the Ace Attorney universe. A lot of the personality is back here, all of the characters involved in this case are likeable with the arguable exception of the punk rock pirate girl who constantly speaks in fish puns, but she wears the shortest shorts that anime will allow so she'll get her fanbase either way. The story and relationship between all the characters, once it's all revealed is genuinely charming in Ace Attorney's unique portrayals of tragedy. 

Uniquely, this is one of the handful of Ace Attorney cases where I've guessed the culprit wrong before the reveal, it didn't feel cheap either the script was genuinely clever about misleading me. There's also nice touches in the courtroom where Phoenix Wright flat out just gets stuff wrong as a sign of his rustiness on the job, causing himself to question his theories and his convictions, and it also helps the story develop nicely. I wouldn't go so far to say it recaptures the spirit from the original Shu Takumi trilogy, but this is definitely the closest any non-Takumi entry has come.

There's also the "song", one of the character themes in this case is one of those "accidentally start humming it on public transport to weird looks" sort of pieces. It's obnoxiously catchy and I'll hate this game forever for putting it in my head, it's been on loop about 20 times as these very words get added to this very paragraph. 

So that's Turnabout Reclaimed, it's got fanservice, it's got whale examining, it's got raps and fat chicks, but more importantly it's got a bit of heart. If you liked Dual Destinies definitely pick this case up, the fact it's essentially a mostly self contained story benefits it greatly and probably makes it stronger than a lot of the content in the main game. Heartedly recommended.

Also you get an extra costume for Phoenix when you beat it...nice touch Capcom. That's the kind of fanservice I can get on board with, when I give Dual Destinies a second playthrough some day I'll definitely be using it.