Ever wondered how defense lawyers can take on sure-to-lose cases and still win? Wonder no more as Devil's Attorney (DA) shows you the dark side of the law, with some surprisingly light humour.
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| Max McMann working his magic |
You take on the persona of Max McMann, rebuttal extraordinaire and defense lawyer for countless dubious cases. Max is your stereotypical gung-ho lawyer who takes on any case as long as he wins, and hopefully thanks to you, keeps winning. There's actually a surprisingly interesting storyline as the cases unfold in DA; as you start out as just a cocky, well-groomed lawyer, you quickly get on everybody's bad side. And as the game progress, you continue to stay on almost everybody's bad side, and well... you continue to be cocky and well-groomed. But the characters are are interesting (if neurotic) and the dialogue between them is comedy gold (disclaimer: my favourite type of joke is a good pun, so this game was a field day for me).
As you progress through the game, Max McMann's clients conveniently offer to buy him new offices and apartments if he wins the case for them, which of course you will oblige. There are three tiers of offices for you unlock, each more lavish and decadent than the last. In these locations, you can buy furniture and ornaments which serve as upgrades for Max's courtroom abilities.
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| Who wouldn't want digs like that? |
In the courtroom, the gameplay ensues as a type of turn-based team combat which our JRPG friends will be accustomed to. Max's abilities range from Cross-examining to using Patronize in an effort to defeat not only the opposing lawyer, but also his witnesses and evidence. It is simplistic gameplay, but as the cases get harder, it will require careful planning and cunning to complete the case. The highlight of these cases and no doubt the game as a whole are the case briefings, which play as a cutscene at the beginning of each case. Max and his opposing lawyer face off in a brief debate, which almost always degenerates into Max finding a way to chastise his opponent's appearance or demeanour. The humour in these sections is priceless and the voicework is incredible; it's a nice surprise to see a mobile game put so much effort into the voicework rather than trying to squeeze every possible polygon out of a mobile device's tiny graphics processor.
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| Who to Interrogate first? |
As well as the lovely voicework, the game is amazingly made; all the menus are fluid and all the animations right down to transitions have been optimized in a way that's pretty, but also not going to freeze your phone.
If you're looking for a game to play this weekend, and you don't mind having your morals questioned for a bit of harmless humour, then look no further than Devil's Attorney.
Devil's Attorney (Android) Review - Scuba Score 8.5/10
