Review: Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law (PS2)
Here ye, here ye, The Weekly Geek Court is in session for a gimmicky video game review from a lazy editor. The Right Honorable Judge Mack presiding over the case The Weekly Geek vs. Harvey Birdman: Attorney at law. The charges include game hackery, over-simplicity, and lack of gameplay. Both sides will present their evidence after a brief recess.
We will now take evidence from the prosecution.
Prosecution: The Case Against Harvey Birdman
Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law (hereafter referred to as HB:AaL) is, at its core, a pale imitation of the infinitely more enjoyable Ace Attorney (hereafter referred to as AA) games also developed by Capcom. I can understand the reasoning that lead to the game's development. AA, like the HB:AaL show, is full of colorful characters and ridiculous situations. So they take out Phoenix Wright and swap in Harvey Birdman; they take out Miles Edgeworth and replace him with Reducto. A fantastic game ensues, right? Wrong.
While HB:AaL steals its entire gameplay structure from AA it manages to take what should be the most important part of any law game - the trials - and dillute the experience so much that it becomes a pointless exercise in obviousness. The game consists of two different gameplay phases: investigation and the actual trials themselves. The Investigation segments are incredibly easy. Since the PS2 lacks the stylus control of the DS, the investigation segments consist of swapping your cursor from one of the various hotspots in the room and checking every one. Eventually the game ramps up the difficulty by requiring you to come back and check the same hotspots again!
One of the best part of the AA games was all the dialog that ensued when you cross-examined the witness about unrelated points. As the AA games progress, the lines between vital testimony and red-herrings blurs until every statement could contain a possible contradiction. The focus on the evidence as a method for overturning the witness' testimony makes you think hard about what each item of evidence is and what it could mean in the case. To contrast, HB:AaL's courtroom scenes are incredibly dialog sparse. Due to what one can only assume was the (too high for a game that retails at $29.99) cost of fully animating and voicing the characters, the only segments that are written are the ones that are relevant to the case. Pressing the witness on any statement leads to one of five 3-second clips of Harvey Birdman saying, in effect, "well this statement looks good." When you find the one satement that you have to present evidence on, the game adds to the simplicity by making sure that the item descriptions and the testimony contain similar keywords to drive home what is already incredibly simple. This totally sucks any of the challenge, and therefore the fun, out of the cross-examinations.
Without the gameplay to entertain us, we're left with the writing of the game, which is good, but sparse for the aforementioned reasons. I'm probably just spoiled by the fantastic and lengthy writing of the AA games. In addition the playtime is very short, it is possible to finish the game, having seen everything there is to see and finding every secret unlockable movie in under 5 hours.
In closing I would just like to say that while some might think it's unfair to base an entire case on the failings of a game in comparison to another, I would say that when a game so blatantly rips off another's whole gameplay mechanic and style any critical comparisons are fair game. Thank you. The prosecution rests.
And now, the defense may make its case.
Defense: The Case For Harvey Birdman
Your honor, at this time the defense would like to change our plea to guilty and throw ourselves on the mercy of the court.
Very well. Taking all of this in to consideration I have made my decision
Final Verdict: 2/5 My personal copy will be sentenced to immediate Goozexing and the PS2 version of Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law shall be sentenced to the bargin bin, where it shall languish next to unsold copies of its far superior cousin, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney . The case of The Weekly Geek vs Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law is now closed. Bailiff, please clear the courtroom.
What say you?!