Start game, press large brown button on the lower part of the screen. As if by magic, this gives you the English language version of the game that has been included on the Japanese release. Now we can begin.

Having played the other two games in the series, this will be nothing new. Trials and Tribulations uses the same detective phase, court phase system, giving you new scenarios and mysteries in which to find the truth. For those who haven't played the previous Phoenix Wright games, the puzzle/adventure-style gameplay is presented in two stages. Gathering clues from the scene of the crime and from questioning potential witnesses makes up as much of the game as using discovered evidence in court to prove contradictions in witness statements. This can all be done using the touch screen, making it easy to examine areas for clues and choose dialogue prompts for characters.

When you reach the courtroom with all of the evidence and character profiles, it is your task to find faults in the witness testimony and expose lies, cover-ups and bad memories. This is all to find the true criminal and secure a “Not Guilty" verdict for your client. The stories become complex, so that it is impossible to predict the outcome until all the facts have been discovered and the final scenario is revealed. It's quite a task, having no idea of what really happened yet knowing that you must trust your client. Often you are called out for making useless conjecture when it is in fact the correct version of events!

The first case throws you straight into a court room of the past. Our title lawyer, Phoenix Wright becomes the defendant, accused of murder. Since Mia Fey, Phoenix's mentor, is the defense attorney for his case, you play as her instead. This shorter introductory case makes it easy for new players to learn the system, while still taking significant time investment to complete.

Delving into the past eventually gives you the background surrounding Mia's first case and how Phoenix's life has been shaped from then on. Back in the present, the new prosecutor for this game turns out to be an important character in Mia's past and appears to be out for revenge on Phoenix from the start. Phoenix does not recognise him. There are other character surprises too, with another lawyer on the defense and a dream team attorney match up in court. Of course the character dialogue and animation is as amusing and interesting as always.

The psyche lock system from Justice for All makes a return, rather annoyingly. During the detective phases, it is possible to determine if the person you are questioning is hiding behind a lie, and then you can use the gathered evidence to expose his or her secret. The trouble with this feature is that you rarely know when you have enough evidence to break the psyche lock, so it can be tedious to go through repeatedly.

There are quite a few misspellings and grammatical errors in the translation. Since the English text in Justice for All was used as-is for the US release, it is likely that the same will happen this time. While it's only a little annoying, the typos are a shame, as the game is very well written otherwise.

While playing the previous games in the series is not essential, most of the story is linked to characters in Phoenix Wright's history, so take advantage of an opportunity to play the games in order. Trials and Tribulations is an extremely good chapter of this story and possibly the best of the three.