Paper Perjury

A great independent "ace attorney-like" that achieves what it sets out to do, and then some. If you already like the genre, then you'll enjoy this entry, but it also serves as an excellent introduction as well.

Probably the closest in tone to Phoenix Wright among all the Wright-like games I've played. It's definitely more realistic and less wacky, but a solid experience regardless.

Good game, would definitely recommend for any Ace Attorney fans out there (or fans of the mystery solving genre in general really). It's fairly well written, with no major plot holes that I picked up on and only a few smaller things that didn't really make sense to me while playing. There were only about 3 or 4 times during interrogations when the correct statement and evidence to dispute completely confused me (and I still think one of those was completely idiotic). Read if you want to know what it was (minimal spoilers): [spoiler] This was in case 5, during the final interrogation I think. The witness says, in essence: "The victim must have loaded the first bullet in his gun, but you can't prove who loaded the second bullet that was used to kill him." And the correct response is basically "Well, actually, there weren't fingerprints on either bullet, so you can't prove that the victim loaded the first bullet!" After which everyone immediately agrees that the victim must have loaded the first bullet, and that it's all irrelevant anyways because it only matters who loaded the second bullet. Like, no duh, Sherlock. That's the only time this game ever actually made me mad. [/spoiler] Besides that, there were a few times I got stuck during investigations when I couldn't figure out which character's statement I needed to dispute to progress. But on the whole I'd say the stories and mysteries worked out pretty well. None of the cases felt like masterpieces to me, but they wer fairly solid. I will say that the first 4 cases all felt pretty short, which I was a little disappointed about. I enjoyed the characters, though none stood out to me as exceptional. Most of them feel kinda shallow, which was a shame, because they have some neat designs and some of them had some interesting backgrounds. I think the character motivations fell kinda flat sometimes though. I think my favorite character was Detective Hunt, just because he gives secret genius mastermind vibes and I like his personality I guess. He's not really too deep. Kinda sad he didn't get just a little more screen time though. The protagonist, Justina, is fun. She's a bit overly flippant about serious matters, and she doesn't have a ton of depth to her, but she's fine for a protagonist. She definitely acts well the part of the cocky, overconfident rookie. On a side note, I think it's kinda silly that she's allowed to do the job of a detective, basically running all these investigations and interrogations, even though she's just a clerk. But I guess that's not any more silly than allowing defense attorneys to investigate crime scenes independently of the police (cough, Ace Attorney, cough). One of my main annoyances with the writing is that Justina and Detective Swift rush into interrogations without completing a thorough investigation, for no reason other than mild concern about potential difficulty tracking down the suspect in question if they don't take him/her in right away. As the police they have all the resources they need to do a proper investigation, and they should be able to set the timetable so it isn't rushed. And they never really discuss much of a plan going into any interrogations, which I think would have helped. They should be taking a more offensive role in identifying the culprit, but it feels like they often fall back into a more defensive or reactive approach, dealing with obstacles as they arise, rather than preparing ahead of time. Not a huge deal, I mostly mention in in case the devs happen to read this (which if, you are, thanks for making this great game!) I'll tag on the end here that I liked the music a lot, and the art is pretty good too. There's a few tracks from the soundtrack that I'll probably add to my (admittedly very lengthy) video game favorites playlist. Good music goes a long way in a game like this, and I was not disappointed. Overall, this game is definitely worthwhile for anyone looking for an Ace Attorney -esque crime solving game. It's not a masterpiece, but I still enjoyed it a lot. I look forward to whatever the devs have in store next, and if they're planning a sequel I will definitely play it too.

Excellent game in the Ace Attorney style that manages to distinguish itself from a direct copy of the genre. A lot less punishing. Absolutely worth it.

One of the best Ace Attorney likes. Very funny and enjoyable writing. I would like a mode in the future to add a little difficulty for those who would like it, though it is very nice being able to see all the flavor dialogue without worries.

This is a good classic adventure game, similar to Ace Atorney. If you liked the AA games, this is the next best thing. In some ways I like the investigations in PP more than in AA. The solutions aren't as far fetched and the cases are much less absurd. It also makes more sense for a detective's assistent to help figure who's the perp, than an attorney. AA did have a better cast of funny characters, but the dialogue in this game is also good. This game simply deserves more recognition. It's a small indie title, but it's absolutely worth playing.

It's nice. It's like if Ace Attorney was about pre-trial investigation and everybody wasn't a complete idiot.