Ace Attorney Deep Dive: “Turnabout Corner” (Apollo Justice – Case 2)

“Turnabout Corner” is the second case of “Apollo Justice”, and it immediately follows the high-stakes intensity of “Turnabout Trump” with more earth-shattering revelations about characters we thought we knew. Only joking – it’s a rudimentary filler case.

I’ll be deconstructing the case in ten distinct categories and giving a score out of ten for each. This will give a definitive score out of a hundred, if the maths checks out!

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

Micro Story

For what it’s worth, I think “Turnabout Corner” gets off to an engrossing start with its “unrelated” mysteries overlapping.

Phoenix gets hit by a car, Guy Eldoon’s noodle stand gets stolen, and someone has run off with Trucy’s magic panties (that last one isn’t as fun). On top of that, the dead body of a well-renowned doctor is found in a nearby park – and a mob boss’s son is the prime suspect!

All of those elements plus the added tension of a mob family made the Micro Story of “Turnabout Corner” intriguing at first. Sadly, it only loses momentum as the case goes on.

Score: 7/10

Macro Story

There aren’t many references to the game’s Macro Story other than a brief mention of how Klavier was the one who took Phoenix’s badge, so this section will instead focus on some of the new major characters.

Trucy Wright is the plucky new assistant for “Apollo Justice”, and I love how confident yet still naive she is. She brings a similar energy to Maya, but it’s distinct enough to be enjoyable. Her magic panties sub-plot is a bit jarring, though.

The new prosecutor, Klavier Gavin, makes an immediate first impression. He’s a cool, motorbike-riding, guitar-playing, truth-hunting dude who actually helps Apollo across the case. It’s refreshing to have a prosecutor who isn’t out for our blood! He’s also Kristoph’s brother – a plot point which will be expanded on later.

If you’re wondering where Dick Gumshoe is in the new trilogy … well, he must be on holiday or something. He’s instead replaced by returning character Ema Skye, who we last saw in “Rise from the Ashes”. She’s far more annoying than I remembered, and her constant crime scene snacking really got on my nerves.

In summary – the new major characters make a decent first impression, but “Turnabout Corner” is too far removed from the overarching narrative to get a good score in this category.

Score: 6/10

Mystery

Credit where credit is due – there is absolutely no indication of who the culprit is after the first Investigation and Trial, and there are lots of red herring characters to throw you off the trail.

Unfortunately, “Turnabout Corner” loses its mysterious appeal during the second Investigation. It becomes pretty clear who the culprit is, and the “why” doesn’t take a whole lot of thought either.

Score: 6/10

Side Characters

Brace yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, because we have six Side Characters to quickly review. Oh boy, do these misfits make an impression.

I’ll get three birds with one stone by bunching the Kataki family together: “Big Wins” is a loving but ultimately forgettable patriarch of the family, Wocky is an annoying defendant who has a cringey attitude and a misplaced love of his fiancé, and Plum is the best of the lot with her serious yet maternal demeanor.

Guy Eldoon is a local noodle stand owner, but it’s revealed that he used to be a surgeon. Sure. His parts take a back-seat across “Turnabout Trump” so there’s nothing noteworthy beyond his simple backstory.

By far the worst of the new characters is Wesley Stickler – a so-called academic who acts stuck-up and condescending, and his love of panties is a huge downer across the whole case.

Oh, and Director Hotti makes a much maligned cameo where he fawns over the underage Trucy. Fun stuff.

Score: 4/10

Soundtrack

There’s a neat new Investigation theme, and it was fun to hear Ema Skye’s theme return alongside her character, but they aren’t the most noteworthy of soundtrack additions.

I really like Trucy’s buoyant theme, and the best of the bunch is easily “Guilty Love” – Klavier’s guitar-shredding song. The best part about it is that it seems to be diegetic (i.e. the other characters can hear it too!)

Score: 7/10

Investigations

An immediate drawback to the Investigations in “Apollo Justice” is that there’s no Magatama or Psyche Locks – they hugely improved the gameplay of the original trilogy when they were introduced, and it’s an absent dynamic that highlights some sorely missing depth here. Still, vibrant backgrounds and multiple settings help to hold my attention somewhat.

The four overlapping mysteries help to make the first set of Investigations genuinely interesting, but then the second Investigation drops the ball. It’s confusing where you have to go, and the footprint analysis minigame gets tedious fast.

Score: 6/10

Trials

The Trials in “Turnabout Trump” play very much by-the-book, so there were only two stand-out moments in my eyes.

Trucy getting “kidnapped” (although it was actually a contraption she set up herself) is a fun part of the first Trial, and it was cool to see Klavier actually helping us when confronting Alita.

Score: 6/10

Case Logic

I spotted three wishy-washy plot elements as well as two other details that confused me, so I’ll try to explain them all as best as I can.

In terms of the genuine problems – Klavier claims to have planned to face Apollo despite Apollo being a last-minute hire by Alita, Wocky is somehow not dead after being shot so close to the heart, and Phoenix got hit by a car and only sprained his ankle (although this last one is played more as a joke).

These next two gripes might just be me missing something, so I’ll do my best to explain my reasoning:

It is said that both Wocky and Alita had guns with them, but it’s never confirmed whether that’s true at all. If that’s the case, however, how did they both have guns? Only one of the Kitaki’s guns was used, so did they somehow use the same gun at the same time?

Another thing that I’m sure I’m overlooking is the bullet hole in Meraktis’s safe. We know Alita went to his office to threaten him, but there was no evidence or testimony to suggest that Alita ever fired her gun before the murder. So how did a bullet end up in the safe?

I’m probably just being stupid for those last two, but there were enough small problems everywhere for the Case Logic Score to take a hefty hit.

Score: 5/10

Culprit

Alita Tiala is a strange Culprit when it comes to the pantheon of Ace Attorney villains. She has a decent motive and a sort of tragic circumstance, but she doesn’t come across as either calculating or intimidating.

She became engaged to a dead man walking to eventually inherit a mob family’s fortunes, and there’s an argument to be made that she acted in self-defense against an equally evil Meraktis. But neither of these factors are enough to make her a memorable Culprit.

An aspect I’m mixed on is how she is the one who hired Apollo. It seemed like a cool twist at first as she genuinely didn’t want Wocky to be arrested (as she still needed to marry him) … but then in her final moments she says she wanted Apollo to fail? Where’s the logic in that plan?

Score: 6/10

Charm

The new and updated graphics and investigations ushered in a new age of Ace Attorney, and all of the wacky hijinks and character are still prevalent.

But the panty-snatching makes “Turnabout Corner” lose some major Charm points.

Score: 6/10

FINAL SCORE: 59/100

The overlapping plot threads and new prosecutor are definitely the best parts of “Turnabout Corner”, as otherwise it’s a pointless filler case that grinds the momentum of “Apollo Justice” to a halt.

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