The Ace Attorney franchise is one of Capcom’s great triumphs, and one that recently has been in the limelight as the subject of a number of compilations, with its entirety now finally available on all modern systems with the arrival of Ace Attorney Investigations Collection. It brings the last two remaining games, 2009’s excellent DS title Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, and its up until now Japan-only sequel, the brilliantly localized Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit, to just about every console currently available.
These are some of the most unique entries in the series given their shake up in premise, as they put usual antagonist Miles Edgeworth in the driver’s seat as he solves a number of mysteries with the help of some returning characters and a handful of new ones. With the same charm and wittiness of previous entries, these games are just as great and without a doubt mandatory play for series’ fans.
Tearing the affable prosecutor out of the courtroom and into the streets, both games have Miles in charge of investigating some of the most out there and intense cases yet in Ace Attorney, which is saying a lot, taking into account the overall insanity that these are known for. While not entirely different gameplay wise, there are a number of key differences that help keep it all fresh and at the same time familiar to those with prior experience.
The key difference is that Ace Attorney Investigations 1 and 2 are played from a third-person perspective, having you control Edgeworth directly as you explore crime scenes and surroundings in search of clues, and in that both introduce some neat little gimmicks to keep things interesting. One is a tool brought in by Kay, Miles’ self-titled assistant that creates a virtual scene based on photos and recollections in order for him to get a second look.
That very sci-fi feature is neat in the way that it changes based on revelations brought in by witnesses or through the investigation, and even with changes to scenes as the story progresses, areas that were previously looked over can potentially take a new light depending on how your investigation goes. But in order to get those vital pieces of information, you can look upon Edgeworth’s mental prowess as he takes on other people’s testimonials and tears through their defenses via a match of mental chess.
Dialogue in these games is carried much the same as in Ace Attorney proper, having you provide proof and point out inconsistencies in people’s statements, and mental chess is an extension of that, where Miles slowly picks through what it’s being said and helps bring out the truth among the lies. It’s basically a longer form of the interrogation system that we all know and love, but somewhat more in-depth and requires some patience on the player’s part by having them bide for time until the other party slips up.
These, along with mostly the same poking and prodding, item and evidence handling, argument twisting and lots and lots of reading are what carry the two lengthy adventures included in Ace Attorney Investigations Collection forward. They are a continuation of the wonderfully wordy groundwork set by its predecessors, a step above your usual visual novel by offering thoughtful interactions and smart sleuthing, as well as everything else that is on offer, mainly the beautiful art, witty dialog, and creative storylines.
All of those word in tandem to not only provide an excellent time playing for veterans in search of more to enjoy, with plenty of look backs to past moments in the series, a peek into Miles’ past and his relationship to his father, as well as give more reasons for those still new to it all with a twist to the traditions set by the franchise in having another character take the wheel for a change.
Like the other collections that featured Ace Attorney games, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection has plenty of extra material on offer in the form of a gallery that brings a number of sketches, clips, music, and other tidbits from the two games included in the collection for you to enjoy. They’re fun to poke around in, and although not as detailed as the features in The Great Ace Attorney Collection, where even the costumes during the playable portions could be changed, are still a far cry from other compilations that’ve come up hysterically shorter.
Not only that, but the cherry on top are the revamped visuals that bump it all up to HD, giving you the choice to go back and play with crunchy old-school sprites if you prefer. It’s funny, as a fan, to see how much of the art was changed between entries and what was reworked in order to fit into the new ones, helping cement other sides of characters such as Edgeworth himself that we had yet to see in the past. For those already knee-deep in Phoenix Wright for the past two decades, it’s a delight!
Capcom’s simply on a roll these past few years and kudos to them for not only offering up such awesome games on current systems but also solving one of the fans’ past grievances by finally localizing and putting out Ace Attorney Investigations 2, a game that could only be enjoyed in anything outside of Japanese by resorting to guides or less than legal means of emulation and fan patches.
The work put in by the team is to be lauded. Hopefully this and the other collections do well and help breathe new life into the series so there’s finally a good financial reason for Capcom to put out new games. I for one positively adore them and would be more than happy to keep playing them, that’s for sure!
