Paul RobertsSeptember 04, 2024Maxi Geek Review, Capcom, Ace Attorney, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PCComment

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection - Review

Paul RobertsSeptember 04, 2024Maxi Geek Review, Capcom, Ace Attorney, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PCComment

Finally Capcom has brought the last of the Ace Attorney games into the HD era, with the spin off games; Ace Attorney Investigations. Not only have they brought back this enjoyable game but it has now been bundled with the previously untranslated (officially at least) game; AA Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit. Along with Ghost Trick and the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, these games have been high on my wish list to be released on a more recent platform and to be translated, and now I can finally rest.

Ace Attorney Investigations is a spin off series centred on Phoenix Wright’s adversary/frenemy Miles Edgeworth. The game focuses on the prim and proper prosecutor becoming caught up in kidnapping, smuggling rings and multiple murders happening around him. Miles meets Kay Faraday, who becomes Miles’ assistant of sorts, with the extra wrinkle of being a successor to an infamous thief; Yatagarasu. The original Yatagarasu was known for exposing dirty secrets and greed. Prosecutors Gambit builds on events from the first game and delves deeper into the character of Miles Edgeworth.

AA Investigations is a fun spin off series that feels like a love letter to the original Ace Attorney trilogy, as it delves into the colourful collection of characters that popped up through that era. Most importantly it gives the audience much more Miles Edgeworth and Detective Gumshoe. Gumshoe especially is sorely missing from more recent entries. There are also plenty of new characters that pop up along the way, all very fitting within the usual over the top Ace Attorney personalities. Kay makes for a great companion who wokes as an energetic cheerful foil to Miles serious and somewhat cold personality. Being a game focused around Miles Edgeworth, the game doesn’t keep him as the serious and cold prosecutor as he presented in the main Ace Attorney games. Even then in the other games he softened to an extent due to Phoenix Wright’s influence, these games find a good balance of self serious and more caring.

Instead of the usual static screens for poking and prodding for clues or a heap of courtroom examinations/cross examinations, Miles is a more hands-on approach. You control Miles around the scene, gathering clues and questioning witnesses and suspects.

Rebuttals feel like Ace Attorney’s bread and butter. Being very similar to the examination/cross examination in the courtroom, Miles has Rebuttals. Just with any Ace Attorney case there are plenty of situations to press witnesses, potential murderers and the wrongfully accused. Rebuttals are straightforward in that you can either press a statement made, or present evidence that contradicts a statement.

Logic is a mechanic that first appeared in these games and stayed here. As Miles investigates a scene, he collects pieces of information and observations that become puzzle pieces to connect within the Logic mechanic. When you’ve looked at everything in the area, sometimes all that’s left is to join the pieces to uncover the information needed and move things along.

With Kay on Team Miles, she brings in some technological advances in the form of a device called Little Thief. At times through the story it isn’t possible to access a crime scene, but with the magic of Ace Attorney technology Kay is able to recreate a holographic version of the scene. I actually forgot it was an option at times in the first game as it isn’t something Miles has to actively activate, but in the second game it expands on what its capable of to make it much more useful.

Mind Chess only pops up in the second game and is a new way for Miles to wield his intellect and get to the truth of the matter. This part of the investigation is time based. Miles goes head to head with his opponent, with lines of questioning taking the form of chess pieces. You can’t just throw out questions willy nilly though, if they have their guard up Miles might need to bide his time and take the risk that it will open them up to more questions. It is a good addition on top of the other forms of investigation and questioning. It also feels like an extra way to differentiate the gameplay from traditional Ace Attorney mechanics.

AA Investigations also benefits from being made at a time where the Ace Attorney games were moving further away from the GBA originals (then ported to the DS), and the series started moving towards less obtuse logic. That’s not to say that there isn’t still some clunkiness around Rebuttals where the game isn’t ready for you to present the appropriate evidence just yet, despite it being a perfectly suitable time to use it. I very much appreciate that these came at a time where the AA games present relevent items in evidence in 3D so you can properly observe every detail instead of having to rely off the written description.

If you really don’t like the thought of having to manage around the game's logic, or just want to enjoy another story within the Ace Attorney series, you can also select Story Mode. As it suggests, this mode automates everything so you can just enjoy the ride. It is a great option if you’re stuck and just want to keep the game moving along, or just want to enjoy it as more of a visual novel game.

With the collection there has been work done bringing the visuals up to HD, moving away from the DS era sprite work. The HD upgrade is really nice, none of the awful pixel-smoothing business from collections like Megaman Battle Network. Each character is surprisingly detailed and well animated, but if you are feeling nostalgic you can still switch over to the old character sprites. Keep in mind that you can never revert all the visuals back to the DS original art, the character profile art and environments are all HD. If you miss the old sprite work you can also view it in the gallery, where you can view all the animations and switch between the styles. I noticed at least with the HD option there would be some stuttering when running around, which I was surprised about. It didn’t impact actually enjoying the game, but it was a strange to happen in a game that shouldn’t really be pushing the system.

The visuals aren’t the only elements upgraded here, the soundtrack has also been polished up too. You can change between the Arranged and Original options, although honestly I had trouble telling the difference. At the same time the tunes sound good regardless, and fit in well amongst the catchy Ace Attorney fare.

There is a gallery to look at some cool AA Investigations art, a music player and the aforementioned chance to look at character animations and art. You can also unlock the equivalent of achievements, although on the Switch lacking console wide achievements it might not be as enticing to collect them all. These Capcom collections have been pretty decent with having extras in the form of these galleries, they won’t interest everyone, but they’re a nice additon.

It is great to be able to play the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, not only because the original game is a pretty good AA game, but because we finally get to play the sequel. If you’re an Ace Attorney fan then this game will be right up your alley, especially if you have nostalgia for the original trilogy. While it would be a strange place to jump into this series, the game is just as playable, but I would recommend at least playing the original AA trilogy collection to get the most out of it.