I didn’t experience Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney until last year, but when I did, I played all four games in about three weeks. To say I was hooked was an understatement. When I heard about a fifth game starring prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, I only had one reaction…
“HOLD IT!”
I’m a big fan of Edgeworth. I liked how he started in the original Ace Attorney as a smug, ruthless prosecutor, eventually evolving into a troubled man with a past full of tragedy. Playing as him, I hoped, would prove to be very enjoyable, and my hopes were fulfilled.
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is just as much fun as its predecessors, with the same humor, story, and text-based gameplay that the series is known for. Each case is lengthy, with plenty of twists and turns to keep the players guessing. The only thing that bothered me about the cases was the time frame: Case 1 is in the present, Case 2 is two days before, Case 3 is the day after that (or one day before Case 1), Case 4 is 10 years before everything, and Case 5 is the day after Case 1. Following the times can be a bit confusing, but everything else that the game offers makes up for that and then some.
The game plays a lot like its predecessors: investigate a crime scene, gather evidence, put it together, solve the mystery. This game takes the formula and expands on it, bringing two new features to the table. First, the investigations are not just seek-and-find pictures (though those are here as well), but now the player is able to control Edgeworth himself, walking him around the scene and examining all the different clues. As he examines the scene, thoughts pop into his head, leading to the second new addition: Logic Mode. Here, the player takes all the of the thoughts and points that Edgeworth has discovered so far and connects them, two at a time, by double-tapping and combining them. If the two line up, Edgeworth will make a deduction based on those two links. Both are great additions to the overall gameplay, breaking the monotony of constant conversations and keeping the story moving at the same time.
Technically speaking, this may be the best Ace Attorney game yet. The animations and facial expressions are crisp, even in third-person mode. The movements of the different characters are expertly drawn, from Edgeworth’s point to Fransizka’s whip. The music is fantastic, from the throwback themes featured in other games (Dick Gumshoe’s theme returns, for one), to the newly composed tracks (the Simulation theme is a favorite of mine). Of course, this wouldn’t be an Ace Attorney game without the voice effects, and every “OBJECTION,” “HOLD IT,” and the brand-new “EUREKA” come through clear as a bell.
Where the game really shines, though, is in its characters and storylines. Every character in the story is well-developed, from the bumbling sidekick, Detective Gumshoe, to the devious Interpol agent, Shi-Song Lang. Edgeworth himself is presented in a completely different light in this game, showing that he can solve mysteries just as well (and very similarly) to his friend Phoenix. The story is well-planned, keeping me wondering “what next?” for most of the game. There were times where I was ahead of Edgeworth in figuring out a crucial detail, but those were balanced out by the times that I was completely stumped. I will say that even when stuck, the humor of the game kept me in a happy state, which is something not many games can do. Whether it’s an allusion to an Internet meme (at one point Edgeworth talks about how something “is relevant to [his] interests”) or all of the fan service Capcom threw in for a laugh (running into the dorky film director from the original game), I was laughing just as often as I was figuring out who did what.
For Ace Attorney fans, this game could very well be the best since the first game, as the cases are interesting, the additions to the mechanics are well-exectued, and the humor is as funny as ever. If you’re not familiar with the other games, though, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is still a great crime drama game, with enough loops and twists to keep anyone interested for quite a while. For those of you who were waiting for this review, I suppose there’s only one thing left to say…
