Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Review - Miles Edgeworth’s Shining Moment

I’ve been an 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ace Attorney fan ever since receiving Phoenix Wright: Justice For All on Nintendo DS as a kiddo and being swiftly enthralled by the puzzles, characters, and dialogue. It manages to scratch s🅘omething satisfying in my brain like no other game.

With the announcement of the 168澳洲𓆉幸运5开奖网:Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, I practically fizzled witꦡh excitement. I haven’t played Miles Edgeworth since I was a kid hunched over a DS in my Sixth form common room. And I’ve only experienced its sequel, Prosecutor’s Gambit, through a fan translation that falls incredibly flat compared to the official product, which is now available for the first time ever outside of Japan. With the collection, Miles Edgeworth is back in tip-top form.

Case Organiser ⇨ Profiles ⇨ Miles Edgeworth

The duology sometimes feels like the most fascinating character study of leading man Miles Edgeworth. The prosecutor makes a fine protagonist, sharin🔴g some of the best qualities with his rival Phoenix - namely the sharp wit and sharper tongue, a devilishly funny interior monologue, and a blunt, honest, and righteous attitude towards the law. Notably, we get to delve deep into Edgeworth’s past, seeing him as a rookie prosecutor, learning about his father before his death, and even being treated to far more of his mentor, Manfred von Karma, than you’d expect.

꧟Both games follow a far tighter narrative than AA’s usual fare, taking place over only a few months in their entirety, we’re treated to a revealing view of Edgeworth and what made him the man he is today. The stark contrasts between his past self, so manipulated by his mentor, and his current self, so enlightened by his relationship with a certain defence attorney, shows how adept Investigations is at understanding its compelling lead character. It does a really excellent job at turning the supporting character into a full-fledged hero that could easily lead much bigger entries all his own.

A big theme of the duology is questioning the law’s purpose and whether it’s fit for that purpose. This was explored to a great extent in Dual Destinies, but Investigations accomplishes it with far more aplomb and far less brick-to-head obviousness. Topics such as diplomatic immuni🎶ty and statutes of limitations are important plot points, and pitting the intent of the law versus the letter is a running theme. Through his now spelt-out thoughts, we get to see Edgeworth’s explicit views on these matters, whether fully formed or otherwise, and th❀ey turn him into possibly the most complex and well-rounded character Ace Attorney has ever offered.

Notably for Ace Attorney, Edgeworth doesn’t encounterꦰ mystical elements during his investigations. No spirit summoning, no psycho locks, no hyper-sensitive twitch awareness.

It’s something you notice in hindsight since the Phoenix Wright games manage to make such elements feel so natural, but it’s a refreshing change for the series. In essence, Edgeworth’s superpower is common sense and the games run wit🦹h those grounded vibes.

Examine ⇨ Deduce ⇨ New Features

A spin-off through and through, 𓆉Investigations shakes up the standard Ace Attorney gameplay formula dramatically. Instead of menu-based exploration and extended trial segments, we have actual movement-based exploration and short trial-like clashes that push the narrative forward. Edgeworth examines crime scenes with far more dynamism than his attorney equivalents and even manages to switch things 𒉰up by turning logical deductions into a gameplay mechanic, where clues must be manually connected to progress. If any future Ace Attorney games borrowed any of these elements, I’d be overjoyed.

Debates and rebuttals are typical cross-examinations in all but n💖ame, with you scouring through testimonies, pressing for more information, and handing out hearty objections when you spot a contradiction. This gameplay is archetypical for Ace Attorney, so it’s gratifying to see it kept basically undisturbed. This does mean there are some typical pitfalls, however, such as some truly confusing leaps of logic to be made, but nothing so egregious that I could compare it to Apollo Justice or Dual Destinies.

A new mechanic entirely is ‘mind ch🌱ess’, which sees Edgeworth engage in a stressful debate with a foe. This is basically an abstracted microcosm of the usual gameplay but structured as a minigame where time ticks down whenever you’re presented with a choice, and you must pay close attention to your foe to decide whether to press with questions or bide your time, staying silent to encourage them to slip up and reveal something new.

In theory, these clashes would be absurdly cool sequences where stunning revelations are drawn out piece by piece, much as they are in the final cross-examinations o🤡f a case. However, the vast majority end up being startlingly typical conversations with over-the-top chess-themed set dressing and a frustrating timer that feels out of step with the rest of the series, let alone these two games. One sequence has you playing mind chess against Larry Butz, a bumbling childhood friend - a section of a case that feels sillier than it should as a 🐻result. All in all, it’s a rare misstep.

Press ⇨ Present ⇨ Prosecutor’s Badge

While Investigations may be new in mechanics, it certainly doesn’t shy away from bringing back old faces. Whether they’re principal characters or get used as fun background elements, I don’t know that I can name a single case from the duology that doesn’t give you a nudge and a wink and a “Hey, we’re an Ace Attorney game; remember this guy?” One case brings back Frank Sahwit, of all people, the murderer from the🌊 very first case in the series and someone not a single person cares about. Yet here he is, just doing his thing.

A logical deduction in Ace Attorney Investigations.

At times, this overreliance on old faces as referential nods to the long-term Ace Attorney fan can feel a bit strained. Sure, Investigations is a spin-off and references are to be expected, but the end result here is cloying and almost prevents the duology from establishing its own identity, something it should achieve easily given how 𒈔it excels in other areas. The stories being told expand the world of Ace Attorney greatly, but when every other character is someone Phoenix met on his journey, the effort fails, and the world starts to feel tiny. It can all feel a little tooꩵ tired and convenient when I’d rather Investigations had pushed forward to establish its own identity.

With the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, we’ve reached a landmark point. Every Ace Attorney game is now A) available to play in English and B) playable on modern hardware. This is an exciting time to be a fan of silly yet complex, dramatic but comedic visual novels filled with anachronisms, legal ridiculousness, and cravats. That we reach this point thanks to Miles Edgeworth and the two fantastic games that bear his name is only fitting, as he’s always been a fan favourite. This duology makes a wonderful case for the life, longevity, and continuation of t🌱he series, and it’s not to be missed.