The Ace Attorney series is one of those internet darlings that falls under the radar. Yet, its impact is often felt through memes around its titular character: Phoenix Wright. With Miles Edgeworth – Ace Attorney Investigations (henceforth just referred to as AAI), we take a step away from the poster boy protagonist (Phoenix) in favor of his long-time friend/rival: Miles Edgeworth. Is this shift a bit too much for the series to handle? Does the removal of courtroom battles ultimately hurt the game? Let’s examine the evidence.
Before we continue I should clarify the question of which version of the game I am reviewing. This game was originally released on the Nintendo DS, and because the second Investigations game was only ever released in Japan we in the West had to wait a long time to play it. With the release of the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection not only did we get a localized version of the second game, but also some updated visuals. I own both versions. However, I played the majority of the game on Switch so that is the version I will be reviewing primarily.
Visuals that stand the test of time
As with the games that came before it, AAI is a visual novel that uses the same pixelated sprites as the Phoenix Wright trilogy. This is still very apparent on the DS version which feels the most antiquated. Thankfully since pixel art graphics are all the rage of the indie scene at the moment this works in favor of the DS version, which looks absolutely charming to this day. The switch version uses the spruced-up visuals we saw in the Phoenix Wright rerelease:
Clearly, these enhanced character portraits are much more appropriate for an HD-capable console. What I appreciated though is that, unlike the first Trilogy, the developers ALSO included the option to switch the character sprites. You now have the option to play either in the classic pixelated style or to use revamped high-definition sprites.
Whether you like these changes or not is entirely up to personal taste. I played most of the game using the classic style that I grew up with. But I can’t deny, that the crisp resolution of the HD variant also has its charms. However, I got the impression that the performance was slightly worse when using the sharper images. With the exception of a slight bump in resolution, the actual environments have not improved drastically. Since they looked great to begin with, that’s fine by me.
Whichever version you prefer I’m happy to say that the characters remain as wacky and emotive as they have always been.
Familiar Tunes
As far as the sound design goes these games are, essentially, a product of their time. The music is punchy and appropriately accompanies the intensity of the verbal jousting you and the criminals will engage in. I highly encourage anyone to check out the full Ace Attorney soundtrack that is available on Spotify. I would like to point out that the soundtrack feels a lot closer to older entries in the franchise than the newer games that feature properly orchestrated music.
Ultimately, whether the technical qualities of the game satisfy you is entirely up to what you’re expecting. These are visual novels and not triple-A games with cutscenes that make you question reality. And that’s just perfect in my eyes.
Judge a visual novel by its story
If there is one thing that a visual novel needs to nail, it’s the story. If it doesn’t…well it would kind of defeat the point of a visual novel. Thankfully, Ace Attorney Investigations continues the proud tradition of the Ace Attorney series of telling engaging, sometimes silly, and often very emotional stories.
Without going into too much detail (to avoid spoilers) Investigations gives us a unique insight into the world of our favorite frenemy: Miles Edgeworth. Accompanying him on his journey are familiar faces from the Ace Attorney universe, such as the ever-faithful but slightly dim detective Gumshoe. Your journey will take you to all kinds of locations, from the very same office, which Miles calls his own to the first class of a transatlantic flight. That said, I found the story to be mostly ok. In many cases, especially the later ones, I found the game’s attempt at humor more distracting and out of place than funny.
While the overarching narrative of this game’s 5 chapters won’t compare favorably to the likes of Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations or The Great Ace Attorney Collection, it should nonetheless scratch that Ace Attorney itch that fans are asking for.
The world is my courtroom
The main differentiating aspect of this game from the others in this long-running series is the gameplay. For the first time, crimes are not solved or litigated in the courtroom. Instead, Miles always finds himself at the scene of the crime and solves mysteries before the suspects are even arrested.
The core gameplay is very similar to that of previous games. Crimes are teased in the initial “cutscene” of a chapter, Miles investigates the scene of the crime and finally, witnesses are questioned/cross-examined. In Ace Attorney Investigations Miles actively walks around the crime scene and interacts with evidence and clues. Sometimes the objects he finds get added to the record to be used as evidence. New this time around are the “clues” he finds. When you find a clue it gets added to the “Logic” menu. Here Miles can use logic to combine clues to gain new insights as to what happened.
Completing an investigation, finding all pieces of evidence, and combining them using logic then usually triggers a discussion where Miles confronts a witness/suspect with what he has found. Similar to his courtroom outings a cross-examination (called rebuttal) takes place. You can press statements to squeeze more information out of the testimony or present evidence to counter inaccuracies. Essentially, the crime scene quickly evolves into a makeshift courtroom. To add a little bit of challenge Miles has an HP bar that punishes mistakes. Thankfully the game is quite forgiving. At certain points in the game, you will recharge your HP again. Furthermore, since you can save whenever you please reloading an older save file is just a few clicks away.
Is it really new?
Overall the impression I got is that the gameplay only feels new for a while. At its core, all the “new” gameplay styles are just slight reskins of what players have been doing since the first game. There is nothing fundamentally different about walking around a 2D environment to interact with evidence or using the touchscreen to interact with a still image of the crime scene.
The only thing that really feels new, is the logic system. Most Ace Attorney games have some gameplay-gimmick to add variety, and Investigations is no different. It’s fun, the puzzles are good and it breaks up the gameplay nicely.
What’s the verdict?
I cannot for the life of me imagine that fans of the series could be truly disappointed with Miles’s first solo game. Sure, the story may not be as groundbreaking as some other games in the series. Nonetheless, players get a unique perspective through the eyes of Miles. The gameplay feels different enough so as to not feel like it’s just the same game we have always played and the new logic system is a fun diversion.
For newcomers, this may not be the ideal game to start out with. While each game in this series stands on its own and can be enjoyed independently of the rest, there are a lot of references and returning faces here that are just so much more impactful if you have played the previous games in the series. As such, unless you really want to play this game, I would recommend newcomers start with the original Ace Attorney (Phoenix Wright) trilogy. Returning veterans should not miss this game.
