Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is another must play game in the series | Hands-on preview
There aren’t many video game series I love as much as the Ace Attorney games. From the moment I first heard about these law themed adventure games as a teenager I was slightly obsessed with this outlandish idea for a video game, and against all odds these titles eventually came to the west and gathered a cult following. Most probably associate the Ace Attorney series with original protagonist Phoenix Wright and the iconic trilogy he headlined, but there have been plenty of new legal heroes to play as in later games in the series. Above all others there’s nobody fans would rather play as than foppish prosecutor and frenemy of Phoenix – Miles Edgeworth, so when he got his own spinoff games (now remastered as the Ace Attorney Investigation Collection) I was over the moon.
Over the last few years Capcom has been making it their mission to ensure every single Ace Attorney game is available on modern consoles with a whole host of wonderful collections. It was only at the start of this year that the Apollo Justice trilogy helped complete the mainline games, and we were left wondering what they’d do next. Well it turns out the answer to that is bundling the final two games to get a modern remaster, which are a little different to the rest of the series.
Unlike other Ace Attorney games, the Ace Attorney Investigation Collection doesn’t take place in a courtroom setting. Instead these games are closer to traditional point and click games. Each episode of the game focuses on a single crime that’s been committed, and instead of dealing with the situation in a court of law Miles just figures out whodunit there and then.
You’d think this would mean some of the charm of the series was lost, but based on what I’ve played that simply isn’t the case. Wandering around crime scenes and interacting with objects and characters is really engaging, in part due to the fantastic running commentary of the ever smarmy Edgeworth and the banter between characters.
Once you’ve done a decent amount of investigating and have figured out enough facts about a crime, it’s time to use your logic to piece it all together. This is a fairly simple mechanic that involves you joining two thoughts in your head and coming to a conclusion about them, for example if a gun was only fired once but there’s two bullet holes at the scene something isn’t right. This will lead you to making new discoveries and the game progressing, but if you do this wrong your green meter will drop and if it empties it’s game over.
Alongside using logic, all the other series staples are here in Ace Attorney Investigations Collection. When you’re talking to people you can present evidence to them and see if they know anything about it, and when examining things you can point out inconsistencies with the evidence you have to find contradictions. All of this will lead to eventually having a confrontation with someone trying to hide the truth, and this functions pretty much exactly like the courtroom sections of the main series. Ace Attorney without the courtroom seems sick and wrong, but when you’re still able to listen to testimony, press for more information and present evidence at key moments you forget the judge is missing.
A lot of the joy of playing Ace Attorney Investigations comes from being a fan of the series and getting to see appearances from all your favourite characters. Getting to spend more time with Dick Gumshoe is always a treat, and every case I was able to play for this preview had plenty of throwbacks to that original trilogy of games. The new characters are just as colourful and ridiculous too though, because would it really be Ace Attorney without a cast of bizarre people to talk to.
Like with all the modern Ace Attorney collections, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection comes with all those lovely modern bells and whistles you need. The gallery lets you see all the different characters in motion (both shiny new models and retro pixel ones are available) and there’s the lovely addition of Story Mode which you can turn on at any time to watch the game play out like a movie or just to find the solution to a current problem. The quality of life in these collections is top tier, and makes playing these classics a joy.
One final aspect of this collection that should be mentioned is what games are included in it, because importantly one of them has never come to the west before. While the first of the two games originally launched on the DS and eventually came to iOS too, its sequel didn’t due to poor sales. That means there’s a whole new game to enjoy in this bundle, and I can’t wait to get stuck into it.
Based on what I’ve played, the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is another must play game in the Ace Attorney series for both new and returning fans. Edgeworth is a fantastic protagonist that brings a lot to the series, and getting to experience a full new game makes this bundle all the better. Soon we’ll have every single Ace Attorney game available on all our modern consoles, and that just warms this young lawyer’s heart.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is coming to PC and consoles on September 6th.
