It’s been less than a year and Capcom is gracing us with yet another Ace Attorney compilation. But this one, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, is important for so many reasons. For one, its release represents something significant for the Ace Attorney franchise – that all Ace Attorney games have been released outside of Japan. It also means that every Ace Attorney game is available for modern platforms. But why leave this spin-off until last? It’s arguably the most different of the Ace Attorney games, but also decidedly familiar at the same time. And it’s still just as fun.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection brings together the two Ace Attorney Investigations games. Both of these games operate differently from the previous Ace Attorney games. You play as Miles Edgeworth, the prosecutor and pseudo-rival to Phoenix Wright. Both games are included here, but notably, the second game, Prosecutor’s Gambit, has never been officially released outside of Japan. And even more bizarrely, you barely step into a courtroom during your time in the Ace Attorney Investigation games. Instead, you move around from scene to scene, engage in (dramatic) conversations with suspects and witnesses and use logic and deduction to outwit anyone in your way.
The game’s general flow is similar in some ways – there’s a crime, and Edgeworth is assigned to discover the truth. You do this by collecting evidence, interviewing people relevant to the case, and using collected evidence to point out contradictions in the conversations you have with people. It’s a broadly similar gameplay loop that fans of any of the previous Ace Attorney games will recognise, though it’s arguably a little less melodramatic here outside of the courtroom than it could get in the other games.
Ace Attorney Investigations also introduces the “Logic” system to the fold. A lot more grounded than previous games where you use psychic energy to unlock hidden facts from participants, the Logic system is similar to games like The Case of The Golden Idol. As Edgeworth investigates, facts get added to his logic pool which can then be used to answer questions about the case. For example – if “glass shards” and a “broken window” were both added to the logic pool, either could be used to answer a question like “How did the broken shards get here?” that the game might pose. Edgeworth can effectively piece together these two pieces of information and move the case on.
You need to play it to understand it entirely, but the system works well against some of the more frustrating aspects of these games. Namely – since the solutions to these problems are often rooted in logic, it’s hard to get it wrong, and most of the solutions in the opening cases are pretty straightforward. So yes, this is easier than the previous games, but in a good way; it doesn’t feel like any of the outcomes or deductions are made from moon logic, like other games in the series can sometimes fall victim to.
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Prosecutor’s Gambit, the second game, has more meat on its bones. For one, the opening case is longer than expected from a typical “tutorial” case. It also serves as a perfect introduction to the “Mind Chess” mechanic. Exclusive to the second game, it visualises a conversation between an uncooperative witness and Edgeworth as a chess board. You must select whether to converse with the person or listen to them to progress the conversation. I wasn’t sure this would be a good approach and would come across as a bit gimmicky, but thankfully, it offers a tense way to glean information from suspects without presenting evidence as usual in the Ace Attorney games.
As mentioned before, this preview covered the opening cases of each game, and while I’ve played the original game before, I forgot just how intriguing the story of the game was. Each case has a storyline that’s building up to something bigger that I only half-remember from my time with the original game. As mentioned before, the second game has a lengthy opening case that remains tense and exciting from beginning to end. While it’s early days, especially for the second game I’ve never played, both are shaping up to be fascinating stories that have my attention already.
Of course, as with the other Ace Attorney collections, some great visual improvements here help bring the games in line with the other Ace Attorney compilations. While the original game utilised 2D, pixel-based sprites, this collection employs a new art style similar to the high-definition art of the other Ace Attorney games. Both options are available, and while I thought I’d hate the new cleaner art style, it’s done pretty well here. Everything looks crisp but still moves smoothly. Speaking to Shunsuke Nishida, producer of the game, he highlighted that this new art was built from scratch rather than drawing over the pixels themselves as they felt a pixel filter wouldn’t have looked anywhere near as good.
Other features now standard with the other Ace Attorney compilations return here, too. A sound player features a comprehensive arrangement of reworked and original music from both games, an artwork gallery and a character viewer to compare the sprites and artwork of the characters who appear in the game. It’s nothing mind-blowing, but it does help to round out this already meaty package.
So, at this stage, Ace Attorney Investigations is just as good as I remember it, which is always a relief. But how it differs from the other Ace Attorney games makes it well worth your time. The investigations are like nothing else in the other games, so much so that I almost wish they’d implement this style of investigation into a future game. But perhaps my mind will change when I play the rest of the second game, which I’ve never experienced before in a few months. For now, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a thrilling drama and arguably Ace Attorney at its best.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection launches on September 6th for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC. Amazon has pre-orders available for $59 with free release day delivery for Prime members.
