Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Review

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a spinoff of the Ace Attorney main series that puts players in the proverbial shoes of Miles Edgeworth; one of the many prosecutors of the Ace games. You’ll be tasked to investigate and cross examine wrongdoers and witnesses in order to find the culprit of each case of each story.

This collection includes Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, initially released for the Nintendo DS in Japan in May 2009 (February 2010 for other regions). The game was also released for iOS devices in 2017. And its sequel, Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit, released in Japan in 2011. The game was never officially localized until now.

The Ace Attorney series’ gameplay is akin to visual novels with a few addendums. When on a crime scene, you can walk around and investigate important items when prompted by a magnifying glass icon. This can either zoom in on the section you’re investigating or trigger a conversation with your pal, Dick Gumshoe, in order to progress the investigation by discovering new clues.

Players still have a health bar like mechanic dubbed Truth Gauge. This meter will progressively depletes itself if players continuously make incorrect deductions in logic or arguments. If you manage to make up for your mistakes and complete the investigation, your Truth Gauge is replenished by 50%; in both games. This ensures due dilligence on players’ part and not willy nilly making random gameplay choices.

When you’ve amassed a set amount of clues, you’ll need to figure out the best time to connect the dots so to speak by using Logic. You’ll be given the hints you’ve found and need to connect two matching ones in order find more information. Once you’ve pieced enough information together, you’ll interact with the culprit (it’s often very obvious who’s guilty) and get into the nitty gritty.

They’ll state their case/alibi or defend themselves. Once you’ve gone through it all, Rebuttal mode is now engaged. The antagonist will repeat every statement he made and it’s up to you to either Press the statement to challenge them or present with evidence that will contradict what they say. Thankfully, if you miss out on a few comments, you can press X, you can catch up and re-read any statement in case you might’ve missed something.

While the sequel, Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit, keeps the same core gameplay mechanics as its predecessor, it also brings a new feature called Mind Chess. This new gameplay feature is used during investigation phases in order to get some necessary information from uncooperative parties. It’s actually a fun mechanic that requires additional thinking in order get what you need.

Both games look great. The development team did a great job bringing these two games from the portable universe to home consoles. The games are very bright and highly colorful with a cast of quirky, flashy, over the top characters that will have equally over the top reactions during conversations and/or investigations. When starting the game, players can also choose between using the pixelated version of the character or a new HD design. The soundtrack is fine for what it is. It often matches the action on-screen; having normal conversations with goofy characters will have borderline comic tunes whereas more serious situations will offer brooding tunes.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, it’s a unique gameplay genre that’s not for everyone. Unless you decide to use a walkthrough, you really have to pay attention to what’s being said and think before pressing statements or presenting evidence because if you don’t do things at the proper time, your Truth Bar drains. Given the games’ original platform, this is a reading heavy game (i.e. no voiceovers) and it’s not the most entertaining way to keep players captivated as reading on a TV is not always the best.

The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a great collection of games that is wildly different than the typical shooter or adventure. And also a great way for fans of the Ace Attorney series to experience an official localized version of Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit. This bundle offers a very lenghty experience, especially without a walkthrough. While entertaining, reading a game on TV isn’t ideal and not necessarily the best type of game for long gaming sessions. If you’re looking for something new and quirky, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a must play