Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (2009)

The first spinoff game in my Ace Attorney series playthrough is the first of two entries which shift focus from Phoenix Wright to his rival, Miles Edgeworth. As you'd expect, many familiar faces from the original trilogy return here, alongside a batch of new ones to boot! The gameplay has received a bit of a shakeup to keep things sorta fresh while still staying familiar enough to not ostracize existing fans. I played the recent Switch release largely so I could also play the only official English translation of its sequel, which is bundled alongside it.

The Switch release features a graphical overhaul which replaces the full body sprites with new hand-drawn ones that feel more in line with the portraits used in dialogue across the series (even if they are oddly chibi-styled). I'm a big fan of the new art over the old sprites, personally. Most of the time I prefer to stick with the original style when I go to experience an old game if I can, but the new stuff looks too good for me to ignore. Thankfully for fans of the original style, this release lets you pick which you want to see. I took some comparison screenshots early on so I could compare and decide which I prefered:

I enjoyed seeing many of the returning faces from the Phoenix Wright games, having just finished the trilogy a month or two before this. A couple cameos do feel a little overused here and there but by and large their inclusions feel tasteful and often serve to expand on their respective characters. A highlight for me was getting to see more of the dynamic Edgeworth and Gumshoe share.

The new characters are a bit more hit or miss for me. What I found is that the ones that persist across several cases in this game were typically pretty strong, as one would hope, but "one-off" characters often felt undercooked. It makes sense that recurring characters would get more effort but I wish things were a bit more consistent across the board. Regardless, I managed to walk away with some new favorites, so I can't complain too much.

The aforementioned gameplay changes are nice enough. I liked being able to walk around in third person to investigate but most of the rest feels like a side-grade at best. Edgeworth somehow manages to mostly avoid the courtroom in this entry, but interrogations play out largely the same. I did find them a tad on the easy side here. They often fell into a pattern of press to get a new statement, then present the obvious evidence to the contradiction contained within. It might seem reductive to summarize it as such, but I swear the previous entries required a bit more consideration and experimentation before I'd arrive at the solution.

There's also the addition of "Logic," which is where you parse over the facts of a case to link two together and reason out a hypothesis. I liked this in concept but it never really got enough depth to feel like a truly meaningful addition. You only ever have a few facts to manage at once and you're always linking two together at a time, so it doesn't require enough reasoning to feel satisfying to solve.

The letdown in this game for me was the narrative. It never quite hit the heights of previous entries but also managed to avoid most of the lows. Most of the cases are...fine. The way the writers tried to weave them all together with an overarching plot is admirable but never really struck the right note to keep me engaged. The last case in particular left me with a sour taste in my mouth. The conclusion to the larger narrative about the smuggling ring struck me as underwhelming and also dragged the finale out way too long for its own good. I was ready to be done when I still had a couple hours left but it just...kept...going.

Investigations: Miles Edgeworth ends up as the weakest of the entries I've played so far, due in no small part to its conclusion. Fans will likely find something to appreciate here, but I'd be surprised if this ended up being a favorite for many. As for the Switch version itself as a whole, while I can't comment on the quality of the second game (yet), it's clear there was love put into this collection. The new graphics look slick (while also giving access to the original if they aren't your cup of tea), the ability to browse concept art and listen to the OST is nice, and the in-game accolades add a little something for more dedicated explorers. It's a no-brainer for any fan wanting to experience these games.

This is the best the franchise ever looked (will look, sorry but the pixel art was superior) and the new mechanics had infinite potential. Moving in the world ands eeing the characters do stuff is great and everyone is charmingly written, only making my choice of Edgeworth and Gumshoe as favorite characters even more definitive.

It's a shame the cases suck tho! Deus Ex single solutions, convoluted timeline for literally no reason... Seriously, the chronological order of the 5 cases is 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 5. WHY??? It was like at the end of every case we went deeper into a different flashback like it's fucking Inception!

Gets worse and worse until I was just begging for it to end. I would still give it 2.5 stars if I could, because it really looks, sounds and controls wonderfully.

Edit: I remembered the animations again and increased the score to 3.

Ace Attorney Investigations has probably been one of my favorite spinoffs of a game I have played so far. I went in with high expectations, and it did not disappoint at all. Introducing new game mechanics, the point of view, and the story of Miles, it gives off a different feel in contrast to the previous games.

All of the cases had me interested from start to finish, except the last one. If I have to point something out negatively, it's the length of the last case. Don't get me wrong; it was really tough, and a lot of plot twists were made, but it went on forever. It started out really strong, but as I progressed, the end just felt like a tug of war. The moment you thought it was over, something else came up (with really weak arguments at times, if I'm being honest), and you had to keep on going all over again.

But besides that, I really enjoyed the fact that you could move around to investigate and gather evidence and that the cases occurred in several different places, not always in the same courtroom. I feel like the change of locations really helped give the game more dynamicity and variety in the cases. The dynamic between all the characters, as well as their development through the story, helped give them all more feeling and emotion. The final case is a great example of that! Even if there were some negative aspects along the way.

And soundtrack-wise, it was a chef's kiss. I believe that it portrayed the characters and moments extremely well, which is really hard to begin with!

After playing the original trilogy, changing the point of view to Miles definitely made me understand his character better. If you've played the original games and are looking for a decent spinoff to play, you'll definitely enjoy this one!

Pros

• The new music in this game didn't have to go so hard. It's probably my favorite music I've heard in the series so far.
• This game does the most to deviate from the standard formula with the 3D movement and not taking place in a courtroom
• Linking the logic together is a neat way to get the player to make solid connections with the evidence and what happened.
• Giving Edgeworth the innocent sidekick is an interesting dynamic.

Cons

• This game lacks a strong consistent rival/antagonist and the central conflict has the least to do with the protagonist when compared to all of the previous games.
• Just like the DS version of the first game, it feels like the last case in this game is as long as all of the other cases combined. It felt like a slog to get through at a certain point, and the final opponent didn't even feel satisfying for me to beat. It felt more like a test of endurance than a battle of wits.
• Some moments have the worst art and animation I've seen in the series. There are some sprites with Calisto Yew and I think Kay where they're laughing with their mouths open, but it's left plain white instead of colored in and it looks incredibly awkward.

Closing thoughts
I do think this game is probably the weakest entry in the series overall, but still a fun game. Even though this game has 3D movement, it's more linear than the standard formula because you are generally locked into a single area to investigate rather than exploring multiple areas for clues. Edgeworth/Larry is a great pair, much better than Wright/Larry. Gumshoe is still the best character and Kay is wholesome. The sequel is one of my favorites in the series, so I'm looking forward to replaying that soon.

Edit: Things I forgot to mention: I like how every side character contributes to the climax, even the joke characters are a huge help. Also what happened in Japan from 2007-2009?? Spoilers for Apollo Justice and this game: Apollo Justice is about the flaws of the current legal system and implementing a new judicial system and this game is about the limitations of the law and legal system.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth by Capcom is a spinoff entry into the Ace Attorney modern classic series of games. In this you take the role of prosecutor, and thus far in the series mostly antagonist, Miles Edgeworth. If you are already familiar with the series, this game shows you things from quite literally a different angle.

One thing I always liked about the Ace Attorney series was its social commentary—its effort in pointing out the flaws in a system that ultimately is supposed to deliver "justice". It shows corrupt officials, arbitrary laws, arbitrary laws seemingly entirely designed to protect said corrupt officials, and also some very contemporary commentary on Japan's penal system. Trials and Tribulations, the third entry into the series, reads like a very focused condemnation of the death penalty, for example, even more so when you consider when that game was released. As a result I went into this game very sceptically. Now playing as a prosecutor, quite literally a part of the system that is otherwise critiqued, I wondered how this message could be furthered. To my surprise the game deals with all of this quite well. In its narrative of Edgeworth investigating a smuggling ring, it focuses on the powerful people in society—those "above the law", as the game puts it. It proposes a thesis, where law is neither morality nor justice inherently, and how for justice to be delivered, subversion of the law might actually be necessary. The game also details Edgeworth's character development who goes from a very dedicated prosecutor, trying to achieve a conviction of who he is prosecuting by all means legally available to him, to arriving at a more nuanced conclusion of pursuing the truth over a court victory.

The series builds on its vibrant set of characters and the new additions to the roster here are as great as you have come to expect from the series. The charming Kay Faraday, who becomes Edgeworth's assistant of sorts, is vibrant, rash, and full of life. She's also a Robin-Hood-style thief, further cementing the previously mentioned theme. It does take quite a while for that thematic flower to bloom however. Up until two to three hours away from the credits, I was totally ready to dismiss this game as having rejected such kind of thematic messaging. The game also brings back a lot of otherwise familiar characters from the rest of the series—maybe too many of them, actually. Where otherwise I would have expected a lot of new characters, surprisingly often familiar characters take the spot of such a potential character. These are characters you will be very familiar (and potentially have grown quite tired) with if you have played the series. The crowing moment of this is a case featuring a Mask☆DeMasque (Trials and Tribulations) copycat and two other familiar characters as major witnesses.

When I say this game offer quite literally an alternative perspective, I mean it. Instead of playing the game from the usual first-person-perspective and onlooker perspective for the court sections, the investigative sections are played from a top-down-perspective, where you control Edgeworth as a character directly with the D-pad. Whereas other entries in the series would be structured around alternating sections of investigation and court room drama, this game merges them. So now you have standalone sections, where you investigate crime scenes and talk with witnesses, and then, usually at the end, you will be challenging or be challenged to a testimony that you have to rebut. This works exactly like the court room would in the rest of the series, except there is no court room or judge of course. I am of two minds when it comes to this merging. On the one hand I think it works well and avoids some of the weaknesses that the format otherwise has. For example, the games would sometimes require you to remember how certain things are connected between investigation and court room sections. If you then take a break and come back not remembering the connection, you would be stuck with no way of recalling it. Now everything being condensed into one section, that's not a problem anymore. Although as a result of having to cram so much content into a singular section of the game, they vary heavily in length. Sometimes a section can last less than 30 minutes and sometimes it runs past the 90 minute mark. Not exactly ideal for a portable game. I also think it hurts the game's ability to build tension. The all-or-nothing scenario of the court room automatically added a lot of pressure to the situation and that is now gone with otherwise no change to the mechanics. The game still manages to build tension over time but it usually took me quite a bit to get invested into each case. Since the testimonial bits are also otherwise unchanged, they inherit all the problems of the court room. Sometimes in order to deliver a proper rebuttal, you have to interpret a statement very literally, which doesn't feel right at all. And sometimes the hints the game gives you are just wrong. For example, there was a testimony that was prefaced with Edgeworth explaining how the trump card evidence should be presented here "in due time", which I interpreted to mean that this evidence should presented later and not now. But of course the evidence was supposed to be presented right there.

This stands in contrast with the investigation sections with proper new additions to the gameplay. In the detailed first-person view of scenes there is now sometimes a "deduce" feature. This allows you to combine evidence you hold with the things at the scene, producing new insight into the case. It's used very sparingly, but considering the potential amount of combinations you could come up with that makes sense. Ultimately it's a nice and subtle addition. The other major addition is what the game calls "Logic". Here Edgeworth uses his deduction skills to combine literally two pieces of information into further insight to progress the investigation. This could have been a major addition which really sets this spinoff apart from the rest of the series, however it feels very half-baked. You always combine only two facts. You get these facts during similar times of each case and when you hit a road block while investigating, you open up the "Logic" tab to start combining. It feels very formulaic and not at all dynamically integrated with the game. It could have been integrated with the testimonial parts, for example. And otherwise I would have appreciated this addition to not be this trivial. Even when the connection between two pieces of information is spurious, you can simply trial and error your way through.

Ultimately it's a fine enough addition to the series, just make sure it's not the first entry from the series that you play. If you are already invested into the characters, it will be much more engaging. The new additions to the gameplay will be initially fresh and keep you interested long enough. And thematically it expands what the series has set up well.

In summary: 6/10

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is a pretty cool departure from the main Ace Attorney games

My history with Ace Attorney only stems from the original Phoenix Wright trilogy, so I was curious how they could match the brilliance of that trilogy.

Taking place sometime after the final game in the trilogy, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations, you follow Phoenix's rival, Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth as he unfolds a mystery regarding The Great Thief, Yatagarasu.

The gameplay is a departure from the original trilogy while also borrowing a few elements that made that trilogy so good and fun, to begin with. The game isn't point and click anymore. It has full movement gameplay. It also introduces a feature known as "Logic" which is putting two pieces of evidence and connecting them.

It does borrow the general idea of investigating the crime scene (except without the point and click) and does still have cross-examinations, pressing, and raising Objections.

Unlike the original trilogy, the game has no Court Cases of any kind, the game is solely dedicated to the investigations (Hence the title) and it does a great job at it.

What makes Ace Attorney so good is the moments where you are trying to find that contradiction and evidence... And when it finally clicks and you raise an "OBJECTION" and the music stops... And then the music becomes triumphant... That is one of the most satisfying moments in these games because you are actually thinking and it feels good. The game (like the original trilogy) excels at boosting your adrenaline with these moments and it's no thanks to the spectacular music in this game.

This game also provides a lot of fan-service to the original trilogy with small cameos to characters from those games. Fortunately, it doesn't really require that you play the originals though I would recommend doing so before playing.

This game does have some issues that need to be addressed, however.

This game does it worse than the originals... But the chapters (ESPECIALLY THE LAST ONE) Drag out for WAY TOO LONG where it becomes exhausting and taxing to sit through, There are some localization issues, and the game has pretty awful pacing

All of those (especially the first one) is a huge bother to me. It was more tolerable with the originals because at least they weren't consecutively long as hell. And the chapters that are very long in the originals are shorter than the last trial in this game which is so frustrating to sit through

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is a pretty good spin-off with new and exciting gameplay, old gameplay to not go too far, great characters, moments, music, and a lot of great callbacks to the original games. However, it has pretty lame pacing, localization, and chapters that really overstay their welcome.

Pretty good game nonetheless, Just gotta go into it with the mindset that it isn't as good as the originals

3/5

Would Lightly Recommend