Ace Attorney Investigations Collection preview - No objection to this fantastic spinoff

Back in 2010, I was absolutely ecstatic that my favourite character from the Ace Attorney games was getting his own adventure.

Even at the age of 12, I adored this franchise, and Miles Edgeworth was by far one of the most interesting characters the series had to offer. He's the bad-boy prosecutor with a flawless record and dashing style.

To this day, Miles Edgeworth Investigations remains one of my favourite games in the franchise, which is why it hurts all the more that its sequel never made it over to the West. 

NOT SO FAST!

Well, after 13 long years, Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2: Prosecutors Gambit has finally got an official English translation and comes packaged with the original game in one very impressive collection. The Miles Edgeworth Investigation games are spin-offs of the main Ace Attorney franchise, which are a series of visual novel adventure games.

Much like other Ace Attorney games, you'll be solving crimes using the full extent of the law. You have to find flaws in people's testimonies, uncover secret plots and loudly shout "objection" whenever someone crosses your path. While both games share many similarities, Miles Edgeworth takes things out of the courtroom and into the wild. 

Miles Edgeworth Investigations takes the titular character through one very rough week of his career as he deals with four interconnecting crimes, all back to back. You'll be dealing with a murder in a courthouse, a murder on a plane, and a murder in a theme park for the first three chapters (if you haven't guessed already, there's a bit of a running theme).

Each case you're tasked with solving will have you talking to a different eccentric cast of characters, exploring intricate environments and solving logic puzzles throughout. Every case unfolds as a type of 'whodunnit' mystery and is unpredictable in the best way possible. 

However, the real draw to this collection is Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2: Prosecutors Gambit. This is the first time I've ever had my hands on the sequel, and I've only got to play the first two chapters as part of this preview.

From what I've played, it's more of what I loved from the original. The first case, again, is another tutorial showcasing the new Mind Chess system. The second case takes things to prison and again showcases the creative range of locations this series offers.

It feels as though both of these games are having more fun with their locations than any other titles, and it makes the world of Miles Edgeworth stand tall in the crowd of similar visual novels. Just like the first game, there are twists, turns and more objections than I can count, and I can't wait to see where this title's overarching story goes by the time it reaches its ending

EUREKA!

Both titles in the collection evenly split the gameplay into two sections: Investigations and Arguments. Most of the game is presented as a visual novel, where you'll chat with different characters around a crime scene. Eventually, you'll either have to start an argument with a character or investigate a crime scene.

Arguments work almost exactly the same as trials in the Phoenix Wright games, except that they don't take place in a courtroom (well, most of the time, anyway). You'll be presented with a four or five-sentence testimony, and have to question certain sections of that testimony to find more information. You then present relevant evidence to support your claims and determine precisely where they tripped up.

On the other hand, Investigations see you moving Miles around a crime scene and interacting with the environment. This is one of the key differences from other Ace Attorney games, as you get to control the character instead of just scrolling through point-and-click static images.

You'll then have to explore areas and find evidence that you can use for future arguments.Investigations also allow you to use a feature called 'Logic', which takes you into Miles' brain to put two halves of a clue together. This will then give you more evidence to back up your arguments.

I briefly mentioned Mind Chess before but that's a feature exclusively available in the sequel. It sees Miles entering a timed battle of wits with an opponent. You have to bide your time and say the correct statement at the perfect moment, allowing your enemy to drop their guard and spill the needed info.

It's a more interactive form of questioning and only builds off the mechanics this spin-off introduces, almost feeling like an RPG battle, especially with the ticking health bar at the top of the screen. At the same time, all of these systems are a great break from the visual novel dialogue, but it's moments in all of these sections that become the game's biggest hurdle: guesswork. 

OBJECTION! 

Of course, it's an incredibly faithful remaster, which means the flaws have been remastered, too. Plenty of the game's arguments require you to present specific items in specific orders, and it's never clear what those are. I was constantly left stumped by a puzzle as I knew the correct items to submit, but it turned out I needed to show a different one beforehand.

The majority of the time, I feel like a real Lawyer uncovering the case with the characters, but all too often, I’d be stopped in my tracks by an impossible situation, something that could take the steam out of the game. Guesswork isn't something new to these spin-offs either; it's a problem with the entire series and one that can rightly put you off the whole game.

The Ace Attorney games aren't "choose your own adventure" games; they are very well-scripted stories, and sometimes you need to guess the next line to make sure that story keeps chugging along. 

OVERRULED!

I'd be remiss if I didn't quickly mention how truly brilliant these games look now, too. Considering both titles have been ported from the DS, they look stunning. I played these on PS5 and blew the game up on a 55-inch screen, but I was baffled at how well it translates to this scale.

These games are the fourth remastered collection of Ace Attorney games in the series, and just like all of those, everything looks just as gorgeous. One of the leading character designers, Tatsuro Iwamoto, has fully updated and redrawn all the sprites in HD, and every background looks just as delightful. 

Final Thoughts

Overall, I can’t wait to finish both of Miles' Adventures and finally discover what happened in that long-awaited sequel. While these titles come with the same flaws as the original, they are still immensely fun stories to experience.

They would be a great jumping-in point for newcomers or an exciting diversion for fans of the series. It only makes me want more of the same and that long-awaited Ace Attorney 7...

Previewed on PS5. Preview access provided by the publisher.