Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Justice from the Other Side

The Ace Attorney franchise is one of the most obscure in Capcom’s catalog, but a fan favorite. The world of murder and justice that we have been introduced to since these titles arrived in the Nintendo DS era has introduced us to a host of colorful characters. One of them is our first rival, friend, and colleague, Miles Edgeworth, a dashing and ruthless district attorney who over the years has traded winning for justice. Although the series did not have much of an impact on this side of the world, a couple of spin-offs were created based on the character, one of which never made it to America. Now, almost 20 years later, we can take another look at the investigations of this district attorney.

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, as the name suggests, is a collection of the two Miles Edgeworth-inspired spin-off titles: Ace Attorney Investigations and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit. The collection, like many similar titles in recent years, seeks not only to collect titles that are currently very difficult to obtain, but to give them a new life with quality improvements and a series of elements that give that little extra to fans or those players who want to find a title that they did not get at the time.

Solving cases before going to court

The action of the Ace Attorney Investigations titles retains some elements of the main series, where finding evidence, cross-referencing information with clues, making deductions, and having confrontations to find contradictions will help us get ahead. Here we will control our protagonist, Miles Edgeworth, sometimes accompanied by the good (and clueless) detective Gumshoe or your assistant Kay. The biggest change, however, is that unlike the adventures with Phoenix Wright, here we find ourselves with zero experience in the courts, so these confrontations where we check the testimonies of witnesses and suspects are the closest we will get to the verdicts, which makes the experience easier if we are already accustomed to the franchise.

One of the most important main mechanics that both games have is the investigation of crime scenes. These have more elaborate scenarios than the Phoenix Wright games, as in this game we are Miles and we move through the scenario to find clues. The scenarios are very well designed and the art that has been done allows for a walkthrough that feels fluid. This adds an interesting layer that allows us to approach the clues and deductions in a different way than in Phoenix Wright. What we find in each case gives us an item in the menus that we can add up to make the correct deduction when the time comes. Following the mechanics of the series, you can’t force things because if you don’t get it right, you’ll get a penalty for a wrong deduction.

For its part, Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit introduces a new mechanic with its “Mind Chess”, which will force us to search for even more information about the suspects. This mechanic is very similar to Ace Attorney’s Pysche-Locks, where the goal was to unlock the suspects’ minds. However, these activities are not really challenging. It’s all about choosing dialogues and waiting for the opponent to drop his guard with a clue so that you can continue the conversation. However, if you fail, you will have to repeat the whole sequence from the beginning, which reduces part of the experience of a real mental debate.

All of this presents us with a problem that stems from its origin and that a remastering or remake could solve without changing its essence. Ace Attorney Investigations does not have the best cases of the series, nor the most exaggerated ones, nor the necessary material to keep us intrigued, as is usually the case with the narrative of the series starring Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice. However, this does not take away from the fact that if you have already played the main series with all these characters, you will come across some cameos or mentions of cases that have already happened, which makes it a very interesting place to meet up with characters from the past at times.

Past, present, and memories

As a good title that fulfills the function of collecting games, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection does a great job of bringing these titles back to the latest generation of consoles. It’s been almost 20 years since the original games came to the Nintendo DS, and the work done in recreating the art and character animations is very good. While many of the narrative elements, such as the artwork and backgrounds, have not been improved, the work done in revamping the characters is impressive.

In addition, an art gallery has been added that will allow us to collect certain moments of the cases as they are completed, as well as a concept art gallery with characters and scenarios.

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a title that manages to bring back one of the franchise’s most hidden offshoots. While Miles Edgeworth’s adventures certainly don’t present us with the best cases in the series, having this perspective feels fresh, especially if you’ve never played the Nintendo DS version. The collection does a great job in its remastering, transporting the pixel art of more than 20 years ago to animations with better definition and animation, taking advantage of the large size of today’s screens, but without leaving behind what it once presented. This is a title designed above all for fans who never had the opportunity to play these titles, and it is appreciated that Capcom shows a renewed interest in this series, not only localizing a title that was never brought to our continent but also renewing it visually.