New lead character, same objections!
My love for the Ace Attorney is no secret to regular readers of this site, although the number of you who have actually played an Ace Attorney game is probably below 10%. See said love here and here. Last month, Capcom released the latest in the Ace Attorney series, this time putting Miles Edgeworth, former antagonist and current friend of Phoenix Wright (he’s like Apollo Creed!) in the driver’s seat. The game leaves the courtroom while retaining some aspects of it while focusing more on the investigation aspect. I’ve long said that Ace Attorney games are basically adventure games with a lot of text, and Miles Edgeworth continues the series growth in that direction. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
New Protagonist, Same Hijinks
Miles Edgeworth is more of a serious character than Phoenix Wright, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t fall prey to the same sort of hijinks. The game open’s with a murder in Edgeworth’s office, and the second case that I played involves a homicide at 30,000 feet in the air. That was pretty weird since I was playing the game while I was 30,000 feet in the air at the time. Regardless, the story is still excellent, although thus far it seems like it’s been clear who the culprit is from the beginning. There are a lot of callbacks to previous installments in the series, including the return of former characters such as Franziska von Karma and Dick Gumshoe. Huzzah on the former, meh on the latter. The story is a lot of fun to play out, and the dialogue is still snappy and fun, although in this 5th game my eyeballs are finally beginning to get a little tired of reading text. I hate games that don’t let you fast forward text!
New Gameplay Mechanics, Same Fun
Miles Edgeworth brings a different gameplay mechanic to the Ace Attorney series. In Investigations, you actually walk around investigating crime scenes. You walk around the crime scene examining different pieces of evidence. There is also a new “logic” button, which allows you to piece together different thoughts to come up with new conclusions. In case you loved the courtroom stuff (I did), there’s nothing to worry about, you “interrogate” witnesses which is basically cross examining. It’s a small variation on the tried and trued gameplay of the series that I think works very well.
Parting Thoughts
So far, Miles Edgeworth Investigations is a great game. I enjoy the cases, and I still love the dialogue. I definitely miss Phoenix Wright, so I hope the series gets back to him soon, but Miles Edgeworth is no slouch himself. It should be noted that the graphics and animations look a little more polished – it’s nice to see some growth. And the music is still as good as ever. If you have enjoyed the Ace Attorney series, this game is probably worth picking up. If you’ve never tried Ace Attorney….why!?
…I never knew this about you. Interesting.
I prefer Edgey than Phoenix…