As someone who has always skipped the original Investigations games, the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection offers the perfect opportunity to experience what fans claim are the best cases in the series.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is essentially a package of games that come with revamped visuals, bonus gallery modes and a fully-voiced English cast. This English cast is quite a big deal as up to now, the games have mostly remained in Japanese. The collection is also seen as the “full package” which ties up the series.
As this is a preview, I wanted to cover the games briefly and keep my final critiques until the review in early September. So far, the experience has been quite enjoyable. The visuals are especially refreshing as they offer well-designed templates in which the point-and-click gameplay is experienced. Characters are presented in a sprite which animates as you walk around these environments.
I played this on the Nintendo Switch OLED and it shines on the platform. The vibrant visuals compliment the OLED’s saturation and the portable device makes, in my opinion, the best way to play this pick-up-and-play game.
I know the series has some popular “courtroom” games but this collection is the opposite. Instead of solving a case in court and gathering witnesses to get down to the dirty, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection follows Miles as he investigates the crimes themselves. He is on-location gathering information around the crime and as the player, you need to be vigilant to the items you discover and the people you meet.
The whole experience is quite engaging. I have always enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes games and this is much the same. Of course, with less 3D world to explore and a lot more voice work to listen to. However, it goes a long way to feed into the crime detective shows binge I often sit through.
After I discovered enough evidence and questioned all my suspects, I had to then connect the two together – literally. This mechanic forced me to think logically about the crime and link evidence to possible actions and suspects.
As for the crimes, the first of the two games kicks off with a murder in Miles Edgeworth’s office. So the game makes quite a strong first impression. The chapter is layered with puzzles, heavy thinking and dark intentions. If you’re new to the series, don’t feel bad about fumbling a bit here. The game can be intimidating at first.
I do appreciate the difficulty curve for what it is though. It is important that the game plays out this way because the theme of suspense is vital to the overarching gameplay. If anything, it kept me engrossed. Across multiple episodic cases, my favourite moments so far have been witnessing testimony and rebuttal, and being completely clueless about how to solve a puzzle.
However, when each moment is carefully examined and broken down, the seemingly coherent narrative in my mind is shattered, revealing the truth in a sudden and unexpected manner. Ace Attorney Investigations excels at keeping its secrets tightly concealed, gradually unveiling them one by one until the dramatic revelations leave you in a state of intense excitement and disbelief.
Of course, Investigations 2 is included in the package. It offers new cases and changes. The first case starts with an attempted presidential assassination, setting high stakes for Miles as the new investigator. There’s also a surprisingly large cast, introducing loveable characters alongside Miles, Detective Gumshoe, and Kay Faraday.
But after hours with the game, my big takeaways are the visuals. Considering this was a DS game, the package looks incredibly modern. Something that will last years to come.
Everything looks stunning in HD, and the new arrangements for the soundtrack are quite pleasant to listen to. It’s incredibly enjoyable. The gallery is another highlight, where you can listen to every single track and appreciate some truly remarkable concept art. Additionally, as you progress through the stories, you unlock character CG animations and full collections of their sprites.
I will have a full review of the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection in early September. In the meantime, you can pre-order the game on Switch, PS4, PS5 and PC.
