Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Review

thesixthaxis.com:

Set between the first and second trilogies of the series, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection follows fan favourite Miles Edgeworth as he investigates a string of increasingly wild cases. Combining the original game with it’s never before released in the West sequel, the colllection has Edgeworth joined by series mainstay Detective Dick Gumshoe and newcomer (and Great Thief) Kay Faraday, the trio find themselves quickly involved with wider overarching plots involving smuggling and corruption.

Throughout you’ll run into a host of characters from the main series, which is a mixed bag to say the least. On one hand, some excellent characters that deserved more time to shine or develop get exactly that. On the other, some of the most irritating characters from the Ace Attorney canon get to return to bother you, and Edgeworth is just as disappointed to see them return as I was.

We do get to enjoy more of the buddy comedy double act that is Edgeworth and Gumshoe working together though. The chemistry between the two and Kay is absolutely incredible as well, while the primary antagonist (but not villain) Agent Lang is a superb character as well. So, I guess I can’t explain too much when there’s this much great character work on display.

The biggest difference between this spin-off duo and the main series is the lack of courtroom shenanigans. Far from being a problem, the lack of these parts helps the narrative flow far better, with everything lining up far smoother. The result is that the stories of these games are arguably the most coherent of the series, displaying the clever ‘whodunnit?’ style writing well and giving the twists greater payoffs than ever.

This contributes to the gameplay feeling smoother too, as instead of the harsh transitions between investigation and courtroom, the cases are segmented into smaller narrative chunks that flow into the next towards a natural conclusion each time. Largely though, the main components of the gameplay are investigating crime