Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth Review
01.26.2023
The Ace Attorney series by Capcom has managed to gather quite a respectable fanbase, and the newest one – counting at number five – “Miles Edgeworth” – has so far lived up to the success of its predecessors. It doesn't directly follow the story from where the previous game left off as you might expect though – actually, it reveals what happened between the third game, “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations” and the fourth, “Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney”.
Gameplay
The player controls the character of Miles Edgeworth, and the game is played similarly to the others in the series – it's a rather simplistic adventure with a point-and-click interface, where you have to go around the various scenes, collect items, and figure out how to use them in combination with other items. When investigating crimes, you have to figure out the three basic aspects between them – suspect, method of execution and the motive behind it. The dialog is very well-written and varies depending on your choices – and the characters are developed quite well, too.
The cross-examination from the previous games is gone – there are now “rebuttal” phases, which will be combined with the regular investigation phases for every crime you're solving, forcing you to think differently in both situations. Don't worry though, rebuttals aren't that different from how cross-examinations worked, and in them you'll simply have to talk to various characters in a direct manner, presenting them with the results of your work on the investigation so far. If you're good enough and have collected sufficient evidence for the crime, you may be able to get out a confession early on – though it takes some practice and experience to get that right.
Graphics and System Requirements
For an adventure, AAI:ME's graphics are more or less fine – they're nothing outstanding, but fans of Japanese art will surely enjoy the various scenes, especially some of the dialog parts. In some cases, to give an extra dramatic edge to a scene, the game may use still images instead of the standard animation, and we'd say it works out quite nicely to set the overall atmosphere for those special scenes.
For an NDS game, it pulls off great framerates, and despite the relatively small screens, you should be able to see plenty of detail in all of the scenes you'll be exploring.
Other
The game suffers from some control difficulties, and you may have to get used to the odd control scheme if you're a newcomer to the series. Using the touchscreen to move the character around is definitely an art of its own, but once you've gotten used to it, you shouldn't feel so negative about the choice of controls.
Conclusion
The new installment in the Ace Attorney series is an absolute gem in every aspect – a varied game with enough dialog to keep you thinking, and a learning curve that gradually rises, enough to let you learn smoothly.