Ace Attorney Investigating: Miles Edgeworth game review
Before you read any further just know that Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is a puzzle game. When I heard that Capcom was making a new Ace Attorney game, I was extremely excited due to the fact that I am a huge fan of the series. In past installments of the series you always played as a defense attorney, but in this game, you get to play as Miles Edgeworth, the main antagonist and prosecuting attorney from the first two games. I enjoyed this game, even though it did not live up to my initial excitement.
Gameplay: 7/10
The game is incredibly similar to the previous games. It is divided primarily into 2 modes: Investigation and Confrontation.
The Investigation Mode places Edgeworth in certain areas or rooms and you control him around looking for clues. When you approach something that may be investigated, an examine button pops up on screen. You now get to 'deduce' certain information by finding contradictions between the scene and the evidence.
The only new addition to the Investigation Mode is the Logic system. The Logic system is the 'gimmick' of the game. Essentially, as you investigate, you will generate certain ideas or unanswered questions and they will be stored in the Logic option. While in Logic Mode, you then have the option of piecing together your thoughts to try and come to a coherent line of logic.
In between investigations, you will the enter Confrontation Mode. You get to listen to the opponent's side of the story and you pick at each of the statements, countering them with evidence or prodding them for more information until you are able to prove that they're lying. With the amount of work Miles has to do just to get them arrested, I'm surprised they even need to try the suspects in a formal court of law.
All in all, there really isn't anything extremely innovative about the gameplay. The controls are smooth, but the game barely takes advantage of the touch screen. You could probably play the game without ever using the touch screen.
Story: 9/10
I've always liked the storylines in the Ace Attorney series, and I enjoyed the story in this latest game. It’s fairly linear, as to be expected. Some of the characters have very little background information, but that's the same in every game of the series. The only thing that kept this game from getting a perfect story score is the fact that the story get’s tedious towards the end. It gets to the point where you feel as if the writer was trying to force an extra 15 minutes into the game just for the fun of it.
The character personalities were eccentric though sometimes obnoxious. The female sidekick in this game, Kay Faraday makes a great opposite to Edgeworth's serious character. It's also cool to be able to play as Edgeworth because he provides a different perspective from that of the previous games defense attorneys.
Graphics: 8/10
I enjoyed the character designs, with more than a handful of them being exceptionally memorable. The sprites in Investigation Mode were quite well animated and they did a great job of including all the necessary detail on the small DS screen. The only slightly annoying thing is the fact that the screen flashes and shakes to dramatize the characters freaking out, which happens a bit too often.
Sound: 5/10
Most of the sound effects and music are repeats or remixes from past Ace Attorney games. They range from character to character, from upbeat to creepy. I like the un-remixed version of the music from past games more than what is included in this installment.
Overall: 8/10
This is a fun puzzle game installment to an already good series. If you are a fan of this gaming genre, I recommend getting it. Not too much has changed from the previous games. A fresh perspective and a new gimmick force this game to differ from the others, but they really add to the gaming experience.
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