Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Review – Prosecute!

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Review

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is the final major release to complete the Ace Attorney series on modern consoles. When I reviewed the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy earlier this year, I miswrote that it was the final piece of the series needed on modern consoles. There were two other side games I’d forgotten about, which are both found in this collection: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit. There is also a crossover game with Professor Layton called “Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright”, so technically we’re still not done. But Prosecutor’s Gambit was never released in North America, which makes Ace Attorney Investigations Collection essential for any fan of the Ace Attorney series.

For those who have never played an Ace Attorney game, they are visual novels, with crime investigation gameplay. Each game features around 5 stories that have seemingly self-contained plots, that mostly come together at the end of the final story. Gameplay is broken up into investigation and trial sections. Even though many of the stories involve dark crimes, the tone is very light-hearted, with most of the defense attorneys being hilariously under or overconfident. While the protagonists of the other games in the series are defense attorneys, in Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, the player gets to play as Phoenix Wright’s former nemesis: Miles Edgeworth, a prosecutor!

Play as Prosecution

Playing as a prosecutor in Ace Attorney Investigations Collection doesn’t change up the gameplay much, however. The player still gathers evidence at crime scenes, and looks for contradictions in the crime narrative and evidence. They still cross examine witnesses, just not in a court of justice. The one new mechanic, mind chess, is introduced in Ace Attorney Investigations 2. Mind chess occurs when someone refuses to cooperate. It involves timed sequences balancing speaking and listening, where the player has to go on the offensive when they think they have an advantage. It’s a small, but welcome gameplay addition.

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is an excellent remaster of these retro games. The visuals have been ungraded to modern HD, and the player can choose between new character illustrations, or pixel graphics to emulate a GameBoy Advance. I love and appreciate any game with pixel graphics options. The music is fantastic, and has a whimsical, almost classic Disney sound to it. The sound quality has also gotten an upgrade, with modern orchestral arrangements. All of the music, new and old, sounds great, and I thought all the modern arrangements were an improvement.

Loaded with Extras

There are also a bunch of extras, including a fully-loaded music player. It has full original soundtracks to both games, as well as their new orchestral arrangements. All are unlocked before even playing. There are built-in trophies, for the Switch players in need of extra incentive. And there are several art galleries with unlockable art, collected as the player completes the games. These are great extra incentives, and create some added value to games that lack multiple playthroughs.

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is an excellent remaster of two great visual novels. If you’re a fan of the Ace Attorney series, then these are must-play. If you’re new to the Ace Attorney series, then I recommend starting with the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy. My only complaint about these games is that they’re really similar to other games in the series, gameplay-wise. And they don’t have the series’ best stories. There are also only two games in this collection, when other series collections have three. But the price is right at $54.99 CAD, and they’re great games, despite not being the series’ best. The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a loving remaster of two fun visual novels, one of which hasn’t been available until now.

***PS4 code provided by the publisher***