Capcom A to Z: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

  

Title: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

Release Date: May 28th 2009 (JP), January 16th 2010 (NA)

Genre: Visual Novel, Point and Click Adventure

Director: Takeshi Yamazaki

As much as I enjoy the Phoenix Wright games, I always dread sinking my time in to one of them. One reason for this is because the games take a great deal of focus and time to complete; the characters and the stories are usually pretty fun, but when they say that these are visual NOVELS they really aren't kidding. They are huge time commitments; sometimes their stories go on for so long that by the end of a particular case you feel worn out. Playing them all in a row can be quite onerous, and some trials really drag.

Now this is a spin-off title: instead of the sweet punching-bag defense attorney that is Phoenix Wright, you instead play as his rival, the no-nonsense gentleman prosecutor that is Miles Edgeworth. This game, as a spin-off, changes the formula up a bit, but not seemingly to a great degree.

Background

This game takes place after the initial Phoenix Wright trilogy. In the world of Phoenix Wright, the justice system in Japan has been overhauled to favor expediency, where the accused criminals have three days to prove their innocence; any more than that then they are officially guilty. This has led to law being a cutthroat and busy affair, where most lawyers patrol crime scenes, collect evidence, and talk to witnesses themselves.

In the main trilogy, Miles Edgeworth grows from antagonist, to friendly rival, to outright just friend of Phoenix Wright. He is supposed to be a calculating and excellent prosecutor, with powerful logic and reasoning skills. He starts the series as the prosecutor who never loses, hell-bent on keeping that reputation due to personal convictions surrounding his own tragic backstory. After the events of the first game, Miles does some soul searching, and pops up to help out every so often. This game takes place after another one of these soul-searching quests, as Miles returns to his office in Japan to find a murder has taken place. This uncovers a conspiracy within the justice department, and Miles is at the center of it.

The game shakes up the traditional formula by taking place completely on the crime scene. There are no trial scenes in this game, and Miles instead conducts interviews with witnesses and suspects right on the scene. Miles will gather evidence, makes logic connections to open up new dialogue options and clues, and can even analyze evidence Resident Evil style to find new clues. Unlike in the main games, which take place in first person POV for the investigation segments, this game takes place on a diorama like set, with Miles being able to actually walk around his world.

Other than the aesthetic changes, the game is pretty much a Phoenix Wright game: you still cross examine witnesses, look for holes in their testimony, present evidence to match contradictions, etc. The bad guys are super obvious and have wacky personalities, it features almost all the cast from the original trilogy, and the drama is cranked up to 11.

The Story

 The story, this time, follows a conspiracy. It is one of those, "all these cases were connected the entire time" kind of deal. It follows a smuggling ring that is trying to steal evidence to expose corruption, blah blah blah, and each case deals with one of the many crimes of the smuggling ring. Overall...the story is okay. I would say better than Phoenix Wright 2 but not as good as the original or the third one.

Sometimes the logic doesn't quite make sense. You can sail through a case, and suddenly there is some logic jump the game expects you to make that just doesn't make obvious sense. A good example is in the first case: you have to prove, logically, that the security guard couldn't have been the murderer due to the fact she would have no reason to rob the office. Makes sense, but the game offered no real evidence that this was a premeditated murder. I banged my head against this over and over and had to look up what to do in a walk-through. Apparently the game expects you to use the wall safe as evidence, as only the person who owned the office would know about the safe, and thus a lowly security guard wouldn't know to look there. To be fair though, this is kind of part and parcel for the Phoenix Wright games, where the clues don't always make it out of translation.

Verdict
 Look to be honest you either love this series or it is not for you. I don't want to talk more for fear of spoiling the game. The game is a game you play for the story and the charm of its writing and characters; the gameplay does not carry this one. It wears its faults on its sleeves though, and makes no apologies for them.

So bottom line, if you are a fan of the series, then you already know what to expect and should give this game a try. If you aren't a fan of the series, then avoid this game, it won't change your opinion. If you want to get into this series, I recommend starting with the initial trilogy; it shouldn't be missed! If you don't like anime styled games either, I'd probably avoid this one too.