Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth [DS]

The Ace Attorney series is one that could be defined as cult. It’s not too well-known outside of Japan, but can be considered well-known in gaming circles for many reasons, such as extravagant stories, caricature-like characters, and fun humour. The Phoenix Wright series has been ported to DS, Wii and iPod, but Apollo Justice was, for a while, the only Ace Attorney game exclusively for DS. Until now.

This game, which I want to name Fred but will instead name AAI:ME, does not follow the story of Phoenix Wright or Apollo Justice, instead following Wright’s rival, Miles Edgeworth. A key difference is that Edgeworth is a prosecutor, so instead of defending the innocent, he goes out to punish those who are guilty. The story of this game is fragmented and unchronological – Miles Edgeworth is caught up in a series of five cases, each stranger than the last, that are somehow linked together. The game follows Edgeworth through all five cases, which are deep, strange and sometimes humourous, and located in different environments from a theme park to thousands of miles in the sky. The story, like in other Ace Attorney games, is very good, but the key difference here is that all cases are linked together, unlike previous Ace Attorney games where some cases would be considered filler. There’s plenty of twists and turns, many which will surprise players, and these twists make you think outside the box – don’t think what’s likely, think what’s possible.



Characters are often one of the most memorable things about Ace Attorney games. Most characters are, indeed, raving lunatics. From old women ranting about the good old days, to prosecutors armed with a whip, to feminine French waiters wearing creepily tight clothing. I could go on all day about the wacky cast of Ace Attorney games, but I won’t. The majority of characters, even smaller ones, are given personality and background, and it’s nice to see that they’re interesting and not bland in the slightest. For the Ace Attorney fans, a lot of characters return. Obviously, Miles Edgeworth returns, but favourites such as Franziska von Karma and Dick Gumshoe return, with cameos from characters such as Ema Skye and Maggey Byrde. Most cases have a character in the background from previous Ace Attorney games, and it’s an achievement if you can find them all. A large amount of new characters are introduced too, from recurring characters such as master thief Kay Faraday and wolf-like Interpol agent Shi-Long Lang, to smaller characters such as sports buff Jacques Portsman and unlucky in love Lauren Paups. All these characters are well-written, creating an overall pleasant experience.

This game is notable for being much different than previous games. The other games in the series have been point and click, but AAI:ME gets more involved, letting you move around and properly control a character for the first time. Using the touch screen, you control Miles Edgeworth, letting him examine evidence and crime scenes and talk to witnesses. Examining and talking are similar to other Ace Attorney games, but these games have a few more mechanics to spice up gameplay. One of these is Logic, where Edgeworth notes down oddities or questions in his mind. These bits of logic can then be combined and, if the correct pieces of logic have been combined, new pieces of information can be discovered. This feature gets the audience thinking more and makes them think of more possibilities, but the problem here is that you may see two pieces of logic linked that the game doesn’t. Basically, your logic and the game’s logic are not always the same. Another feature is deducing. When examining crime scenes, you have the option of choosing a detail and presenting a piece of evidence that does not fit. For instance, if there is something missing from a victim’s body, you may deduce it and give evidence that it is missing or has been stolen. The problem with deducing is that it’s a pain. Seriously, it can be hard to figure out the contradiction, causing frustration. This game introduces many other game mechanics, and it’s nice that this game is different than the Ace Attorney games.



The controls are simple. Everything is touch screen based, although buttons can be used. As with Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice, objects and locations can be examined with the touch screen, although it can be more of a pain here due to many objects being hidden in with other objects and a major reliance of examining things. The controls are much more involving than in other Ace Attorney games, which is a nice change. However, the DS’s features could have been used a lot more, such as the forensics seen in other games.

Graphically, this game is okay. It’s not amazing by any means, but it’s sure not ugly. The game contains a mix of hand-drawn images and pixel sprites, with a major resemblance to The World Ends With You in terms of overworld. The hand-drawn images are really cool, and can give the game a better feel than sprites can. These images sometimes progress the story, but sometimes are there to help understand what is going on. The sprites are nice too, and are animated well, but because they’re sprites, it can be hard to see things clearly. Luckily, most of these things can be examined close-up, so it’s not too much of a problem.



As with other Ace Attorney games, the sounds are good. The music suits the mood, being tense or upbeat when it needs to. The music can really capture the feel of a scene and feels very Ace Attorney-ish. Sure, the songs won’t stick in your head, but they’re nice songs. Sound effects are nice too, with the most obvious ones being the voices heard when someone shouts Objection! or Hold It! The voices really suit the characters, so it’s nice to see the game hasn’t been affected by voiceover problems games such as Sonic games suffer from.

Overall, AAI:ME is a fine addition to the Ace Attorney family. While it may use different mechanics and style from the other games, it still feels like an Ace Attorney game, and the game will keep you hooked until the end. However, I must warn you, it is recommended that you play the other Ace Attorney games before playing this game. Apollo Justice isn’t necessary, but it makes understanding the game that much easier. This is a game you must buy if you liked the previous games.

Story: 9/10 – Hard to understand at times, but the story is solid, full of twists and imaginative moments that will make you smile.

Gameplay: 8/10 – The mechanics are still good, and while they’re not perfect, they don’t detract from the gameplay in any way.

Graphics: 9/10 – Cutscenes are nicely made and the hand-drawn images are very nice. It’s nice to see the Ace Attorney series using sprites.

Sound: 8/10 – Not the most memorable part of the game, but the sounds are not awful by any means. Pleasant to the ears.

Value for Money - 9/10 – This game is for some reason going cheap. You can even get it at half the retail price, so I suggest you snap it up.

Overall (Not an average) - 8/10