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Ace Attorney Investigations Collection marks the third compilation of the Ace Attorney games on modern platforms. Some people say the third time’s the charm with things like this, but then again, Capcom’s been hitting them out of the park ever since the first bundle (the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy) came out a few years ago.
At this point, it’s hard not to take these games for granted and just deliver a by the numbers effort.
Is that what the collection’s like?
What is Ace Attorney Investigations Collection?
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a compilation of single player visual novels from the Ace Attorney Investigations sub-series. It is comprised of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Ace Attorney Investigations 2, both of which were originally on the Nintendo DS. Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is developed and published by Capcom, and is available right now on all modern platforms.
Our PC copy was gifted to us by Capcom! Thanks so much!
The first thing that struck me about the collection is that the game doesn’t really fit that well. When you think of the word ‘Collection’ you conjure up images of a vast quantity right? Well, there are only TWO games in this one. Hardly what you’d call a collection. Duology might have been a better word to use…just saying.
Musing aside, like the other Ace Attorney compilations, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection contains games that originally appeared on the Nintendo DS. To make up for the increase in resolution and power of modern platforms, Capcom’s increased the resolution, remixed the music and even added some new high quality sprites for some parts.
Like past games that have been collected together, the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection also comes with a glossary, art viewer and a jukebox to listen to the game’s tunes. It’s nothing we’ve not seen done before, and at this point, I’m too tapped out to complain that this could’ve been so much more.
Wait…you know what? I will complain again. This could’ve been so much more! No trailers, no design documents, no interviews…not even promotional materials or merchandise from the games. It’s a rather generic compilation of extras that serve not much beyond making sure the games are playable on modern platforms.
To be fair, that’s a very noble goal.
So many great games have fallen to the wayside because they were never rereleased outside of their original consoles. Shining Force III, Tech Romancer, Zombie Revenge…the only way to play these now are to emulate and download the ROMs. Not exactly an easy thing to do if you don’t have a decent PC or smartphone.
For Capcom to be bringing NDS and GBA games to modern times is commendable indeed. It’s just that if preservation is the driving force here, then it can be argued that more content should’ve been added to preserve as much of the games as possible. The barebones extras here is just not cutting and is a disservice to fans.
That however doesn’t detract from the games themselves.
Both games in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection are great.
They take the established gameplay from the earlier Ace Attorney games and polish it to a shine. The plot might not be as funny (though I honestly prefer Miles over Phoenix Wright) but if you’ve played the older games, any chance to see more of the regular cast (including the lovable Detective Gumshoe) is always welcomed. Don’t expect to see Phoenix Wright feature prominently in them though. Apart from a few cameos, Phoenix isn’t in the game at all.
Still, be forewarned that these games are incredibly linear visual novels. They don’t have alternate endings, hidden secret modes or whatever to pad out the play time. Once you’ve finished the game, you’re done. There’s really not much reason to replay the game.
It’s the same for other games in the series but if this is your first Ace Attorney title, know what you’re getting into.
There are a couple of new additions (both in gameplay and technical aspects) as well.
First is the ability to choose your starting chapter. It doesn’t really do much if you’ve not played the games at all but if you’re a veteran or just want to repeat a particular case, it’s now possible to just choose it from a menu. Cool…but I don’t see many getting any use out of it.
In the gameplay itself, there are new walkabout sections.
You move a sprite around to investigate crime scenes and the like. It’s kind of like the old games’ first person point and click sections, only this time you’re in the scene. The point and click sections (as well as evidence examination and presentation) are still in the game as well.
Speaking of presentation, the redone art is as expected, excellent.
There is a downside though; while the designs have been updated, the animations are still rather bad. I’d say Flash quality, but Adobe Flash does have some stellar animated movies on it.
A couple of frames of animation might have been OK on the DS, but why wasn’t it made more fluid for this version? It’s an issue that the older collections stumbled with too and it seems like it won’t ever get improved on at this rate.
On that subject, another thing that wasn’t made better from previous games is that you’re not able to skip lines you’ve heard before. It’s especially troublesome during questionings when you’re pressing suspects and you’re trying to suss out what evidence to present.
If you inadvertently trigger a looooooooooooong exchange, you can’t just skip it to get back to the main line of questioning. Again, this was a problem I raised with other games in the series…and it’s still not fixed too.
For the music, I rather prefer the old school original versions over the remixed ones. There’s a certain charm to the older tunes that are lacking in the original. Plus, the game shares some tracks with other games in the series, so veterans will probably feel the same way too.
As expected of a NDS visual novel, the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection runs extremely well on the ASUS ROG Ally X. Even on the 11W Silent Mode, there weren’t any hitches or slowdown or bouts of unresponsiveness. The display maxes out at 1920 x 1080p but will go higher if you connect it to a 4K monitor or widescreen display. Controls work just as expected and there’s really no downside to playing it on the go or tethered.
The Bottom Line.
While two games might be a bit much to call this a ‘collection’, that still doesn’t take away from the quality and fun to be had with the two games here.
The new enhancements might be a bit underwhelming and there certainly could be more extras thrown in, but there’s no downside here if all you want to do is just enjoy the games. The visual upgrades are welcome, though the animations could be much better. Thankfully, there’s really no issue with the older NDS sprites.
At the end of the day, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a great way to close out the Ace Attorney NDS games. Not perfect, but far from bad.
TLDR:
Great games but extras underwhelming.
The Good:
- Two quality games in one package.
- New modern HD art and sprites.
- Fun gameplay with engrossing stories.
- Performs well on low end machines.
The Bad:
- Not enough extras.
- Remixed soundtrack is love it or hate it.
- No replay value.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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