In 2009, Capcom decided to make a spinoff of their popular Ace Attorney series called Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. However, the game wasn't that popular in the US and in Europe, so when Capcom made a sequel, they decided it would be a Japan-only game. Which is a shame, since I think it's one of the best if not the best game in the Ace Attorney Series.

A group of dedicated fans thought the same, and they worked for a few years on a complete translation on the game, so they translated all text, changed sprites and some even voiced English 'Objection!'s for the new characters in the game. More than a half year ago they finally finished this completely and recently I have finished this game myself, and found it good enough to write a review about it!


Story: 10

For those who aren't familiar with the series, I'll give a short explanation. Our protagonist is Miles Edgeworth, a famous prosecutor. When Miles was young, he wanted to grow up and be a defense attorney, just like his dad. But in a tragic incident, his dad was killed and notorious prosecutor Manfred von Karma took care of Miles from then on, and because Miles started hating criminals from that point he became a prosecutor as well. If you know the story of the first game, then you that it's quite ironic in some way, but I can't spoil anything so I won't talk about it.

In his own spinoff game, Miles gets caught up in many murders. He eventually learns that they all might be connected to a smuggling ring, so instead of telling the police to investigate, he starts investigating on his own. During his quest, a girl who claims to be truth seeking thief Yatagarasu, who goes by the name Kay Faraday joins him on his quest and that's how the first game basically goes. It turns out that Kay doesn't help Edgeworth for just a specific reason, but she helps him because her dad, who's also killed, was killed in an incident in the same courtroom where Miles would have his first case, so they're more acquainted then they actually know.

After the events of Ace Attorney Investigations, Miles has become quite known for solving mysteries and murders. So when an assasination attempt on the president of Zheng Fa has happened, Miles is called to find the assasin! But Ace Attorney wouldn't be the same if there wasn't some kind of murder, and so Miles also has to figure out who the killer of the president's best bodyguard is!

That's how the first case starts, but of course, the other cases have their own stories as well. All cases eventually lead up to one big case where Edgeworth has to discover the mastermind behind everything that has happened so far, and somehow the game manages to make everything logical with that case. There are lots of small things mentioned in the first 4 cases that all are connected somehow with the final case, resulting in an awesome last case. 

In this game, Miles also gets a new assistant by the name of Raymond Shields. Raymond was about 18 and worked with Gregory, Miles' father, on his last case before he got killed and after that he takes over the Edgeworth Law Offices. Unlike Miles, who's quite serious and polite all the time, or Kay, who's always energetic and helping in many ways, Ray is kinda laid back and makes unserious jokes all the time, resulting in an interesting character.

Interesting enough, the third case is about Ray telling what has happened in the past and how Gregory almost discovered the truth on his own but unfortunately couldn't because the murdered victim body went missing. While they're talking about it, the body somehow appears in a fountain and Miles has to solve this case for once and all. Do you know about the domino effect? It basically means that a certain event leads to another event, and without this case, all of the events wouldn't have lead to the events in other Ace Attorney games. Spooky isn't it?

Well, enough about the story for now, but basically, I love the story. Everything is so smart and the new characters are great. There are some really nasty and despicable persons, but also persons who turn out to have more sides to them which makes you think a lot. Definitely the best Ace Attorney game in terms of story for me.


Graphics: 10

The first game had kinda sloppy graphics in my opinion. While the characters and sprites were pretty good, backgrounds were kinda blurry or vague sometimes, and when you walked to the background of some places, Miles his overworld sprite would shrink and just look weird. His walking animations were also unnatural I thought. 

So in the second game, that really changed. Miles walks more normally, and they decided to do a lot of backgrounds without said depth, so it just feels like you're in a bigger place and that makes for better backgrounds. There are a lot of great illustrations as well, often seen in the intros of the cases. 

Another part of the game that feels important for me, are the animations of other people and their breakdowns. A breakdown occurs when you have cornered a witness or the killer so much that they can't stay calm anymore, resulting in hilarious and great actions. Some start to cry like little kids, others grow so angry that they scream it out loud and others may even faint or hurt themselves. In the first game, some of them were great, but others were kinda meh. But this game had some awesome breakdowns, like a guy who basically makes a cake of himself and then cuts it in two for example. The breakdowns are awesome in this game and so over the top that you can't help but laugh.
The animations are also great. There are people who will play with lighters, will pet a fox, or conduct while you're talking with them to name a few. 

Basically, Capcom really couldn't have done a better job. They could have put in cutscenes maybe, but the started doing that with Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies and cutscenes really look a lot better on the 3DS so I totally understand that choice. So everything that should've been there was just there in the game.


Sound: 10

The DS sound chip offers for some great music if you know how to work it, so some games have great music (think of Zelda or Professor Layton for example) and Ace Attorney sounds really awesome as well. To give the Miles Edgeworth games a different vibe, a lot of music in the first Investigations game had lots of music with piano in them. The second game kept that, but also added in a lot of electric guitars and violins. At first I thought that would sound strange, but it actually sounds great! 

I have to say, the music isn't that diverse most of the time, but that's not necessary, because the music often should be catchy, and I found it really catchy and was humming along a lot when playing this game. The tracks go well with the atmosphere and most tracks don't loop quickly either. Furthermore, the game has great sounds which are used when characters are shocked, dissapointed or start to scream, they are short and sweet and not irritating and make the game more funny. 

To make persons sound different, men have more low pitched voice sounds, and women more high pitched sounds. And now and then, you'll hear text like it comes out of a typewrite to make it feel more like the game is progressing. With many instruments, catchy music and good sounds there's not much that can go wrong in this game, and that seems to be the case.


Addictiveness: 9

Addictiveness is always a difficult part of the game. Ace Attorney games aren't games you can play for a few minutes and then put them down, you will have to play for a pretty long time if you want to progress or want to understand what is going on. That's not a big surprise, since the games are visual novels, and so there's lots of dialogue and story, but you need to be prepared.

If you're prepared however, it'll be great. Cracking the cases isn't easy and there are many aspects to most cases since many of the killers turn out to be very smart, doing things like preparing fake murder weapons, using espionage tactics or blackmailing witnesses to lie to you, so they often aren't easy to catch. Not only that, when you try to corner them with theories they want to see hard evidence or they won't believe you, so sometimes you have to look for something last-minute, meaning you really have to look through everything.

Do you like solving murders, examining crime scenes and chatting or cross examining people? Then this game might just be something for you. If you're more of a guy who likes to play a game maybe about an hour a day, this might not be your thing, but you can always give it a try. But be prepared for a long story and lots of dialogue.


Depth: 9

Many games will have small minigames or sidequests to give the game more depth. This game doesn't, it's just a big race from the beginning to the end with just gameplay, story and nothing extra. But that doesn't make the game very short. In fact, I think you need about 25-30 hours at least to finish this game. And to make up for the lack of depth, there are corny name puns like Jay Elbird (Jailbird) and references to other games, tv shows, people etc. . At one point, one character even says "Because he's the very best, like no one ever was!". If that isn't a funny reference, I don't know it anymore. 

There are lots of funny options and dialogue for those who are smart. When you mess up, characters make snappy remarks or will physically hurt you, resulting in many 'Ngooooh!'s from Miles, which have become his trademark by now since he says it so many times. 

A new mechanic added to the game is Logic Chess. This is used two times per case when Miles want to gets information out of somebody but they won't talk about it. When characters are vague about stuff or mention hints, Miles will use these against persons to put them under pressure, but when they get angry Miles will have to wait and see how characters react. Throughout the whole game this doesn't get much harder, but it sure is interesting and feels very natural. Not only that, but since Miles can only react by choosing one of the multiple choices, there are always some obvious and wrong but hilarious answers like "You're a failure!" or "You sound like a stalker." and that makes game very funny.


Difficulty: 8

Personally, I find this the weakest part. Ace Attorney games aren't that hard most of the time, although I found this the hardest game in the series. The game often gives clues or will repeat stuff so you will notice things you haven't noticed before, and if you get stuck you can always look things up in a walkthrough if you want, it's not like you need to train or to practise. 

So what makes the game hard? First of all, the game is not always that generous with hints. Sometimes Miles just thinks something like "That's it! I should present that particular evidence." and you still have no idea what he's talking about. Fortunately this doesn't happen too much and happens when almost every piece has fallen into its place and you need to put the last pieces there. 

It also depends on the persons you're cross examining. Some people don't mind telling Miles about all kind of stuff, even things that might seem unrelated to the case at first but turn out to be a hint, while others will give vague testimony or try to distract you about the vague points in their testimony. And in the beginning of the game, Miles will discover a lot through examining and using his logic to connect two clues, but later on he will to rely more on what other people have to say and which clues or evidence they will give to you.

What makes this game more difficult than other games for me is the amount of evidence and the depth of the game, as there are many options or weak spots but not all turn out to be that useful after some time.




And that concludes the end of this review! I hope you enjoyed reading it, and if you agree with, think I'm wrong, deserve to know more or whatever else comes up into your mind, let me know! This was juuldude, revealing the truth about this fenomenal Nintendo DS game!

Take that! Summon time!

Zlinqx :
Boxia :
sonicthehedgehog57 :
A user of this :
imamonster :
greenluigi :
TornadoMudkip :
Sword legion :
gamerforlifeforever2 :
Laian :
DylanMcKaig :
ghostfishy :
Gamin'Gal :
supernerd117 :
Barathemos :
kramer4077 :
TheReaper7290 :
latias900 :
MysteryMan007 :
rebelyell :
F. Starr :
Singelli :
Bintsy :
janus :

Also,
GamingN00B : You reacted to my last review, would you like to be summoned for more of my reviews? I don't mind if you don't want to, but if you don't object I'll keep you on this list, so let me know.

Hopefully you'll like my review, I worked hard on it since it has been some time since my last review about Pokémon White. I think the next game that will be reviewed is Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, as I finished the storyline yesterday and need to solve about 10 puzzles and then I've finished the game completely.

juuldude : I remember playing this game.  tbh, I enjoyed the first Miles Edgeworth game more, but I found Logic Chess a very welcome addition to the series.  The team behind the English translation did an admirable job.  Nice job with the review!  

Wow, nice job with this review. Seeing that this game isn't available in the U.S, I probably will never play it. Still, I think that you did a great job with the review, and it's interesting to see how a game in the Ace Attorney Series where you're playing as the prosecutor instead of a defense attorney can be just as fun as the mainstream games in the series. I'm glad I read this review, even though I won't be buying the game.

supernerd117 : While the first game isn't horrible, I found the first and third case really boring, but the rest of the game is alright. 
They sure did, when you check out the wiki you can see that there's a lot of thought put into the names which really surprised me.

gamerforlifeforever2 : The translation came out as a patch, meaning that if you have a working DS emulator and a working rom of the Japanese Gyakuten Kenji 2 and apply the patch you can play this game. Here's more info if you're interested: https://gbatemp.net/threads/ace-attorney-investigation-2-prosecutors-path-final-release.367451/

Wow, this was a masterful reivew my friend. It is very highly detailed (even without spoilers!) and you give ample comparisons with previous Ace games (but DS also) in order to show how the game improved with time. Man, I NEED to try these games; they see to require a lot of brain and I always love me a good challenge. High 5!

Great review as always Juul... keep up the awesome work! You always find someway to keep the reader (me) interested xD Can't wait to read more of your reviews! )

I am still playing this game now but haven't been able to finish it due to the October holidays (Cyprus is too damn hot). So far the game has been great and for me anyway very long (it is the longest I have took on an Ace Attorney game anyway). Logic chess is cool but it isn't used that much so I think it is an ok addition. Can't say much else as I am still a ways to go before beating the game. On a side note anyone else excited for the Ace Attorney anime. I am too hyped for it.

janus : Thanks! I really tried to spoil almost nothing but when I did I tried to make sure it wouldn't be things that would ruin the game when you would play it yourself but would make it more interesting. And comparing wasn't that easy all the time as well, as Apollo Justice and Miles Edgeworth Investigations are the only pure DS games since the Phoenix Wright games were imported from GBA games, so those were a bit hard to compare with. Give them a try if you like using your brain

Bintsy : Thanks, that's what I do
I'm glad that you like to read my reviews!

DylanMcKaig : How far are you already? It sure is one long game, the only one that comes close is Dual Destinies with DLC case but otherwise I would have to say this is by far the longest entry in the series. I would've loved to use Logic Chess more although two times per case was for fine for me. And I didn't know about an anime! I saw pictures of it online though but thought they were fanmade or something like that.

juuldude : I'm just on case 3 so it is gonna take a while. The anime is expected to air around April of next year that is all that was announced.

Nicely done, Juuldude! This sounds like an awesome game! Although Capcom has no intention of releasing it to us filthy non-Japanese. So until then there's always the Fan Translation. Which...Makes this game like Capcom's Mother 3!

But seriously, I want to try this game out sometime. And you helped me decide on that. Great review dude.

DylanMcKaig : Case 2 and 3 are extremely long, but 3 is totally worth playing through completely, it's a great case with awesome characters. 
I really wonder how that anime will be!

A user of this : Thanks, and it sure is! Too bad Capcom didn't want to release it, because everyone who played this game says it's a lot better than its predecessor and Apollo Justice. It kinda is Mother 3 isn't it?
If you get around to it, give it a try! I loved it as an Ace Attorney fan

Keep me  on the list, I really like all of your reviews, including this one. Keep up the great work.

GamingN00B : That's good to hear, I'll keep you on the list in that case

Great review full of info.

rebelyell : Thanks, I hope you liked it

Sorry about my lateness on replying to this review! I have read it last time but I didn't have the chance to talk about it.

I have seen some of its gameplay for this game and it's interesting to see the other side of the court rather than the typical defense attorney, Phoenix Wright. It also gives us a chance to see from Miles' point of view with the cases. This game may be the hardest due to the fact that Miles is a prosecutor or maybe the game doesn't like Miles.