Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Review – The Latest in the Collection

It was 2019, and Capcom decided to revive the Ace Attorney brand. Instead of a new installment, it brought a collection of the first trilogy to modern platforms with improved graphics, which according to the latest data has already sold an incredible 3.5 million copies. Two years later, we saw the spin-off of “The Great Attorney”, which has already crossed the one million mark. In January of this year, the collection of the second trilogy was released, and we did not have to wait a whole year for the next, probably the last collection. A few days ago, the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection hit the market, containing the spin-offs from 2009 and 2011, originally released on the Nintendo DS. Although the first game also appeared in the West at the time, the second is now being seen outside of Japan for the first time.

• Platform: PC (review version), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Release date: 09.06.2024
• Developer: Capcom
• Publisher: Capcom
• Genre: Adventure, visual novel
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data for download: 8 GB
• Play time: ~70 hours
• Price: 39.99 EUR (Steam)

Played on Steam Deck OLED.

In the shoes of an opponent

Both parts take place shortly after the end of the first trilogy. But instead of Phoenix Wright, we play as his friend, prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. And instead of courtrooms, we will be looking out into the field, because, as the name suggests, the main content here is the investigation of crimes. Unlike the classic parts, this is not just a classic visual novel, because you can move around individual locations yourself, which is a pretty nice change.

However, the gameplay is not much different as a result, because you will still spend most of it interrogating witnesses, which works much like in a court of law, and the main role is to provide the correct evidence. Instead of any magical abilities, Edgeworth relies solely on his brain, which is quite funny, but deduction or mental chess is quite fun.

The best and the worst

As for the plot, like the spin-offs of The Great Lawyer, you won’t find any obvious filler here. All the cases are somehow connected to the main storyline, which is not the case with the classic parts. Despite this, the first “Investigations” are probably the weakest part of the entire series. The first three cases are nothing special, the fourth is interesting, and the finale has a lot to offer, but it is very drawn out, which is why it has a bad reputation among fans.

However, the second part is almost the complete opposite. Each case is very interesting, complex and well-constructed, including a great ending. The second part of “Investigations”, along with the second part of “The Great Lawyer”, is rightfully considered the best part of the series, and it’s great that it finally reached the West.

The official localization, as usual with Ace Attorney, is excellent. Compared to the fan name, you will have to get used to the new names, but it will not take you long. Traditionally, there are many allusions, puns and jokes, although the game can be very serious. However, as in other games of the series, English is difficult here, and you will have to take this into account if you want to get into the game. Understanding the text, of course, is absolutely necessary for this genre, so knowledge of the language at a relatively high level is required.

But back to the games: in both we will find interesting characters that you will quickly like. In addition to Edgeworth himself, who is engaged in some internal struggle with what it means to be a prosecutor, we have the thief K, the tough but fair agent Lang from Interpol and, of course, there are also familiar characters from previous series, such as Detective Gumshoe and prosecutor Francisca Karma.

Audiovisual changes

As for the collection itself, it’s easily the most complex Capcom has ever made. The graphics have been completely redone in beautiful HD, giving the characters and environments a lot more detail and making the game look very nice, especially on the OLED display I was able to use thanks to the Steam Deck.

On it, the game ran smoothly at 60 FPS, even in 4K, which caused the image to be downsampled to the target 720p. The games were originally designed for portable devices and are ideal for Steam Deck or Switch. By the way, if you don’t like the new graphics, you can revert the game to its original form.

But it’s not just the visuals: Capcom has also stepped into the music for the first time, with a few updated tracks. In both games, these are just low-level units, but they’re the most important tracks, like the ones that play during interrogations. The new tracks have a modern feel, led by electric guitars, and it must be said that they’re extremely successful. To the point that I wish the previous games had gotten the same treatment. In any case, the soundtrack here is generally great, as is typical in the series.

Rich collection

Additionally, the menu allows you to listen to the entire music, including several recordings of orchestral performances and other modernized pieces. There are also illustrations and a collection of characters that you can look at and memorize their messages or animations.

Like other collections, we then got a number of quality of life improvements, such as the ability to continuously suck, dialogue history, modes that make the game easier, or the ability to start any task from a certain selected point. These are all nice things that can make your gameplay more enjoyable.

Last in the collection

Overall, this is without a doubt the most successful collection that Capcom has ever presented to us. It has all the essentials and more. On the other hand, it must be said that in terms of games, this is a somewhat unbalanced collection, as the first part is probably the weakest that the series has to offer, and the second is the best. Of course, this is not the collection’s fault, but it is the reason why I decided to give it a lower rating than the previous collection.

That said, it’s not the best entry point into the series, given that the previous installments feature characters you’ve developed strong relationships with and occasionally reference earlier events. So I’d still recommend the first trilogy for newcomers, or The Great Ace Attorney spin-offs, which can be played entirely on their own.

Anyway, with this collection, Capcom closed the period of remastering games from this series, because they simply ran out of material. All six main games and four spin-offs are already on modern platforms, so the only thing missing is a crossover with Professor Layton, the plot of which should not even be included in the canon, and I do not think we will see it in all. So I hope that when Capcom makes another announcement about Ace Attorney, it will be about a full-fledged seventh part, which we have been waiting for a long 8 years.