PS4 Review: Ace Attorney Investigations Collection

Are there any objections to HD remasters of Miles Edgeworth’s spin-offs?

Miles Edgeworth’s dramatic turnabouts take center stage. Experience both Ace Attorney Investigations games in one gorgeous collection! Step into the shoes of Miles Edgeworth, that prosecutor of prosecutors from the Ace Attorney mainline games. Leave the courtroom behind as you walk with Edgeworth around the crime scene, gathering evidence and clues and talking with persons of interest. Use your wit and what you discover to solve tough, intriguing cases through logic and deduction. – Both games have been given the full HD treatment, including all-new designs for the chibi characters!

The previous DS/3DS entries for the Ace Attorney series had all been remastered for consoles, but there was two that were missing. Miles Edgeworth’s two spin-offs for DS, the latter which was never released in English until it re-released last year on mobile devices. The core gameplay is slightly different than the Phoenix Wright/Apollo Justice titles, but retains the classic Ace Attorney look and feel that we’re used to.

New gameplay elements include Mind Chess which comes into force in the second of the two games. Miles will “deduce” things along the way and apply “logic” to make sense of things.  Outside of investigating, you’ll be rebutting evidence and statements made from suspects/witnesses, as you would in any other past Ace Attorney game. The new gameplay elements won’t be too daunting for those who have played past games, so fret not.

With the Investigations titles now remastered, the entire Ace Attorney series is available on consoles. The only exception being the Professor Layton crossover for 3DS, but I really can’t see that getting the remaster treatment…I’d love to be proven wrong, but then it could open up the floodgates for people wanting console ports of that series next, which would be great but also tough to do.

As a whole I was impressed with the remaster. Character models are nicely drawn, the game has a pretty big visual overhaul over the original DS titles. Framerate seems consistent for the most part, though I wonder if Capcom will ever bring out native PS5/Xbox Series versions of these titles down the road? I don’t think it really needs it, but I’d never say no to an extra trophy list…

The Verdict

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a good spin-off for the series. It may not be as strong overall as the main games, but it is great to finally have the entire series playable on consoles. Now, if only we could get a new game in the works…

Score: 8.5