I don't make it a secret that I have thoroughly enjoyed the Ace Attorney. series. There's so much to enjoy about them; the crazy cast of characters, the edge of your seat stories and the twists they take out of seemingly nowhere. Be it Mr. Wright himself or his vest wearing successor, Apollo Justice, there's no doubt that these are incredibly addictive, quality games. However, there was one character that we as fans had always wanted to play as, but were only given the opportunity briefly; the egotistic, pompous and slightly emo Miles Edgeworth. Well, Capcom heard the cries of the fans and bestowed upon us Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigations.

Gameplay

What the Ace Attorney series is most famous for (outside of people yelling "Objection!") is the court room battles. Cross examining witnesses and doing battle with whatever prosecutor is thrown at you. This has been pretty much scrapped in ME:AAI. As the name implies, the focus is solely on the crime scene investigations and with it the biggest change in the series to date: free roaming. The player is given control of Edgeworth to roam around the various locales as they carry out the investigation. This is the gateway for old game staples such as examining a specific areas of the crime scene or the 3D turnaround of evidence you've collected. A new mechanic is also added in the form of "Logic," essentially a connect the evidence that opens up new paths of the story. And, while the courtroom setting may have disappeared, the cross examinations have not, which is good as they are the funnest (and most annoying) part of the game. This works as it has in all the previous games with pressing statements and presenting evidence. All in all, I think the new investigation mechanics are nice and supplement the carry overs quite well. Certainly a far cry better than the static menus of yore.

Graphics and Sound

Being that this is essentially a text adventure, there's not a whole lot to say about the graphics. There are more animations than there were in previous games, but at the same time less. Apollo Justice upped the ante by providing some full motion interstitials, but these have all but disappeared leaving us with mostly partially animated stills for cut scenes. A lot of sounds and music themes have been carried over to ME:AAI with some additions and remixes. It's all fits in well with the series as a whole and the mood of the game, though there is one piece of music that reminds me of something from Capitalism II...

Story

Being that it's not a graphical game or anything that challenges your reflexes, the Ace Attorney series relies heavily on its story. Like it's predecessors, ME:AAI delivers and then some. There are five cases of increasing lengths through out the game, all of them intertwined to form a long arc. One thing I noticed as I was playing, is that the sense of immediacy I felt during the courtroom bouts in the prior games was gone. This doesn't tarnish the story really, but does show that removing that setting does give it a different feel. There are plenty of carry overs from previous games, from story line references to characters. Obviously, Edgeworth's faithful and bumbling assistant Dick Gumshoe is back, but it's amazing how many characters they manage to bring back. Of course, there are also new characters that will join the ride, including a new, cute teenage assistant. After all, what Ace Attorney game would be complete without one?

Conclusion

With the seemingly new format for the game, some might be worried that this might not live up to the other entries in the series or be too "new" and destroy that which we loved about them. That is entirely not true and delivers all that's enjoyable about Ace Attorney in a slightly modified and, in my opinion, a more streamlined format. Any fan of the series should enjoy this as much as the others and I highly recommend dropping the $35 bones to get it.