This review is for the second game. I will repost it on the second game's page when and if Gyakuten Kenji 2 gets its own trope page
The original Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth was a spinoff that suffered from many problems, from poor overall cases to a lackluster overarching story. The sequel(known as Gyakuten Kenji 2) fixes many of those problems and ends up being one of the better entries in the Ace Attorney series.
It's hard to summarize the plot without spoiling it, but like the first game, Edgeworth finds himself caught up in several murder incidents over a period of a few days, all of which are linked to each other. Through it all, he comes under investigation by the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee, which wants to strip him of his badge, and must consider whether he wishes to stay as a prosecutor or follow in his father's footsteps as a defense attorney. This game probably is the best use of Edgeworth's character since Justice for All.
The basic investigation formula from the first game remains intact, but there are a few nice additions. You will sometimes have to face off against witnesses in Logic Chess, in which you must ask the right questions(or remain silent when appropriate) to get uncooperative witnesses to talk. It's fast-paced, challenging and requires you to choose your responses carefully.
Like with the first game, the penalties are relatively generous, with most taking 10% of your influence gauge, but there are a handful of occasions when mistakes are punished more severely.
The cases are overall quite good, and I don't think any of them are bad.
The first case is surprisingly high-stakes for an introductory level, featuring an assassination attempt on a foreign president.
The second case begins with a nice twist, and has some interesting characters, particularly the return of the culprit from "The First Turnabout."
The third case is one of the best in the game, particularly that part of it takes place in the past, in which you play as Miles' father Gregory on his final case.
The fourth case is easily the Darkest Hour of the game, and serves as an effective turning point, with some twists that lead into the final case.
The fifth case is one of the largest and most complex cases, effectively ties the plot together. The final showdown with the Big Bad is satisfying without being too drawn-out, unlike the previous game.
Unfortunately, the game has not been localized into English, and most likely never will be, so I ended up watching a playthrough on YouTube. Despite this, the game has a masterful fan translation effort that captures the spirit of the original script and feels as though it was done by the official localizers(especially the way the Punny Names were done), so I recommend that Ace Attorney fans experience AAI 2, regardless of how they end up playing or watching it.
The second game: A Massive Improvement
This review is for the second game. I will repost it on the second game's page when and if Gyakuten Kenji 2 gets its own trope page
The original Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth was a spinoff that suffered from many problems, from poor overall cases to a lackluster overarching story. The sequel(known as Gyakuten Kenji 2) fixes many of those problems and ends up being one of the better entries in the Ace Attorney series.
It's hard to summarize the plot without spoiling it, but like the first game, Edgeworth finds himself caught up in several murder incidents over a period of a few days, all of which are linked to each other. Through it all, he comes under investigation by the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee, which wants to strip him of his badge, and must consider whether he wishes to stay as a prosecutor or follow in his father's footsteps as a defense attorney. This game probably is the best use of Edgeworth's character since Justice for All.
The basic investigation formula from the first game remains intact, but there are a few nice additions. You will sometimes have to face off against witnesses in Logic Chess, in which you must ask the right questions(or remain silent when appropriate) to get uncooperative witnesses to talk. It's fast-paced, challenging and requires you to choose your responses carefully.
Like with the first game, the penalties are relatively generous, with most taking 10% of your influence gauge, but there are a handful of occasions when mistakes are punished more severely.
The cases are overall quite good, and I don't think any of them are bad.
The first case is surprisingly high-stakes for an introductory level, featuring an assassination attempt on a foreign president.
The second case begins with a nice twist, and has some interesting characters, particularly the return of the culprit from "The First Turnabout."
The third case is one of the best in the game, particularly that part of it takes place in the past, in which you play as Miles' father Gregory on his final case.
The fourth case is easily the Darkest Hour of the game, and serves as an effective turning point, with some twists that lead into the final case.
The fifth case is one of the largest and most complex cases, effectively ties the plot together. The final showdown with the Big Bad is satisfying without being too drawn-out, unlike the previous game.
Unfortunately, the game has not been localized into English, and most likely never will be, so I ended up watching a playthrough on YouTube. Despite this, the game has a masterful fan translation effort that captures the spirit of the original script and feels as though it was done by the official localizers(especially the way the Punny Names were done), so I recommend that Ace Attorney fans experience AAI 2, regardless of how they end up playing or watching it.