Gamespot score:8.0
my score:8.0
(+)Pros:-Like all other AA games, it has a great story,-superb cast of characters,- character control feels good,-satisfying cases,-rebuttals are as awesome as courtroom battles of the previous games,-tons of cool cameos,-great music.
(-)Cons:-veterans of the series will find the game too simple,-kay (one of the best characters in the game and edgeworth's main sidekick) doesnt make her appearance until mid-late game
gameplay time:20-30 hours
Ace attorney is a superb series, probably one of capcom's best franchises. It came off as a sad thing when phoenix got removed from the scene in apollo justice, but instead of continuing apollo's story, capcom decided to switch the game's storyline back to the past, and star as edgeworth now. I kinda wanted to continue the apollo timeline...but how can any AA fan say no to playing as the one and only miles edgeworth! So without further ado, heres the rundown of miles's journey, which is a long awaited one, about damn time for everyone's favourite prosecutor to shine.
The story of AAI takes place after trials and tribulations, which is the final of phoenix's games. It shows miles coming back from a trip overseas back to his office, where a murder has taken place, thus the beginning of the first case in the game. As with the other AA games, miles's journey spreads over 5 cases, all of which are interesting. In this game, all the cases are tied to one connection, which is the thief miles is trying to catch throughout the whole game, the yatagarasu.
The yatagarasu is basically the ultimate thief, escaping everything vile it has done, and has never been caught, it is the number one blacklisted criminal. Well, just the perfect opponent for miles. When phoenix is out of town, only the 2nd best can take his place, which is of course, the one and only miles edgeworth.
AAI is different from the AA games, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, you are no longer playing a defense attorney, which means.....no more pressing the witness and shit. And secondly, no more playing in the character's perspective, now, you control miles himself, in a map based system. Basically, no more clicking "move" and you go to another area, now you will have to walk from area to area, to gather evidence. Unlike before though, there are no proper courtroom proceedures in AAI, most of the stuff are done on the field. For example, gone are the days of courtroom battles, and say hello to rebuttals, which is more of a "detective's argument" than a courtcase witness pressing. But of course, the core requirements to gather evidence before you go for a battle still stands. You will have to walk around areas, examining areas, talking to bystanders and witnesses to get the information you need.
Rebuttals function much like the courtoom battles of the previous games, just that instead of pressing a witness, you are going against another "sophisticated mind" in a head to head productive argument. Instead of hearing a witness's crap, you know listen to the opposing side's argument. The rest however, functions the same as the previous game's witness cross examination. You can read through the opposing's argument as many times as you wish, and press each and every sentence, be it to collect new info, or add new statements. Then when you find a contradictiono, present evidence to counter them. BAM! Phoenix style bee-yotch! The opposing side can be anyone, be it prosecutors, detectives or even civillians, so you can kinda know what to expect. Also, like in previous games, mistakes made equals life lost, but im not sure what miles has to lose outside of a courtroom. The thing is this, rebuttals may not be the exact same thing as the courtroom battles of the previous games, but rest assured, the enemies you face, the arguments they give...combine that with the awesome music going on, you've got some really impressive stuff going on.
There really ins't much bad things going on in AAI, but there are difficulty issues. Though the game still penalizes you for mistakes you make, you now have alot of hp in AAI, so you have a lot of liberaty to make mistakes. Also, most of the cases and investigation scenes arent that difficult anyway, so giving you that much hp is just pointless, especially to those veterans that have been following the series. The 2nd thing is kay. Shes an amazing character, much more cool and charismatic than maya (altough both of them are brimming with personality). To makes things better, shes miles's partner, sweet. But, the game takes its own sweet time to get her introduced. While the other partners maya and trucy get introduced as early as the 2nd case, kay gets introduced in late chapter 3, and that means she doesnt get much screen time in AAI, and shes miles's partner!
Happy gaming.
