I absolutely love the Ace Attorney series, so I made sure to stop by Capcom’s booth to sample their latest entry, Ace Attorney Investigations 2. The booth itself was pretty fantastic, adorned with a giant inflatable Steel Samurai set against a backdrop designed to appear exactly like the opening sequence of the game. While I waited in line to play, I was treated to an interesting trailer, complete with voice-acting.
Needless to say, it immediately got my hopes up. Who wouldn’t want to hear Miles Edgeworth berate his incompetent partner, or interrogate a witness until they piss themselves? So, did the demo live up to that expectation? Read more after the break.
So, as the line neared the end, I was handed a card explaining the new features and controls — which might have been cool if not for the fact that it was entirely in moon speak. Unfortunately, I could barely read it, despite my ability to speak the language to some degree, but thankfully that didn’t prove to be an issue at first.
I was promptly seated at a table with three other people, and handed a pair of headphones along with the DS — which I had really hoped might allow me to hear the fabled voice-acting that I had witnessed with the trailer. I flipped the system on and booted up the demo.
Not to spoil too much, but the opening sequence features what appears to be a politician being assassinated via gunshot on a podium, by a plane. The next sequence shows Miles throwing on his jacket and the game begins with Edgeworth and Gumshoe standing at the scene of the crime. After a quick investigation — which plays exactly like the previous title, complete with combining clues via the logic system — you meet his new would-be rival, a young reporter named Makiko. Like most characters, her name will likely be changed should the game head stateside.
Miles then proceeds to question her, which leads to the activation of the new Chess system that everyone has been talking about for the last week. From what I could see, the whole chess concept is more of a visual aid to assist you in determining what choices to make when attempting to win the debate, which the opponents argument being represented by stronger — or arguably more important — pieces. The debate is also timed, and failure to properly question the opponent results in a penalty to that time. It was kind of a cool little twist on the classic interrogation sequences.
I didn’t really get much more time with it, but so far, I’d say the game is really promising — unfortunately the voice acting wasn’t present during the gameplay, but I don’t think that’ll keep me from wanting to play it in the future. I have no idea when we can expect to see the game released in Europe or the US but it’s currently slated for release in Japan next Spring. Until then, we’ll be left wanting more.
