8. Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
Ace Attorney Investigations is the most different game of the entire series, casting players as the ace prosecution attorney, Miles Edgeworth, instead of a defense lawyer. Because of this, the gameplay deviates just a bit from the norm as well, and although the game does have a continuous plot, each case is basically self-contained.
The game is all about investigating crime scenes, and is presented from a mostly third-person perspective. Players move Edgeworth around each crime scene, searching for evidence and talking to witnesses to try and uncover what happened. A skill called “deduction” allows you to point out a contradiction between what is perceived at a crime scene and the evidence. After that, you enter a rebuttal phase, where a witness or rival character gives their description of what happened, and you have to point out the discrepancies and issues with their testimony. It was certainly different for an Ace Attorney game, but just didn’t generally stack up against the other games in the series. It was missing the courtroom drama that made the Ace Attorney games so memorable, focusing on the investigations this time around. While Miles Edgeworth certainly still had some fun characters and twists, it just felt like it was lacking an important piece of an Ace Attorney game.
