The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a collection of two of the best adventure games ever made. The story is enthralling the entire way through, the music is astounding, and the localization deserves the highest praise. Anyone with a penchant for good stories needs to check out this Collection, as it will go down as one of the best releases this year, and in recent memory.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Developer: Capcom
Price: $40
Platforms: PS4 (reviewed) and Nintendo Switch
MonsterVine was provided with a PS4 code for review
The Ace Attorney series is one that is very close to my heart, having played them on the DS as an impressionable pre-teen. Like many others who love the series, I’ve long wanted to play the Great Ace Attorney games, which until now, never came to Western shores (along with Investigations 2, but we’ll save that for another day.) Now that we finally have the chance to experience both Great Ace Attorney games in English, the question is, was the wait worth it? In my opinion, the finished package is worth it and then some.
In The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, you play as Ryunosuke Naruhodo, a young man who is thrown into the role of a defense attorney. Through a series of wild events, Ryunosuke ends up in Great Britain alongside Susato Mikotoba, his judicial assistant and friend, where he meets the great Herlock Sholmes and his ward, Iris Wilson. Together, the group begins to unravel a dastardly, world-reaching conspiracy as they meet a wide cast of eccentric characters from Great Britain and Japan alike.
This collection contains two games: The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures and Resolve. These games feature one continuous storyline divided into ten episodes of investigations and courtroom battles. The overarching story had me captivated from the beginning, and towards the end, it shocked and impressed me more than a few times. Every tantalizing loose end and mystery is resolved in an immensely satisfying way, making for a brilliant duology. Even the smaller stories on a case-by-case basis grab your attention, with mysteries that are a blast to unravel.
“Teetering between brilliant and moronic, Herlock Sholmes has so much charm that I’d be shocked if anyone disliked his character.“
The characters of The Great Ace Attorney may very well be its strongest point. Ryunosuke and Susato are similar to Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey in some ways, but they stand out as their own characters. Iris is delightful and shockingly, for a ten-year-old character, not annoying at all. Then there’s Herlock Sholmes, my new favorite Ace Attorney character. Teetering between brilliant and moronic, Herlock Sholmes has so much charm that I’d be shocked if anyone disliked his character. He’s behind quite a few brilliant moments and heart-warming sequences and is easily the stand-out character of the duology. All the eccentric witnesses and the complicated and vindictive prosecutor, Barok Van Zieks, are enthralling in their own ways, and there were few, if any, characters that I wasn’t in some way interested in.
One thing that really impressed me about the story of both games is how it features uncomfortable topics in an honest way. Primarily, there’s a lot of casual racism thrown at Ryunosuke and Susato by witnesses and prosecutors in Great Britain, often in the form of pointing out their “Nipponese” heritage as a character flaw, or as a reason for them not understanding certain information. This treatment is never presented in a positive or accepting way, so much as in either a negative or ignorant way. It feels accurate to the time period, and it makes you want to prove the other characters wrong in their discriminatory assumptions. It’s a very tricky thing to implement in a game with tact, so I applaud Capcom’s willingness to examine the racism and xenophobia of the late 1800s to early 1900ss.
The gameplay of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is similar to previous games in that there’s a lot of reading, with the focus being on gathering information and using evidence to disprove false or contradictory statements made in the courtroom. Few games are as adept at making you feel intelligent as The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, as the gameplay encourages you to examine evidence and put theories together in your head like a true fictional attorney/detective. When you come upon a contradiction and point it out, there’s a sense of euphoria that no other game series can match, as you feel like the smartest person in the fictional room. Finding new information through “The Dance of Deduction” with Herlock Sholmes is a stellar new feature, as Herlock makes ridiculous half-true theories that you iron out using evidence and information. It helps that it’s a literal dance as well, which is as delightfully goofy as it sounds.
The mechanics of previous Ace Attorney games are greatly expanded upon in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, particularly with the addition of Summation Examinations. Unlike most Ace Attorney titles, this duology has a jury of six throughout most of its trials. The jury will decide upon a verdict based on arguments from the defense and prosecution, often leading to them all voting “Guilty,” which is when you can dive into Summation Examinations. This is where you examine individual jury member statements and pin jurors against one another to flip their verdict and prolong the trial. It’s a riveting addition that makes it feel like you’re always getting through by the skin of your teeth, which provides some extra tension to cases when you think you have everything figured out.
“There’s a ton of fascinating written insight from developers, artists, and composers throughout the Gallery, which gives you an in-depth understanding of why everything is the way it is.“
Even outside of the two games, there are some truly impressive bonus features. If you want a bit of extra narrative, the bite-sized Escapade adventures that take place between the two games are an excellent addition. Then there’s the behind-the-scenes information featured with the art and music in the Gallery. There’s a ton of fascinating written insight from developers, artists, and composers throughout the Gallery, which gives you an in-depth understanding of why everything is the way it is. I’ve never really seen this level of detail go into a behind-the-scenes look in a game, so I’m very impressed with its inclusion.
The visuals are surprisingly strong for two games that were originally on the Nintendo 3DS. The character models contain the style of the 2D Ace Attorney games, without looking odd or out of place. The animations are expressive and, at times, hilarious, with Herlock Sholmes having some particularly entertaining animations. The backgrounds and environments are well-detailed and fun to gaze upon as you look for clues, and the character design is some of the best in the Ace Attorney series, which is quite a feat.
Finally, the music is one of the best parts of this collection. Every track, from the grand Court theme to the duology’s exciting take on “Pursuit,” feel perfectly suited to the moments in which they’re used. Almost every single track is insanely memorable, and worms its way into your head upon just a few listens. I’m listening to the soundtrack as I write this purely because of how catchy the soundtrack is– I just keep wanting to hear it again and again.
The Final Word
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles may be Shu Takumi and Capcom’s best Ace Attorney work yet. Every case is fascinating and fun to unravel, the characters are incredibly memorable, and the music is breath-taking. Whether you’ve never played an Ace Attorney game or are a longtime series fan, you need to play this collection.
MonsterVine Rating: 5 out of 5 – Excellent
