This game had all the makings to be my favourite Ace Attorney game. No psychic shenanigans. The music being the best the series has ever produced (in the four games I've played thus far). Some absolute bangers are finding them straight into a spotify playlist ASAP. This game also has my favourite supporting character in an Ace Attorney game, a Mr. Herlock Sholmes. He is fucking hilarious and grew on me far more than I initially expected. By the end of the third case I was convinced that this would top Trials and Tribulations as my favourite game in the series. However it loses a lot of enjoyment in one place in particular; very slow pacing.

Thankfully once each case gets going my grievances tend to fade away, but there are some parts in the investigation periods particularly where I just wanted things to hurry along. Also during trials some of the solutions would be glaringly obvious but you had to spend 3 minutes to let the in game characters to come to very obvious conclusions. However when this game gets good, the case is in its final stretches, the music is blaring, objections reigning out from each side, the game really scratches that Ace Attorney itch.

Gameplay wise this game also felt a lot more engaging, being able to interact and spin around pieces of evidence to discover clues that actively would be used to turn trials around, most notably an ENTIRE FUCKIN' BUS being evidence in which you can explore. My only real grievance with the mechanic would be that you don't get an indicator to show you've examined a particular area when dealing with evidence. This means that at times during trials I would miss a clue thinking I'd already pressed on that particular prompt. There is also the deductions of Herlock Sholmes which conceptually interested me but often went on longer than I wanted them too. The jury system also was a surprising addition but one that added to the gameplay. Summation soundtrack SLAPPING also helped.

Overall I really liked the game. The music is really freaking good. If you can tolerate some pacing issues here and this game is well worth playing.

Reviewed on Aug 27, 2023


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