Miles Edgeworth Returns in Ace Attorney Investigations 2

Digital prosecutor Miles Edgeworth has become quite the popular character, arguably moreso than his defense attorney counterpart Phoenix Wright, to which he proved to be the primary rival in his series of games. Having now been spun off into his own Ace Attorney Investigations series of games, Edgeworth proved to be a capable enough protagonist to shine on his own, which makes it all the more sensical that Capcom would announce a sequel.

Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (or Gyakuten Kenji 2 for you Japanese folk) was unveiled in the latest issue of Famitsu magazine, and will feature the identical point-and-click gameplay of its predecessor, plus some new features, such a new “chess” mode. All this is great, but will the series remain out of the courtroom for the foreseeable future?

One major criticism leveled against Edgeworth’s first adventure was the complete lack of courtroom situations, a first for the franchise. While it did mix up the tired investigate/trial/investigate/trial pattern that was prevalent in the first four games, there was something to be said about matching wits against a prosecutor on a case, despite the obvious “one solution” system.

Still, there isn’t much to hate about this announcement. The Ace Attorney franchise remains among the most critically-acclaimed series ever, with a huge cult following. Sure, the series has its drawbacks, but with a history of interesting stories and plenty of twists and turns, the series tends to be one of the few games that keeps players on the edge of their seats just like a good mystery novel.

It’s part of this appeal that we’re eagerly awaiting more details, sure to come at next week’s Tokyo Game Show.