REVIEW: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles – Tales from the Court

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a collected edition of 2015’s The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures and 2017’s The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve. It is a prequel to the hit video game  The Ace Attorney franchise. It tells the rise of Japan’s great ace attorney, Ryunosuke Naruhodo , ancestor to the original series Phoenix Wright.

I had previously heard of the Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright but I never got to play a single game in the series until this review. Honestly, it was piqued my curiosity but I don’t know what I’m getting myself into.

STORY

Set in the Meiji-era,  The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures starts with Japan’s justice system in it’s infancy, and is immediately shaken by their first infamous case, a murder involving a British national, and a student attorney, the game’s protagonist Ryunosuke Naruhodo. You can say that it is a case of being in wrong place at the wrong time. You could say that this is a baptism of fire as Ryunosuke would need to defend himself against the state and prove his innocence that he did not commit their murder.

The game is similar to a television court drama and other characters are introduced to the game as the case progresses. Each character has a distinct personality that helps you unravel the case or threw yourself of it. Upon solving the fist two cases in Japan, Ryunosuke, the game moves to Victorian London and team-up with the great detective Herlock Sholmes as they take on cases in the west in Resolve.

GAMEPLAY

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is visual novel meets a detective/mystery game. It depicts normal court proceedings such as the prosecutors and defense presentation of the case, presentation of the witness, a cross examination and the judge handing out a verdict. You can set the gameplay to Story Mode and let the case present itself.

As a visual novel, you spent 70% of your time watching rather than playing.  You need to be prepared as this game involves reading and lots of it. This is not the usual rpg that you can skip through the dialogue as certain statements involve key elements that would help you solve the case. However, if you’re stumped for clues and find it hard to progress, you can enable to game’s story mode and just watch the game play itself like watching an anime or animated version of Suits (the only court drama that I’ve seen.)

The remaining 30% is where you actually play and conduct your investigation and cross-examinations of witness statements, analyzing and presenting evidences as to how they relate to the case. You need to pay attention to the details as a single lapse may cause you a guilty verdict. A new feature is added to the gameplay when playing Resolve as the jury is introduced.

Another addition to the gameplay Resolve is the investigation at the crime scene and the Great Deduction of Herlock Sholmes. In this portion of the game, you correct the deductions and statements of Herlock to uncover the truth about the case.

VISUALS AND PERFORMANCE

The visuals for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is what you’d expect from a JRPG / Visual Anime. It uses art styles used in anime with a combination of 2D designs for the game’s characters with 3D backgrounds. The cutscenes in the game were reminiscent of the hand drawn anime of the 90s.

The characters are drawn with different personalities that gives the game its charm. There are certain characters (such as the state prosecutor) that you love to hate or laugh at Ryunosuke’s antics as to how he stumble in different moments in the case.

VERDICT

Even without playing a single Ace Attorney game, I had a good experience playing Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. With a compelling story, you get invested in the case and the characters as you play along. The characters may fool as you might think that this is an easy game with it being an anime but I kid you not, there are certain moments in the game that I felt stucked and let the game play itself. However, the game also has its rewarding moments after unraveling clue and you say to yourself ‘i got you now! You’re going down” and then the game throws you another curve ball. It’s a great design that it keeps the players on their feet and let you feel that every moment and conversation (even if Ryunosuke  is annoying at times) is crucial.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a good game but it’s just not for me. I had a good time playing and got invested in the characters and their stories but I just don’t have the time. With the demands of everyday life, I prefer to play action oriented games rather than visual novels.  It may take you an upwards of 40 hours to finish the entire game. Fans of visual novels who would like to delve into other games in the genre, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles  is nice introduction to the franchise. Existing fans would also be delighted to relive the Ace Attorney experience and take on these new cases in Ryunosuke shoes.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles  is now available on the PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch.

[This review is based on a retail copy of  the game provided by the publisher]