Having played every single Ace Attorney there has been in the US, including Apollo Justice (ugh...), I have to say that I eagerly awaited Miles Edgeworth. After all, he's been my favorite character of the series besides Mia. I did read other professional reviews that noted some of the changes in the gameplay from those to this, and maybe I just didn't expect it to be this drastically different.
If you've never played an Ace Attorney game...well, first off, shame on you. Second, this is essentially a text-based crime solving game. You go to different locations, collect evidence, talk to witnesses, and then face them with what you've found. Edgeworth does not deviate from this basic formula, but a lot of core staples of the series were removed in favor of what I can only speculate is an attempt to garner more fans with a less-involved gameplay setting.
The first thing I noticed was that instead of the still imagery where you could imagine yourself as Phoenix Wright or Apollo Justice, you're now navigating a pseudo-3D environment as Miles Edgeworth. In each instance he's attempting to investigate something that's randomly happened in his presence. This is a far cry from Phoenix Wright in particular, where it opened with a mysterious entry and then left you to fill in the blanks as the story unfolded, culminating into a plot twist more often than not. In Edgeworth everything is almost too predictable, because the incidents always happen nearby, and the killer is almost always one of the first people you interview. This detracts from the mystery, and I was left feeling as though the challenge had been dumbed down.
Edgeworth also does the one thing I really can't stand from non-RPG games: It brings back EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER from the Phoenix Wright series in some way, shape, form or fashion, with the possible exception of Mia and some of the criminals. Von Karma, Gumshoe, Oldbag, even the chick with the forensics tools makes a brief cameo appearance. None of these characters with the exception of Gumshoe is really integral to anything like they were in the Phoenix Wright games, and while it was slightly good to see them again, to have them all thrown back in here for the sake of nostalgia was insulting at times, especially with the girl security guard from, I believe, Trials and Tribulations (might be wrong on that).
Lastly, I found very little challenge with the evidence presenting during the interrogation phases. In almost every situation it was blatantly obvious how to proceed; there were only a select few instances where I was stumped and had to guess a couple of times. Generally speaking it was a breeze to figure out what to do, and this is definitely a change for the worse. I'll admit that I did complain about some of Phoenix Wright's stunts with evidence, and the fact that you could only present at certain statements even if the statement had nothing to do with the evidence it wants (Trials and Tribulations I'm looking at you), but I didn't expect it to be THIS dumbed down. There are times you're stuck with over 24 pieces of evidence, of which 7 are presented at any given time, and they're obvious. It's not like it's a stretch to figure out what's going on.
New to the series are the "Logic" and "Deduce" features. Logic captures certain statements from people or investigations, then you need to match two statements that are related in order to figure something out. In my opinion this was very poorly implemented; there are times that you're looking for evidence when what the game really wants is for you to connect some Logic statements. Also, depending on certain investigations, you might need to Deduce something, which relates it to a piece of evidence you own. This is a bit more forgiving and sensible than Logic, but Logic is more prevalent than Deduce. Both feel like steps in the wrong direction - it's obvious why they added these features: to spice up the game, but I still feel they weren't necessary in the grand scheme of things and should have been left out.
I mentioned before that Edgeworth's cases don't feel nearly as deep as Phoenix Wright, and I want to expand on that. In the second Phoenix Wright game, I believe, there is a case where the first thing you're shown is what appears to be Miles Edgeworth holding a smoking gun and standing over a dead body. This automatically leads you to believe that Miles has killed someone. Phoenix takes the case, and eventually solves it, releasing his friend from liability, but the path to get there is difficult and quite lengthy. There are times when all evidence seems to point to Miles as the killer, and it isn't until the end of the game that you find out that he isn't. Other cases involve kidnappings, some involve Phoenix's friends getting into trouble, and all the while you are remembering Mia, your mentor, looking down on you as you solve cases. You even still have the same office you used to. There is a strong feeling of character with Phoenix Wright that can't be explained. Apollo Justice lacked this feeling, and Edgeworth in this game does as well. It's a shame really, because he was such a compelling character in the Phoenix Wright games.
What makes this one stand out above the rest is the overarching storyline. Miles is deep rooted in a smuggling ring that has broad reaching implications. Franziska von Karma is also involved, and every case somehow ties to that arch. It's an excellently told main storyline, better than Apollo Justice, which tried to do the same thing with a gambling Phoenix Wright, but poorly.
In short, do I recommend it? Yes, I do. Despite what I said above, it IS a fun game (note my fun rating). Compared to the three Phoenix Wright games I find it to be a pale shadow. I find it to be superior in storyline to Apollo Justice. If the game had come out before Phoenix Wright I'd probably have a better opinion of it, which is why I still recommend the game. It's not a bad game. It's just not as good as Phoenix Wright was.
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