I have to say that I was unexpectedly delighted by the successor to the ace attorney series.
To begin with, the gameplay mechanics are expanded upon, and they serve logical and intuitional purposes, as well as interweaving with the story. The main mechanics of the original games are still present.
The narrative is incredibly satisfying and occupies a much more grandiose scale, a very welcome change from the original series' more inconsequential and at times ad-hoc writing.
The experience of each case flows smoothly, with solutions that are not impossible or cryptic, but very intelligently placed. I only experienced one sequence where the solution was less intuitive and more frustrating.
The soundtrack is a blessing. It is heavily inspired by the classical instruments of the Victorian period, but I can see that the composers both come from a more game-oriented background, the music is very much appealing to a more broader and contemporary audience. They're also very catchy!
The visuals (Character Design and modelling) are entirely an Anime framework. I personally wish they would have leaned into the Victorian-era visual style more, with either more ochre-browns or an impressionistic style, which was quite popular at the time. Considering the resources available in Japan for game design, I suppose it isn't that surprising that the overall visual language is Anime. The subject matter (what they wear) is somewhat in keeping with the British period, but the Japanese characters are very accurate!
The Anime sequences which play before every episode, I was honestly very shocked at the level of quality this game had been given! Each one is a visual delight, though with a nit-picking eye you can occasionally see instances of thick outlining and the use of the transform tool/puppet animation to save money. This does not detract from the overall experience.
The sound design is rather nice. There is a clear inspiration from the Victorian time period the game is set in, and the sound effects give an air of that exciting mechanical age of the era. My only critique is that the one or two sounds carried over from the original Ace Attorney games can at times clash with the overall feeling of the game, and the original sounds were not carefully crafted to begin with, so it does feel like playing a cheap game at times (especially when used constantly). The "ding!" effect is the biggest offender here.
The animation is well done, and there is a mixture of hand-crafted and motion-capture animation. These surprisingly do not clash, with the motion-capture used quite frequently for more comedic purposes. There is one instance of the main character walking across the screen which utilizes motion-capture, and I believe this is where the technique falls flat, making him look more like a poorly worn costume than a "person". Despite this, it is not significant enough to be a detriment to the game's experience. I would suggest avoiding any frame-enhancing setting on your TV, because the game does not seem to run at 60 per second.
A rather noticeable shortfall of the game is it's depiction of racism. Considering that the writers are from a somewhat homogenous society with very little understanding or reflection of racism, it only follows that the way in which it is depicted is almost comically childish and flat. The "racism" amounts at most to a very surface-level "nationalism". There is no concept of a belief of racial hierarchy or social Darwinism, concepts that were very rampant in great Britain and one which would have likely harmed the main character's aspirations in meaningful ways. The game's development team are very clearly not well-versed in diversity, which is rather expected for Japan. Ironically, the Irish antagonist is the only such character that *almost* touches on such issues.
Despite my many critiques of the game, I cannot reasonably give it a rating any less than ten out of ten. All threads are woven together quite wonderfully, and I suspect this has partial credit with the game's director. Each department has clearly submitted their highest efforts and, with careful management, have complimented each other in a way which nullifies the many shortcomings the game may have. I cannot reasonably find myself doing anything other than giving this "almost perfect" game a full rating.
