Turnabout Succession
I just made it into the fourth/final case in Ace Attorney 4 this afternoon. This game feels a lot shorter than the previous two (though from the feeling I get about the fourth case, it may yet pan out). While I always feel a natural sense of accomplishment whenever I complete a case, I simultaneously dread that I’m one chapter closer to the game’s inevitable end. And with this game, I can feel the end creeping toward me in double-time.
Counter-intuitive as it may sound, my ill-fated wish for each case to drag on for as long as possible is at least shared by the game’s developers. I heard in a recent interview that producing the game was handled in a very similar way. The developers would continue to expand upon a case, exploring the characters and possibilities deeper, until the head producers would tell them to stop.
So far, the game’s shortness is my only real complaint. Everything else would be categorized as a nit-pick. I love a lot of the new features, like Apollo’s “Eye Of Thundera” bracelet powers in court, though I miss how the Psych Lock function in the previous games made the investigation portions more interesting. My argument would be that the courtroom sections of the games never needed any extra help, since they were already the most exciting part of the games. But now the investigation parts are boring again, even with all the new ways to examine evidence. Also, while the third chapter kinda came together in the end, I felt that there were still some holes in my case that should have been filled. Heh, almost like I shouldn’t have won.
But like I said, I’m in the last chapter… It’s supposed to be incredibly thick with plot, so I’m sure that I’ll be satisfied by its conclusion. I truly hope they continue to make Ace Attorney games forever. While no fifth game in the series has been officially announced, there’s supposed to be some project titled “Gyakuten Not Saiban” to be released next month, though no one has any idea what it is.
