The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Developer/publisher Capcom
Format PC, PS4, Switch (tested)
Release Out now
VIDEO
GALLERY
You slide the camera around 3D dioramas to highlight hidden evidence and pursue the reality of the situation
Given the tradition of Sherlock Holmes parodies – everyone from AA Milne to John Lennon has had a go – it was inevitable that gaming’s preeminent crime writer, Shu Takumi, would one day slip on the deerstalker. In the Ace Attorney series, which he created in 2001 and has orbited ever since, he leaned on the deductive reasoning of orthodox detective fiction, albeit wrapped in a manic energy that saw witnesses possessed and a parrot put on the stand. The question, then, is what happens when the inspired collides with the inspiration? Is this Sherlock Holmes in an Ace Attorney game, or an Ace Attorney in a Sherlock Holmes adventure?
Semantically, it’s neither: copyright issues result in the detective being renamed Herlock Sholmes, although his original name is clearly heard in the Japanese voice track. Sholmes isn’t a new legal workaround – Maurice Leblanc coined it in his Arsène Lupin books – and there is no doubt that we are dealing with the real deal. is steeped
