The Plucky Squire review: Now that's what I call a real page-turner, writes PETER HOSKIN By Peter Hoskin For The Daily Mail Published: 00:01 BST, 20 September 2024 | Updated: 00:04 BST, 20 September 2024 e-mail View comments The Plucky Squire ( PlayStation , Xbox, Switch, PC, £24.99) Verdict: A real page-turner Rating: This squire sure is plucky. With his jaunty hat and gleaming blade, he bounces around the pages of a storybook land, dispatching monsters and righting wrongs.
His friends — and he seems to have many, all of them kooky — call him Jot. It's an apt name because Jot is actually a jotting or illustration. When I said 'storybook land' above, I meant a literal storybook: this plucky squire's adventures take place across the pages of a children's tale.
When he's not jumping like Mario or sword-swinging like Link, he can move words around to push the narrative forward. The page turns. It's delightfully clever.
And it gets even cleverer. Thanks to the nefarious schemes of the evil wizard Humgrump, Jot is ejected from his paperbound land into the real world of a young boy's bedroom. A 2D experience turns into a 3D one.
The Plucky Squire is a 2024 action-adventure platform game It is developed by All Possible Futures and published by Developer Digital The game follows the magical adventures of storybook characters Jot and his friends who discover a 3D world outside of the pages of their book Pretty soon, courtesy of another magical intervention, you're navigating Jot between these two realms — the book and the bedroom — carrying objects and ideas from one into the other, so as to upset Humgrump's plan to subvert the ending of this particular story. The transitions are seamless. It's such a brilliantly simple idea that you'll wonder why no-one's ever really done it before.
Though, at times, you might also wish for a little more complication. The uniqueness of The Plucky Squire's setup isn't quite matched by its moment-to-moment gameplay — the platforming and combat — which can feel a little too straightforward and derivative. Still, when the overall game is as joyous as this one, does that matter one, er, jot? Not really.
This pluckiest of squires is a new literary hero. I hope he's here to stay. Ace Attorney Investigations Collection (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, £34.
99) Verdict: A legal eagle soars Rating: The Ace Attorney series has always had a great reputation among the gaming cognoscenti — though sometimes it really has only been a reputation. Thanks to them being stuck on older hardware or confined to their native Japan, these crime-solving games haven't always been easy to play. Unscrupulous fans have had to resort to unofficial English translations downloaded from the darker corners of the internet.
Until now, that is. Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth and the cast of family, friends and foes that test his patience The Japanese publishers Capcom have recently been on a brilliant run with Ace Attorney, polishing up all the older games so that they can shine on the Nintendo Switch — and now they've completed that task with the release of the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection. Here are splendiferous versions of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, which was first released on the Nintendo DS in 2010, and its sequel, Prosecutor's Gambit, which was limited to Japan in 2011.
You can choose between the original versions' pixellated graphics or beautiful new HD anime re-dos. It's unsurprising that Capcom got round to this pair last — not because they're bad, but because they're slightly atypical. Here, instead of playing as a defence attorney like Phoenix Wright, you're playing as the confident prosecuting attorney Miles Edgeworth.
It is, accordingly, a different experience. Foremost among those differences is Edgeworth's more investigative skillset. He wanders around crime scenes, looking for clues, and making deductions based on what he finds.
With those parts completed, there follows the more traditional Ace Attorney experience of cross-examining witnesses and looking for holes in their statements — so as to issue case-breaking rebuttals. The Japanese publishers Capcom have recently been on a brilliant run with Ace Attorney, polishing up all the older games so that they can shine on the Nintendo Switch Edgeworth wanders around crime scenes, looking for clues, and making deductions based on what he finds It's tremendously enjoyable, even if the cross-examinations do sometimes feel a little trial-and-error. Across the cases in these two games, you're treated to compelling overarching crime stories as well as character studies of Edgeworth and his friends and adversaries.
These are some of the best personalities in all gaming. Now all Capcom needs to do is provide us with more. Not remakes of older games — but an entirely new Ace Attorney game to exercise our legal brains.
Only then will true justice be served. Playstation Japan Share or comment on this article: The Plucky Squire review: Now that's what I call a real page-turner, writes PETER HOSKIN e-mail Add comment.
