Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Reviews

As quoted from Gamespot (the current site ad as well as the sticker that was on my copy of the game): "Call of Duty in the air is underselling it".

That, in a nutshell, describes the entire game. This cannot really be called an Ace Combat game, as it has none of the characteristics that made the others great. This game can essentially be described as HAWX 3.

With that said, let us examine the game as it stands:

It has a good variety of missions, placing you in various fighters, bombers, and fighter/bombers as well as helicopters and a unique aircraft familiar to CoD fans. There are some door-gunner sequences that are initially fun, but quickly become boring as they drag on for ~15 minutes.

There are some fun scripted sequences, particularly in the new DFM (dogfighting maneuvers) mode whereby you get in close behind an enemy and start an arcade-like pursuit to finish him off. Some levels script the enemy to fly you through oil derricks, skyscrapers, etc, and this can be entertaining initially. It can also wear quite thin when you find it difficult to kill enemies without using it, however. There are also frustrating points where the enemies have plot-armour preventing them from being shot down that only disappears in DFM or after enough radio-chatter. There also exists a ground-attack version of DFM, ASM (air-surface maneuvers?) that orients you along an attack vector with quick weapon recharge and chain-gun upgrade to destroy everything in your path.

It has a fairly predictable story that is quite forgettable, along with some cringe-worthy dialogue. The characters are bland and/or cliched stereotypes, and generally either unlikeable for forgettable (I forgot the names of essentially everybody over the course of the game). You likely won't care much about the story or people at all. The story is also short, clocking in at 15-16 missions, which should take no longer than 6 hours or so if you take it slow.

The multiplayer, however, is surprisingly fun, and I actually enjoyed it more than previous AC games. There is a standard Deathmatch, but there also exists a King of the Hill type mode with control points along with an attack-and defend HQ mode that can be quite entertaining. The inclusion of helicopters adds another vector since they can fly between buildings at street level on some maps, protecting them from jets from many angles, and can shoot down missiles with their chain gun for defense or protection.

The achievements are much, much less grindy than AC6, and the majority are fairly trivial (possibly excepting the getting 'A' on all missions achievement).

The Ace Combat series has a rich history, with a well-fleshed out alternate Earth (called Strangereal), and a tradition of insane (and insanely-cool) superweapons as well as making you feel like a boss on the final mission (whether you were Mobius One, Talisman, Cipher or Blaze), flying through and destroying the superweapon and/or the top enemy Ace. This game has none of that, so you may be quite disappointed if you are a longtime Ace Combat fan.

That being said, if this game was CoD: Assault Horizon, it could be considered a decent game. Just don't expect to enjoy it in the same fashion as other AC games.

Thus, enjoy it over a rental period.

Full Disclosure: I loved Ace Combat 6. Played hours online, found it supremely addictive, even didn't totally mind the stupid story.

So, I was very excited about Ace Combat: Assualt Horizon. And then I played it, and was much less excited.

First the good. It's still very pretty, it's still very fun and accessible to jump in your jet and fly around and it still has a TON of different jets to fly if you're into that (and I am). The single player isn't particularly long, but given how that seems to be a comment on every game the last 18-24 months, it isn't pathetically short either.

But, the new things they added have hurt this game badly for me.

First, they added some, let's call them game modes. Some AC-130 gunship, some helicopters and some bombers. None work particularly well. For the AC-130, they saw what Modern Warfare did and basically copied it. But did a much worse job. The bomber mission is just sort of staid. And the helicopters were okay, but I prefer the speed of flying around in my jet and this was a bit of a slow, harder to handle interlude.

Second, they made it more arcade style. Now, hard core flight jockeys would say the series has always been basically an arcade - and that may be true, but this is worse. There's a dogfighting mechanic that allows for "reversals" where you draw them in close and let them shoot right by (we'll call it "The Maverick"). It's cheap, it's silly and it takes you out of any immersive flight sim experience you might have had. There's a similar "ASM" ground strafing mechanic that is The Maverick's attack-based partner.

If you're really into flight games, this is probably still worth getting but also will probably leave you grumbling. If you're just mixed on the genre, this is not the game that will get you hooked.

So here we are again, another Ace Combat outing. I personally thought the previous AC was dismal, particularly from the point of view of achievements and what they expected of you, I mean come on, complete the entire game using only guns...really?

The first thing that struck me about AC: Assault Horizon was the real world locations, so much better than the fictional lands in previous outings, and of course graphically it is much better. There are a nice array of aircraft available in game with plenty of unlockable skins for completing the campaign on various difficulties and in Multiplayer.

Very quickly when playing however comes my gripe, my reason for 4 stars only, however unpopular it may be amongst some, I cannot get along with the new DFM / ASM features. Basically you will approach an aerial target, or annoying entry point to a ground attack run, you will then be prompted to press LB/RB together to enter the game mode. In ASM mode you fly down a corridor taking out ground targets with heavy bonuses to your output power, and in DFM mode, you move into a close dogfight scenario weaving around behind your foe until your missile meter fills up and you can take him out, or at least try. Problem is, it just comes across as tedious, unnecessary and to be honest very inaccurate.

I mean it is intended to give a sense of speed and heart thumping action, and it does in some small part but, to anyone who knows anything about aircraft, when you enter into a dogfight with an SU-25 Frogfoot and it weaves around the skies like a small agile fighter such as the Typhoon, it starts getting a bit silly. The Frogfoot is so slow in real life it take bird strikes in the rear and turns like a pregnant cow, it is basically the fat guy who never leaves his house and hasn't seen his genitals in 15 years of the aviation world, and you struggle to tail him as he moves around like Wes Welker on a rush to the endzone with his ass on fire?

That aside it is a fantastically well written game, good missions with much variation, I haven't forgotten about the helicopters which now feature very successfully in the game, and have some solid mission outings, and feel they really belong in the series now.

For me the crowning glory however, is the one thing that has plagued me about the series for some time, the inevitable pathetic assault on some futuristic flying fortress followed by some lame excuse on the last level for trying to fly down some tunnel without hitting the walls.

I was dreading that in this, and I was delighted when I found it wasn't in! There is still the 'fly under the radar coverage' level, but that can be forgiven, especially seeing as you get to fly the B1-B Lancer or later the B2 Spirit whilst doing it, fantastic and very faithful renditions of these excellent aircraft they are too.

All in all it is an excellent title, the achievements are a nice mix of story progression, skill based achievements and multiplayer based ones which will take some time for a couple. The multiplayer mode itself is varied and fun, at the moment there are no problems finding a match and it really does add something to the game.

Just such a shame about those silly Dogfight modes etc, or this would have been a solid 5 star for me!