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Ace Combat: Assault Horizon review

On October 29, 2011 by Ash Meehan
ACAH_PS3FOB_MockBox

Ace Combat has finally flown back to consoles with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon from Project Aces and Namco Bandai. Personally I haven’t played an Ace Combat game since Belkan War. Well let’s get this review started.

Assault Horizon has one major change from previous Ace Combat games and that is change alternative Earth with nations like Usea, Osean Federation to name but a few, but Assault Horizon has decided to do away with this and go for present day Earth and so straight off the bat we lose what is my opinion one of the best parts of the game, but there is no sense on wallowing in the past I guess.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon sees the inclusion of non jet mission with helicopter and bombing and gunship missions taking place. They don’t take too much away from the experience.

The game also sees dogfight mode (DFM) and airstrike mode (ASM) both of which in my mind are welcome, well more so the DFM because prior to that I felt in previous Ace Combat games fights felt boring and while DFM feels a tad easy it brings some excitement. Get close enough and you can activate it and ride right up the back of the enemy and when you know you have locked fire a rocket or 2. Also machine guns work well in this mode.
DFM also allows for some great cinematic battles as the enemies also have DFM so when they uses it you have to try to counter with evasion and to do so you must line up a green and red arrow and activate your DFM and point your left analog stick in the way another green arrow tells you and ACAH_Markov_aircraft-001 this will lead to a cinematic evasion which will put you in DFM on the plane that was on your tail. Also when you blow up a get in DFM or ASM you get a nice cinematic explosion which is nice until you realize the ground is rapidly taking up more space.

ASM is different to DFM as it allows for easier bombing runs, you just go to an area with a green triangle and press the DFM/ASM button and begin. The ASM isn’t as important as DFM, but it does help making bomb runs easier.

Away from the changes we have a good story which involves a rebel Russian faction and powerful explosive device called Trinity which the rebels threaten to use on major cities. Throughout the story you take the role of 4 different task 108 members in fight, bomber, gunship and helicopter missions for the UN. Yes, that is right you may be playing Americans but you are under the UN and you also have Russians on your side.

The story starts you off in Eastern Africa as you are trying to help stabilize the region after conflicts are erupting. After you finish one mission early on in the game the Russian squadron takes off as your squad is landing and they make their intensions clear as what can only be described as a brilliant array of dog fighting, bullet and missile dogging. This mission alone really got me into the game.

As the mission unfolds you are brought too many countries which include United Arab Emirates, Russia, America and of course Eastern Africa.
Your main enemy in the game is Makarov who is nicknamed “The Shark” and he is the rebels Ace and fighting him feels like you are fighting an ace as he actively dodges out of DFM and makes you work for a DFM on him.

Overall the story is fun with the pace is evenly spread out and doesn’t go stale because of the changes from bomber to helicopter to fighter.

Finally we have the online multiplayer which has 3 modes and a co-op mode. The 3 modes are deathmatch, domination and capital conquest.

  • Deathmatch is what you expect it to be with a battle to a certain score to win for your team
  • Conquest sees you split into teams and capture enemy bases
  • Capital conquest sees you split into teams and destroy the enemy headquarters.

The multiplayer like many multiplayer games has a skill set you can choose from which are unlocked via points you get by playing match from getting kills to being on the winning team. Some skill sets include enhanced DFM which makes it easier to go into DFM and enhanced MG which increases the fire power of your machine gun. There is a wide selection to suit any player and while they are helpful it doesn’t appear to make players over powered against new players who may have no skills purchased.

Finally we have mission co-op which allows you to team up with another player for a selection of co-op based missions.

Overall multiplayer is a good fun and while I usually play Ace Combat games for their single player I gave the multiplayer a go and enjoyed. Personally I enjoyed the capital conquest game type the most because it feels like a campaign mission but with real people, but the other 2 felt average.

Positives:

  • Above average single player story
  • Controls are easy to use and DFM and ASM are a welcome addition.

Negatives:

  • While the inclusion of helicopter, gunships and bombers are fun. I think it takes a bit away from a game which is mainly based around fighter jets.
  • Hitting the ground sees you bounce off it and back into the air if you hit it at a certain angle.
  • The change away from alternative universe

Overall score: 85%

Great game and may turn a few non Ace Combat fans into fans of the series.

Also here is a glimpse of some single player gameplay.

Author: Ash Meehan

Hi, I’m the creator of SG Gaming Info. When I’m not working on my writing or creating content for this site’s YouTube channel, I like to relax and enjoy character driven story games.


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