Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

[DarthParametric]

Here's a list of what's in the game:

 

Fighters

F-22A Raptor

F-35B LightningⅡ

F-15C Eagle

F-14D Super Tomcat

F-16C Fighting Falcon

F-16F Fighting Falcon

F/A-18F Super Hornet

Typhoon

Gripen C

RafaleM

Mirage2000-5

F-2A

PAK-FA

Su-47 Berkut

Su-35 Flanker-E

Su-33 Flanker-D

MiG-21bis Fishbed

MiG-29A Fulcrum

F-4E PhantomⅡ

 

Attack

F-15E Strike Eagle

A-10A ThunderboltⅡ

F-117A Nighthawk

Su-24MP Fencer

Su-34 Fullback

Su-25TM Frogfoot

 

Helicopters

AH-64D Apache Longbow

Mi-24 Hind

MH-60 Black Hawk (Door gunner)

 

Bombers

B-1B Lancer

B-2 Spirit

 

Gunships

AC-130U Spooky

 

Of course probably half the fighters are multi-role and may equally end up being used for ground attack. Seems like there is a fairly good mix of US, Russian and European aircraft there. Probably the only thing that is lacking is a few Russian bombers like Bears, Backfires, etc.

[Mav]

Do you have a source for this? I'm just wondering if this makes it official that the fantasy planes wont show up in this one.

[DarthParametric]

Pretty much every site says it's an official press release by Namco, although I can't actually find a copy of it on their site.

 

 

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/08/the-stealth-speed-and-devastation-of-ace-combat-assault-horizon/

 

http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/119/1190903p1.html

 

http://gamerant.com/ace-combat-assault-horizon-screenshots-aircraft-list-trung-101769/

 

etc.

 

The list on the Wikia page lists the Bear and Blackjack as NPC bombers, so presumably the list I posted above is playable aircraft. It also lists the Phantom as a pre-order only bonus and adds in two tankers (KC-10, Il-76).

[Prime]

Yes the list above is playable craft. Bears, etc. have been seen in many a screenshot and video.

[DarthParametric]

Bears, etc. have been seen in many a screenshot and video.

I don't remember seeing any Bears, but there was one bit in one of the trailers where I thought they were shooting down a B-1, but presumably that was actually a Tu-160 Blackjack.

[Mav]

Damn shame, I'm gonna miss flying things like this, post-game.

[DarthParametric]

Well there is the Su-47 Berkut, which that thing was presumably modelled after, but of course it comes sans fancy laser weapons one would think.

[Prime]

I don't remember seeing any Bears, but there was one bit in one of the trailers where I thought they were shooting down a B-1, but presumably that was actually a Tu-160 Blackjack.

I think this is one:

 

 

There are rumors that some AC super planes will be available and DLC...

[Prime]

Demo is out. Going to give it a go this tonight. Thankfully the wife is out for the evening!

[Mav]

Demo is out. Going to give it a go this tonight. Thankfully the wife is out for the evening!

Just got done giving it a whirl, I'm not completely sold on the DFM feature, but it still felt like AC for the most part which is a good thing. I'm getting the game no matter what, so I'll have to play the whole thing to see how the DFM sits with me. I didn't try out the helicopter level yet, didn't feel like it.

[Prime]

I think I'm in the same boat as you, Mav.

 

Here are some random thoughts from the two fighter and two heli missions I played:

 

Fighter:

When shooting at the regular target aircraft it pretty much feels like the old Ace Combat. In some ways that makes CRA more frustrating because I can see the AC I love underneath.

Was hoping CRA would be more like iron sights, but it doesn't seem you can easily exit CRA once you have engaged it.

I was never an expert with the gun in AC6, but because it takes so many rounds to kill in AH I don't picture it being much use to me outside of CRA.

Sometimes I found it hard to tell if I was hitting with the gun, and with missiles I'd seen an explosion but then realize it was flares, so hard to tell how I was doing overall.

I think the quick turn with decelerate is an improvement.

I didn't like the whole decelerate then flip mechanic. I seem to think I was getting blasted the whole time I was getting in position.

I can see a scenario where if you don't typically use CRA you won't know you are not triggering a cutscene.

Coming out of CRA I don't always have a sense of what my orientation is. At one point I was coming out of the clouds and I was worried I was pointing straight down.

 

Heli

Had to reorder the button layout as my hardwired brain at first wanted to use the triggers to accelerate and decelerate. As a result I kept flying too high and they would yell at me.

For all the combat I usually had to switch to the HUD view as the other ones were too obstructive.

When attacking I basically just clicked the zoom to lock on target, fired until destroyed, then let go and clicked zoom again. Didn't really have to aim much.

Have read that turning down the sensitivity gives the feeling of more weight.

Flips WTF?

 

 

In general I liked to more on the second playthough, but like many others right now I think it is good but not great. I'll give myself some time to warm up to it though. For me I think it will really come down to how scripted the other mission are and how much you are "forced" to rely on CRA. The less of both will increase my enjoyment of the game. Right now CRA seems so jarringly different to the rest of the normal gameplay it doesn't quite fit, and it makes the challenge of attacking aces go from very difficult to almost trivial. We'll have to see how much the tutorial mission is indicative to the rest of them.

 

I'd say 7.5/10.

[DarthParametric]

CRA = close range assault?

[Mav]

CRA = close range assault?

I think so.

 

In the demo I played I'm pretty sure it was called DFM for Dog Fighting Mode, but I've seen others use the CRA acronym as well. Basically though you get close enough to your enemy to "engage" DFM/CRA mode by pressing L2/R2 at the same time (PS3 obvi, I'd guess X360 uses the triggers or the shoulder buttons). The plane then basically goes into crazy cinematic auto-pilot mode, and as the pilot it is then your responsibility to make minor corrections to line up your enemy with your targeting circle. Basically you go from flying a plane to using your controller to try and line up 2 objects whilst imagery changes flash rapidly in the background. This is the part that I'm not sold on.

 

Outside of this mode though you are basically playing a core Ace Combat game and playing this core AC game is great, like always. The problem I have with it is that you have your normal fodder targets which can be dealt with in the traditional AC gameplay ways. However, the enemy aces now are pretty much impossible to defeat without entering DFM/CRA and that doesn't sit right with me. I'll still get it, because it is AC, so I hope this demo was just more on-rails to showcase the new features than the actual game is, but I have my doubts.

 

Interesting side note, I think this DFM/CRA mechanic could be used excellently in a Macross game during a Jet to Battroid transformation XD.

[DarthParametric]

Sounds lame, but I guess that's another example of the whole "visceral, in-your-face action" thing that devs seem to be all about these days. It's kind of hilarious given that the subject matter aircraft are all designed to engage and destroy beyond visual range. I'm pretty certain that the odds of Raptors and Flankers ever engaging in a close-quarters gun battle are fairly low. Maybe they should make a Korean or Vietnam War-era game. I wouldn't mind slipping into an F-86 Sabre.

[Prime]

Sorry, yes CRA/DFM, all the same thing.

 

Some comments from the devs seem to indicate that since this was essentially a tutorial mission, it was more scripted than the rest of the missions would be. They have certainly claimed that you don't have to use CRA to play the game, but in the demo the enemy leaders were literally unhittable without it, and at each point it got you do try another feature. So there is hope in that regard.

[DarthParametric]

Another example of the odd choices some devs make for demos. If it isn't representative of the main game then why release it as a demo?

[DarthParametric]

Seems like everything is a QTE these days...

 

[youtube=hd]WY9NO4GQJRk

 

As an aside, I noticed that the pop-up suggested I might also like a video about monsters that look like genitals. Well clearly - after all who wouldn't?

[Prime]

I'm playing this currently. So far I'm not really a fan of the DFM/ASM system. I'll give more thoughts after I finish the campaign.

[swphreak]

Yeah, I'm not having much fun. I'm currently stuck on the Dubai mission on Normal difficulty. You pretty much can't shoot down some planes without doing the CFM/AMSae8jhbfb3 whatever they call it minigame.

 

I don't think I'm going to keep this one. Major letdown.

[Prime]

I was going to write my own review now that I have finished the campaign, but over at the Ace Combat Skies boards a fellow by the name of PositronCannon more or less summed up my views:

 

http://acecombatskies.com/topic/30809-my-review-of-the-single-player-campaign/

 

I will admit, for the most part, I liked this game quite a bit the first time I played through it. Yes, it was very different from the usual Ace Combat game, but that's not bad in itself.

 

However, everything came crashing down the second time I played it and I got the strongest feeling of deja-vu I've ever gotten from a videogame.

 

To put it simply, this game is not for you if you like your games to have a decent amount of replay value. To begin with, the expanded battlefields of Ace Combat 6, where you could choose how to tackle each mission, are no more. Every mission has a tightly scripted structure, with enemies that spawn in waves as you defeat them. You rarely if ever have to worry about more than one group of enemies at any given time.

 

This alone could be forgivable, and it's not the first time it happens in the Ace Combat series, but it doesn't stop there. A good amount of enemies pretty much force you to engage them in Dogfight Mode (DFM), one of the new big features of Assault Horizon. Simply pressing both triggers/bumpers at the same time while at the correct angle will place your aircraft directly behind and close to the enemy aircraft, with the game itself assisting you a great deal in following the enemy's movement, including limiting your speed (most of the time it feels like the plane flies itself, honestly). In this mode, your missiles are much more accurate and your machinegun is actually useful.

 

Ironically enough, this mode isn't necessarily a bad thing when it comes to engaging enemies that don't force you to use it. But against those who do require it... welcome to scripted gameplay heaven. These enemies (some of which are the plot-relevant aces you fight near the end of the game) fly through a pre-determined path that is the same every single time you play that mission, and no matter how much ammo you throw at them, will not get destroyed until a specific point in the chase. This makes a good portion of the game, sometimes even entire missions, completely pointless to replay.

 

As I mentioned, it's not too bad against regular enemies since their flight path isn't scripted, but DFM still gets repetitive rather fast in that case as well. It doesn't help that the game encourages you to use it by making your gun a peashooter outside of it. As someone who has used the gun to great effect in every other game in the series and finds it to be much more fun than using missiles all the time, it annoys me to no end that I have to give in to the game's gimmick in order to avoid getting frustrated. Another factor that adds to the repetition is the Counter Maneuver mechanic: when an enemy uses DFM on you, you can either turn hard for a few seconds until they disengage you, or execute a countermaneuver by braking to close the distance, then leveling your aircraft and pressing both triggers/bumpers when indicated. Your plane will then do a fancy (and usually highly implausible) maneuver that will put you directly behind the enemy, and automatically engage DFM on him. It gets annoying and old quite fast compared to the good ol' maneuvering on your own to try and get behind an enemy.

 

DFM also doesn't come without its bugs. It's not the first time I see an enemy aircraft diving into the ground or sea, taking me with it, or engaging DFM to find myself slamming into a nearby building while the game automatically lines me up.

 

When it comes to the few ground attack missions, the game doesn't fare much better. The ground attack counterpart to DFM is Air Strike Mode (ASM), in which your weapons become more effective and reload more quickly. The mode itself isn't much different from attacking ground targets normally, but the issue here is how the targets are always in a nice line for you to follow, in order to accomodate for ASM. Again, it makes things extremely repetitive and takes away any need for strategy or possibility to do things differently.

 

In terms of mission variety, the game is much more focused on air battles than previous installments... as far as the fighter jet missions go, anyway. Assault Horizon introduces a couple of helicopter missions, a bomber mission, a couple of door gunner missions, and even an AC-130 gunner mission. I won't comment much on the last two beyond saying that they have absolutely no place in an Ace Combat game, and if the regular jet missions are scripted enough, those take it up to eleven. The AC-130 mission in particular is very shoddy due to barely being able to see your enemies a good deal of the time.

 

The helicopter missions are actually not too bad, but they get tedious easily, since most of the time you'll be destroying enemy tanks one by one with your machine gun (and they take quite the amount of punishment) or waiting for your more powerful rockets to reload. The bomber mission is interesting when it comes to flying it (I won't go into details to avoid possible spoilers), but the actual bombing part is pretty much a simple "point and click" minigame. Boring.

 

The aircraft line-up is better than Ace Combat 6's poor amount, but I feel there was much more of a difference between aircraft handling characteristics in that one. It also doesn't help that, due to DFM not being usable by attacker aircraft and ASM not being usable by fighter aircraft, your plane choice is limited per mission.

 

As for the controls, they're basically the same as in the rest of the series, with the usual option to choose between an arcade-like control setup where you can turn by simply moving the stick left or right, or a more realistic setup where roll and pitch are separate. My only gripe with the controls is that I often end up accidentally engaging DFM while following an enemy aircraft since it's easy to press both yaw buttons at the same time for a split second while adjusting.

 

So, with such lackluster gameplay, you'd think maybe the story would sorta make up for it. Well, if you're looking for an engaging story with interesting characters, you won't find it here. I've never been one to care much about story in non-RPG videogames, but even I can say this one is just laughable. The way the story is presented is awful - half the time you don't even know what the mission is about or why you are there even if you watch all the cutscenes.

 

The gist of it is that some African rebels somehow got their hands on Trinity, a kind of missile-based tactical nuke (or at least that's what it seems to be - I don't think it's actually referred to as a nuclear weapon at any time, though), and it turns out that a Russian coup is behind it all, so the whole thing turns into yet another America & Allies VS Renegade Russians thing. The plot twists after that are all either predictable or just lack punch.

 

As far as characters go, the vast majority are simply forgettable. There's no place for any kind of character development and most of the interaction is standard pilot talk, in an attempt to do away with what was perceived as "anime crap" in previous Ace Combat games. The enemy ace, Akula, is also a joke in comparison to old aces such as Yellow 13 from Ace Combat 04, and while an attempt at characterization is made at one point in the story, he still comes off as a cliché villain.

 

There's also a side-effect of this being set in the real world and with such a cliché plot, and although it doesn't really affect much of anything, it still annoys me: I miss the days when my enemies flew all kind of aircraft instead of just MiGs and Sukhois.

 

The technical aspects are certainly top notch, though. The aircraft models are wonderfully modeled, the ground textures look noticeably better than usual, and weather effects are amazing. However, not all is good about this since there is too much emphasis on the new destruction aspect of the graphics, with the camera often pointing to something blowing up and breaking into pieces in slow motion. You can skip these short scenes with the press of a button, but it's still annoying and hurts the immersion factor greatly. If I wanted to watch stuff blowing up, I'd go watch a movie.

 

The soundtrack is by far the best part of the game, it's just sad that it was used for this game. It's more generic-movie-music-like than previous games in the series, but still delivers and quite a few tracks are enjoyable both in and outside the game.

 

As an extra, a fun feature of the game is the paint customization, a first for the series. You can take any of the (usually 3, specific planes have more, unlocked through multiplayer) base paints and change any of the colors. While you can't make your own patterns, the color pallette is huge and there's generally something for everyone in terms of patterns - camo, stripes, etc. Again, it's just sad that this was finally included in this game and not previous ones.

 

This game was clearly intended to have online multiplayer as its main component. I will not comment on the multiplayer aspect much since opinions seem to vary greatly, with some loving it and having no issues with it, and others encountering many issues, mostly lag-related. I personally am in the latter group, and my opinion is that it's way too connection-based and random. Co-op mode doesn't have such issues, but since the campaign isn't that enjoyable to begin with...

 

In short, definitely don't get Assault Horizon for the single player if you want something that will last you a while. I'll just say that I've played Ace Combat 6's campaign for maybe 400 hours and it's still more entertaining than most of this game. It's a sad addition to the Ace Combat series, not because of the "rebirth" aspect, the changes they've made, but rather because it's an insult to players who want a game and not an interactive movie.

[DarthParametric]

Would have been nice to have this a week or two ago.....

 

I have to say I am really hating the DFM. Pretty retarded idea and execution. I was also very disappointed in the AC-130 level. I'm really not sure how the hell they managed to screw that up. The gunship level in COD4 was awesomesauce (in fact the only decent part of that game), the version in AC:AH not so much, as the above review highlights. The Apache level I played was annoying, with seriously clunky controls. I eventually got so fed up with the game that I shelved it and went back to another playthrough of Skies of Arcadia.

[Prime]

It seems to be the consensis overall. Could have been a great game without the DFM stuff and just the old gameplay.

 

Agreed about the clunky heli controls. I found I kept clicking down on the stick and thus kept switching between cockpit and 3rd person views mid fight. Drove me crazy!

[Xinaith]

RRr

[Xinaith]

Rrr