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Ace Combat: Assault Horizon |OT| We Will Fight The Fight Since You Won't
- Thread starter LQX
- Start date
Assault Horizon probably has the best voice acting and dialogue seen so far in an Ace Combat game.
What's up with the guns? Does the lead gun crosshair not work unless you're in cinematic dogfight mode? Do they not want people to use guns in conventional flight modes?
DFM is just confusing altogether. I just don't understand why I'm only able to kill TGT_LEAD fighters in that mode. To what extent am I controlling the craft and actually maneuvering the aircraft to get a proper kill? It just feels like DFM is a "make your plane go into auto pilot and replace the awesome ace pilot inside the cockpit of TGT_LEAD with a five year old" button. Am I missing something here?
EDIT: Kinda disappointed with the helicopter flight model. I expected Project Aces to at least offer Battlefield 2 style helicopter controls with the right stick controlling the cyclic and the right and left triggers being the collective. I guess Descent controls are necessary for fast paced gameplay.
What's up with the guns? Does the lead gun crosshair not work unless you're in cinematic dogfight mode? Do they not want people to use guns in conventional flight modes?
DFM is just confusing altogether. I just don't understand why I'm only able to kill TGT_LEAD fighters in that mode. To what extent am I controlling the craft and actually maneuvering the aircraft to get a proper kill? It just feels like DFM is a "make your plane go into auto pilot and replace the awesome ace pilot inside the cockpit of TGT_LEAD with a five year old" button. Am I missing something here?
EDIT: Kinda disappointed with the helicopter flight model. I expected Project Aces to at least offer Battlefield 2 style helicopter controls with the right stick controlling the cyclic and the right and left triggers being the collective. I guess Descent controls are necessary for fast paced gameplay.
impressions of the ps3 demo:
Graphically game doesnt look very impressive at all, looks worse than AC6.
Seems to be a complete lack of enemies on screen at one time, could just be because it is an early mission. Smoke trails of missiles seemed to be toneed down.
It sucks you are forced to lock on to defeat certain enemy units, they have unlimited flares when firing missiles normally.
When you are in chase cam it still seems you have little control over aiming your guns and will mostly rely on using missiles.
Chopper mission was fun but doing barrel rolls is really fucking stupid.
Could see these missions getting really old quick. the only strategy is to lock on with r2 then strafe enemies and hide behind buildings.
Graphically game doesnt look very impressive at all, looks worse than AC6.
Seems to be a complete lack of enemies on screen at one time, could just be because it is an early mission. Smoke trails of missiles seemed to be toneed down.
It sucks you are forced to lock on to defeat certain enemy units, they have unlimited flares when firing missiles normally.
When you are in chase cam it still seems you have little control over aiming your guns and will mostly rely on using missiles.
Chopper mission was fun but doing barrel rolls is really fucking stupid.
Could see these missions getting really old quick. the only strategy is to lock on with r2 then strafe enemies and hide behind buildings.
GotchaForce
Member
I've played most of the AC series since the start and I really enjoyed the demo. Graphics, feel and most of all the the dogfight cam was great. I really like the DF mode it makes the battles more intense and cinematic and to an extent easier. I love how you can do an emmelmen turn on pursuers with it. I like how it offers am I more cinematic presentation during these dog fights and it adds a nice bit of extra pace to the game. I like the helicopter stuff but only in the first person mode with no hud, the others seemed too cluttered. My main gripe is that the helicopter demo is WAAAY longer than the jet level. I hope their are liberal checkpoints because I'd hate to have to do a heli level over if I died near the end.
I dunno if it can replace AC5 for me but I can't wait for the full release!
I dunno if it can replace AC5 for me but I can't wait for the full release!
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
Ace of Combat: Modern WarfareZenith said:
UnluckyKate
Member
Meisadragon said:Awwww, it doesn't let me go over 42k altitude.I adore the dog-fighting system, and the game is a massive improvement over Ace Combat 6.
42k feet ? That's about the ceiling in every ace combat since 4 (since I can remember actually)
herzogzwei1989
Banned
downloaded and playing. will report my impressions later.
Urban Scholar
Member
I think I'll rent the final product as well to judge for a full purchase. I'm interested in this AC game and never played the others. I did enjoy the demo though.
Tried the demo, got mixed feelings about it. The regenerating health is nonsense. I hope there is a way to disable that in the final version or at least they will have a difficulty where you go down in a hit (like Ace difficulty in previous titles). Music is as good as its ever been, but the real world setting is definitely not as initially exciting as flying over Gracemeria or the Belkan region, etc.
Seeing I-95 in an Ace Combat game is just too strange to me. I know the game is going to have the typical cool cut scene style and characters and shit, but that helicopter mission was total boring-town, "Alpha Charley, this is Bravo Team Snooze Fest". The dog fight auto pilot stuff looked cool, but it's definitely Westernized, easy-bake mode for the COD/modern shooter player. And then the quick time events...I don't know. There is a lot of questionable stuff here.
But, the core Ace Combat gameplay and essence is still there so I'm going to keep my pre-order. I'm sure once I have the full game in my hands and I'm getting S Ranks and shit (hopefully they kept a ranking system or this game can go fuck itself) then I'll be good to go.
Seeing I-95 in an Ace Combat game is just too strange to me. I know the game is going to have the typical cool cut scene style and characters and shit, but that helicopter mission was total boring-town, "Alpha Charley, this is Bravo Team Snooze Fest". The dog fight auto pilot stuff looked cool, but it's definitely Westernized, easy-bake mode for the COD/modern shooter player. And then the quick time events...I don't know. There is a lot of questionable stuff here.
But, the core Ace Combat gameplay and essence is still there so I'm going to keep my pre-order. I'm sure once I have the full game in my hands and I'm getting S Ranks and shit (hopefully they kept a ranking system or this game can go fuck itself) then I'll be good to go.
PjotrStroganov
Member
Core flying is the same. Pfew.... Just go to the original config and all is right.
I agree with being forced to go DFM mode is lame. Sure, I bet you can kill those leads without going into DFM but it's making it exceptionally hard to fight the traditional way. DFM in itself is nice for a few times but the fact that it is highly scripted detracts from the experience.
The copper mission were ok. But damn, if they can make the planes control semi realistic, at least they can try to do the same with the coppers right? What the hell is this point your cursor and turn shit? Framerate is abysmal too.
Also, I hope there will be some levels that show more color. The grittyness doesn't look as appealing as the colorful levels of previous games.
I agree with being forced to go DFM mode is lame. Sure, I bet you can kill those leads without going into DFM but it's making it exceptionally hard to fight the traditional way. DFM in itself is nice for a few times but the fact that it is highly scripted detracts from the experience.
The copper mission were ok. But damn, if they can make the planes control semi realistic, at least they can try to do the same with the coppers right? What the hell is this point your cursor and turn shit? Framerate is abysmal too.
Also, I hope there will be some levels that show more color. The grittyness doesn't look as appealing as the colorful levels of previous games.
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
Current news coverage says yes, in at least one of the modes.Swifty said:
Tried the demo. Ugh. It's horrible. New controls are way too arcade feeling, old controls don't suit the new apporach.
Dogfight mode.... why? Why was this added? Why not add a kill cam whenever you get kill or every 5 kills or so? I got all my kills with missiles, couldn't hit anywhere with the machine gun. I spent more time fighting the awkward controls than fighting enemies.
Crashing to ground simply bounces you off and damages you. Regenerating health wtf?
The helicopter was really, really awful. And barrell rolls. What the fuck?
The polarized cockpit looks nice but otherwise the game doesn't look better than Ace Combat 6 IMO. Explosions and damaged planes look nice but that's it. Ground looks actually worse. The HUD is not as good as before, the target pointer should be on the side as in AC6, not a 3d arrow.
No buy, used or new, for me.
Thank god demos exist for some games still...
Dogfight mode.... why? Why was this added? Why not add a kill cam whenever you get kill or every 5 kills or so? I got all my kills with missiles, couldn't hit anywhere with the machine gun. I spent more time fighting the awkward controls than fighting enemies.
Crashing to ground simply bounces you off and damages you. Regenerating health wtf?
The helicopter was really, really awful. And barrell rolls. What the fuck?
The polarized cockpit looks nice but otherwise the game doesn't look better than Ace Combat 6 IMO. Explosions and damaged planes look nice but that's it. Ground looks actually worse. The HUD is not as good as before, the target pointer should be on the side as in AC6, not a 3d arrow.
No buy, used or new, for me.
Thank god demos exist for some games still...
SkylineRKR
Member
The game feels more cinematic than ever, but I don't know if I'll end up prefering this one over say, AC Zero.
Dogfight mode seems to be some on-rails eye candy thing which is a nice change but might also wear out very soon. Don't care too much about the helicopter stuff too. Same goes for the damage thing.
Dogfight mode seems to be some on-rails eye candy thing which is a nice change but might also wear out very soon. Don't care too much about the helicopter stuff too. Same goes for the damage thing.
I...don't know what to think about this game now, to be quite honest.
I've been replaying the series in anticipation of Assault Horizon and I came to the realization that while 6 wasn't necessarily the best overall, it nailed the gameplay and was truly a "next-gen" evolution of the franchise (huge maps, multiple fronts, hundreds of planes/enemy units at once).
Now, I know the demo is just the first level in the game...but so was the AC6 demo, and it was a blast.
I don't like:
- The emphasis on Dogfight mode
- The lack of 'oomph' to the missiles
- The lack of a machine gun lead indicator
- The helicopter...
- Regenerating health
- No pressure sensitive square-button for the map on the PS3
This demo has brought the game down from my second most anticipated game this year to a "well, I don't know if I even want it any more" status.
I've been replaying the series in anticipation of Assault Horizon and I came to the realization that while 6 wasn't necessarily the best overall, it nailed the gameplay and was truly a "next-gen" evolution of the franchise (huge maps, multiple fronts, hundreds of planes/enemy units at once).
Now, I know the demo is just the first level in the game...but so was the AC6 demo, and it was a blast.
I don't like:
- The emphasis on Dogfight mode
- The lack of 'oomph' to the missiles
- The lack of a machine gun lead indicator
- The helicopter...
- Regenerating health
- No pressure sensitive square-button for the map on the PS3
This demo has brought the game down from my second most anticipated game this year to a "well, I don't know if I even want it any more" status.
What characters? I skipped all the cutscenes in AC6 (first game where i actually did that as it was so damn boring) and since this was a demo, i didn't bother watching the cutscenes.Kinyou said:
I guess they're better than in AC6... but it's a frigging arcade flight game, not FPS. If better grapchis resources were wasted on better looking humans: /facedesk.
Maybe it's just me, but the graphics comparisons between AH and 6 seem a little hollow. They have very different styles. AC6 is clean and crisp, kind of gamey. AH looks more like a reel of film that was busted - lots of debris, DOF, haze, etc. They're going for totally different approaches. And I absolutely love the look of both of them. There's plenty of "gritty" games out there, but none of them actually look as war-blasted as Assault Horizon.
Nah, the human stories have been a key element of Ace Combat for ages now. Some of the games have pretty fun storylines.Woorloog said:
Aquavelvaman
Banned
It's interesting that they're really trying to do some new things with AC as the series has been mostly the same since the beginning.
I had a good time with the demo. I don't love the helicopter level but I don't hate dogfight mode like many of you seem to.
There's a special place in my heart for AC soundtracks
I had a good time with the demo. I don't love the helicopter level but I don't hate dogfight mode like many of you seem to.
There's a special place in my heart for AC soundtracks
Auto_aim1
MeisaMcCaffrey
Same here. Assault Horizon takes it to an another level though.Aquavelvaman said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVpN6RG4Ah4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCpls3feBZI
Yeah, to be fair it is supposed to be entirely optional. It was probably just forced on you a few times in the demo since this is the first mission and all.Meisadragon said:
I'm also willing to accept your judgment that everything I listed is trivial, except for the lack of machine gun lead indicators. I really used the machine gun quite a bit in the previous games...and now it's not even fun to try to use it outside of Dogfight mode.
(Well, and the helicopter stuff too, which I didn't enjoy - but hopefully that's not a huge chunk of the game).
Admittedly, regenerating health may not be such a big deal since AC is best played when one missile hit all but shoots you down anyways
(So hopefully there's a difficulty setting for that!)Little doubt in my mind this is the case. It's a tutorial, not really a true mission.Icelight said:
I'm sure there will be.Icelight said:Admittedly, regenerating health may not be such a big deal since AC is best played when one missile hit all but shoots you down anyways
Solid warrior
Banned
I've just finished replaying the demo. I've shot down a lot of "TGT_LEAD" enemy aircraft. I find the helicopter mission so much fun.
I also recorded the whole playing session but I thought I'd post this portion only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yqE5fX7gps
I also recorded the whole playing session but I thought I'd post this portion only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yqE5fX7gps
Duallusion
Member
Didn't like the demo, I'm sorry to say. Plane and a 'copter are too big (too close) in 3rd person view, didn't much enjoy the close-combat shenanigans (should be an option, not the main attraction), graphics are just okay if a bit rough (giving them the benefit of the doubt though, since it's not the final build?) and that chopper mission just... dragged.
Love(d) AC6 so was really looking forward to this too. Might buy it when it drops in price. Next-gen AC, I eagerly await thee!
Love(d) AC6 so was really looking forward to this too. Might buy it when it drops in price. Next-gen AC, I eagerly await thee!
Dark Octave
Banned
Yeah I agree with the bolded. It's easy to lose the enemy while dogfighting when your fighter is covering a more than a quarter of the screen. Why didn't they make it transparent for that part? It would have lost a lot of it's cinematic flair, but would have been a good sacrifice for gameplay purposes, which is obviously the most important thing when it comes to games.Duallusion said:
I think I got close to the end of the copter mission, but I finally got fed up and quit to play the fighter mission. Played the fighter mission at least 20 times now and have not been back to the copter mission once.
-Deadpool-
Member
Found it quite enjoyable, got my pre-order in now.
Chopper stuff took a little adjustment at first, but I liked it, even if the 3rd person view seemed to block the sight a lot of the time, being able to cycle through views fixed that.
F-22 stuff was awesome though, just for that it's worth addition to my games roster.
Chopper stuff took a little adjustment at first, but I liked it, even if the 3rd person view seemed to block the sight a lot of the time, being able to cycle through views fixed that.
F-22 stuff was awesome though, just for that it's worth addition to my games roster.
Just went through both missions on the demo and... ...huh. I'm actually a little disappointed.
The good news is that the jet mission (on original controls of course) is pretty smooth. Your jet actually controlled pretty smoothly and the dogfights were actually pretty fast. Seemingly, they took out High G-Turns from AC6, so that's actually pretty disheartening. But just nitpicking from a long-time fan, nerfing the machine guns to the extent that they did was absolutely unforgivable.
The biggest mark on the flying mission is the dogfight mode. For people concerned, the best way I can sum up this mode is by saying "It's the win button. But it's entirely optional! ... Sometimes..." The demo actually had a fair amount of ace pilots who could only be taken down by the dogfight mode. Yeah, you could try to do it normally. But 100% of the time, you're going to get backed into a stalemate dogfight because the plane has infinite flares and will just start shooting them out automatically like the game was saying "HEY HEY YOU SHOULD REALLY USE THE DOGFIGHT MODE", said ace takes well over 4 missiles to take down anyway, the machine gun sucks, and health regenerates in this game.
Or, alternatively the ace could just use his dogfight mode equivalent on you. Unfortunately, the game again is not too subtly saying "HEY USE IT NOWWWW" when the guy is glued to your rear shooting missiles until you use it (I'm serious, I actually don't think it's possible to shake that pilot when you hit that phase in the demo).
So basically I'm pretty much showing off to take down redshirt enemies, and the moment that a credible threat comes up, the game essentially forces you to use the win button. That actually left me on a pretty depressing note... So why not start up the Apache mission for something different!
Holy fucking shit at that Chopper level. I have never played a demo where shit started to drag on that badly. At a certain point, I was thinking to myself "Please, for the love of God end this mission please- oh god damnit another bunch of guys with RPGs to shoot down." After about 15 minutes of extremely monotonous shooting while awkwardly flailing around and barrel rolling in a helicopter, I run out of missile ammo and get blind sided by an enemy helicopter in what I think was one of the last stages of the mission. At that point, I didn't even have a desire to see exactly where my checkpoint would take me or even how much the mission I had left. At that point, I was really ready to do something else because that part was not fun.
In the end, I feel like this is going to be a pretty "meh" Ace Combat game through and through. If the Chopper missions get even longer and more boring than the one in the demo, it would easily fall below AC6 in my eyes. The game will probably be solid, but I'm just not seeing anything compelling me to not just wait until the game hits the discount bin a few months after its launch.
The good news is that the jet mission (on original controls of course) is pretty smooth. Your jet actually controlled pretty smoothly and the dogfights were actually pretty fast. Seemingly, they took out High G-Turns from AC6, so that's actually pretty disheartening. But just nitpicking from a long-time fan, nerfing the machine guns to the extent that they did was absolutely unforgivable.
The biggest mark on the flying mission is the dogfight mode. For people concerned, the best way I can sum up this mode is by saying "It's the win button. But it's entirely optional! ... Sometimes..." The demo actually had a fair amount of ace pilots who could only be taken down by the dogfight mode. Yeah, you could try to do it normally. But 100% of the time, you're going to get backed into a stalemate dogfight because the plane has infinite flares and will just start shooting them out automatically like the game was saying "HEY HEY YOU SHOULD REALLY USE THE DOGFIGHT MODE", said ace takes well over 4 missiles to take down anyway, the machine gun sucks, and health regenerates in this game.
Or, alternatively the ace could just use his dogfight mode equivalent on you. Unfortunately, the game again is not too subtly saying "HEY USE IT NOWWWW" when the guy is glued to your rear shooting missiles until you use it (I'm serious, I actually don't think it's possible to shake that pilot when you hit that phase in the demo).
So basically I'm pretty much showing off to take down redshirt enemies, and the moment that a credible threat comes up, the game essentially forces you to use the win button. That actually left me on a pretty depressing note... So why not start up the Apache mission for something different!
Holy fucking shit at that Chopper level. I have never played a demo where shit started to drag on that badly. At a certain point, I was thinking to myself "Please, for the love of God end this mission please- oh god damnit another bunch of guys with RPGs to shoot down." After about 15 minutes of extremely monotonous shooting while awkwardly flailing around and barrel rolling in a helicopter, I run out of missile ammo and get blind sided by an enemy helicopter in what I think was one of the last stages of the mission. At that point, I didn't even have a desire to see exactly where my checkpoint would take me or even how much the mission I had left. At that point, I was really ready to do something else because that part was not fun.
In the end, I feel like this is going to be a pretty "meh" Ace Combat game through and through. If the Chopper missions get even longer and more boring than the one in the demo, it would easily fall below AC6 in my eyes. The game will probably be solid, but I'm just not seeing anything compelling me to not just wait until the game hits the discount bin a few months after its launch.
Finally got around to playing it. See, I didn't mind the cinematic approach or the dog fight mode making it "an easy win", it seemed exciting to me. Though I'll admit I only occasionally buy aerial fighter games.
I could not enjoy the Apache mission however. In theory it's a good concept and I could see a reboot of Desert Strike being wonderful with such a set-up, but not in practice with this game as far as I'm concerned. It's slow, it drags on, and the whole dodge missiles was laughable more then enjoyable. I couldn't even play the game in third or cockpit mode, everything just got in the way.
I think I'll be skipping out on this as I don't want to feel I wasted my money only buying half game or worse being forced to play through segments I can't stand just for the plane segments I do.
I could not enjoy the Apache mission however. In theory it's a good concept and I could see a reboot of Desert Strike being wonderful with such a set-up, but not in practice with this game as far as I'm concerned. It's slow, it drags on, and the whole dodge missiles was laughable more then enjoyable. I couldn't even play the game in third or cockpit mode, everything just got in the way.
I think I'll be skipping out on this as I don't want to feel I wasted my money only buying half game or worse being forced to play through segments I can't stand just for the plane segments I do.
Dubbedinenglish
Banned
MechaX said:
My sentiment exactly. It takes the most fun of flight combat , the last moment before the kill, and turns it to a trivial button press. I tried it going at full afterburner at a target and all I had to do was hit the buttons and I was locked on. So much disappointment in them ruining the flight combat.
Also does it feel like the cockpit is a bit too zoomed in. Usually I expect to see a bit more than the just the front panel of the F-22. When you look around it is also limited in only being able to get a glimpse of the wing and not more of the plane.
I would suggest to any Ace Combat fan to pick up IL-2: Birds of Prey and Apache: Air Assault for proper dogfighting, not this COD-ified abomination of Ace Combat.
Crazymoogle
Member
Sounds like a wild over-reaction to me - dogfight mode was neither required nor "instant win". But it was a) the tutorial and b) the beginning of the game. Anyone who has played any recent Ace Combat game knows they build things up from there. "Abomination" just sounds ridiculous. Hell, I felt like the more-preprogrammed sequences made things interesting - not just the loop-fire that usually consists of the first mission in these games.
(I do have a serious suspicion about demo bugs with the machine gun, but oh well.)
And I just compared vs. Ace 6 - when you switch to cockpit off (first person) it feels exactly the same, view-wise?
All that being said...I'm more than willing to toss out my own argument - if neither version supports a joystick, count me out until it's half the price. I can tell you from bleeding through two of those PSP games that this is a series meant for the stick and I have no intention of leaving it behind.
Namco's other mistake, as I think this thread continues to show, is that using a pre-e3 demo for major gameplay changes is a bad idea. People are going to rip it apart even though developers probably havent touched the code for a year.
EDIT: Looking at ACE community forums, it seems the Hori EX works (wtf, why did I never even hear of that?) and possibly some newer sticks, but since the EX is no longer available, not really sure there are any options out there.
(I do have a serious suspicion about demo bugs with the machine gun, but oh well.)
And I just compared vs. Ace 6 - when you switch to cockpit off (first person) it feels exactly the same, view-wise?
All that being said...I'm more than willing to toss out my own argument - if neither version supports a joystick, count me out until it's half the price. I can tell you from bleeding through two of those PSP games that this is a series meant for the stick and I have no intention of leaving it behind.
Namco's other mistake, as I think this thread continues to show, is that using a pre-e3 demo for major gameplay changes is a bad idea. People are going to rip it apart even though developers probably havent touched the code for a year.
EDIT: Looking at ACE community forums, it seems the Hori EX works (wtf, why did I never even hear of that?) and possibly some newer sticks, but since the EX is no longer available, not really sure there are any options out there.
Based on that demo, this is easily the worst mainline Ace Combat game since either AC1 or AC2 (Never played 2, can't say for sure). I'm not being hyperbolic; it's still 'pretty fun', but until now Ace Combat hasn't really made a fundamental core gameplay shift since it started supporting analog controllers, and they definitely tried to fix what wasn't broken (or, if you're a pessimist, they failed even harder at fixing things that were broken) with this one. Nothing particularly new to say about why; Dogfight mode is horseshit, and while it's not outright impossible to not use it, the game is extremely tedious if you try to play it normally. I didn't even bother starting up the helicopter mission; I've got zero interest in flying a helicopter in an Ace Combat game, and if I could choose between removing Dogfight Mode and rebalancing the game accordingly, and just being able to skip everything in a helicopter, I'd easily go with the latter.
There's some good stuff - I like the better feedback you get when there's a missile locked onto you, and being able to do a risky maneuver to end up behind a guy who has a lock on you is really cool (if Dogfight mode were replaced with, say, half a dozen distinct situational maneuvers like that, instead of an insta-win button, the changes would be welcome) - but the number of times that the cool additions come up compared to how often you're pressured into Dogfight mode is way out of proportion, and they don't even begin to save it.
I'm kinda torn about the game, now. It's not bad enough that I don't want to play it, but I also really want it to sell exceptionally poorly for the series; this is not the way forward.
(Tangential to this thread and it's dated a day or two ago so for all I know there's some other thread talking the shit out of it, but if you're in the 'boo Assault Horizon' camp, I found this trailer for Ace Combat 3D to be pretty heartening. Back in Strangereal where Ace Combat belongs, tons of melodrama, and a whole shitload of awesome ace squadrons. Also, weird little bit at 0:39:
? I'm down for that.)
There's some good stuff - I like the better feedback you get when there's a missile locked onto you, and being able to do a risky maneuver to end up behind a guy who has a lock on you is really cool (if Dogfight mode were replaced with, say, half a dozen distinct situational maneuvers like that, instead of an insta-win button, the changes would be welcome) - but the number of times that the cool additions come up compared to how often you're pressured into Dogfight mode is way out of proportion, and they don't even begin to save it.
I'm kinda torn about the game, now. It's not bad enough that I don't want to play it, but I also really want it to sell exceptionally poorly for the series; this is not the way forward.
(Tangential to this thread and it's dated a day or two ago so for all I know there's some other thread talking the shit out of it, but if you're in the 'boo Assault Horizon' camp, I found this trailer for Ace Combat 3D to be pretty heartening. Back in Strangereal where Ace Combat belongs, tons of melodrama, and a whole shitload of awesome ace squadrons. Also, weird little bit at 0:39:
Select Edge as your wingman
After replaying the demo there's no doubt in my mind that it was one of those LEARN HOW TO USE THIS tutorials where you can't progress unless you do specifically as the game tells you. Every time I fired off a missile at at target lead I was met with either infinite flares or seemingly invulnerable jets. It was only until I engaged dogfight mode, like the game wanted me to, was I able to shoot them down. Hell, I couldn't even switch to the special missiles until the game wanted me to.
I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume the rest of the game won't be like the tutorial.
I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume the rest of the game won't be like the tutorial.
Wow, a lot of disappointment in this thread now.
Here are my thoughts.
Fighter Mission
As soon as you get the basic gist of the control method, you're in it. This is Ace Combat, no mistake about it. Quick, nimble, exhilarating. The plane handles like a dream and the normal way of shooting down bogies is still in there. But this has now been accentuated by the canned action and moves. I am still kind of on the fence about those, but for the most part they seemed to work. Obviously it looked stupid when the planes offer themselves up to you in a shooting gallery after certain conditions have been met and you are expected to presst square to switch to multi-missile and then shoot them all down... It is not a lot of fun as such. But the game feels solid. Nice graphics all round, the textures on the plane and inside it were great. Nice effects and camera angles too. Very nice water.
Chopper Mission
Well, this is pretty different. The external camera view is pretty much useless. And when switching to either cockpit or clear view, the damn thing flies and accelerates like something not from this universe. Still great though, just not totally my cup of tea.
Still stoked for the game itself. Music is epic, graphics are doing it for me, dogfighting is as good as it gets.
Here are my thoughts.
Fighter Mission
As soon as you get the basic gist of the control method, you're in it. This is Ace Combat, no mistake about it. Quick, nimble, exhilarating. The plane handles like a dream and the normal way of shooting down bogies is still in there. But this has now been accentuated by the canned action and moves. I am still kind of on the fence about those, but for the most part they seemed to work. Obviously it looked stupid when the planes offer themselves up to you in a shooting gallery after certain conditions have been met and you are expected to presst square to switch to multi-missile and then shoot them all down... It is not a lot of fun as such. But the game feels solid. Nice graphics all round, the textures on the plane and inside it were great. Nice effects and camera angles too. Very nice water.
Chopper Mission
Well, this is pretty different. The external camera view is pretty much useless. And when switching to either cockpit or clear view, the damn thing flies and accelerates like something not from this universe. Still great though, just not totally my cup of tea.
Still stoked for the game itself. Music is epic, graphics are doing it for me, dogfighting is as good as it gets.