Game link:http://acecombatassaulthorizon.namcobandaigames.eu/
Steam link:http://store.steampowered.com/app/228400/
I’d always considered Ace Combat to be Dynasty Warriors in the sky( that’s not intended as a compliment). You kill a lot of bad guys, the game is essentially the same experience from the moment you start stretched out over 20 hours, and sequels do little aside from look better than the last. That’s absolutely not the case with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. In fact, incredible presentation, a great campaign, and substantive multiplayer make Assault Horizon the most innovative and enjoyable arcade flight shooter I’ve ever played.
The changes to the Ace Combat franchise are hard to miss when playing through the first half hour. Even though he game still has its trademark ridiculous story involving superweapons, it's told through the eyes of a range of characters you actually play as, as opposed to Fires of Liberations' overly dramatic narrative that was often told from the on-the-ground "warfare isn't very fun for civilians" perspective while you were just one anonymous person in an elite squad that saved the day.
The story, what there is of it, casts gamers as a fighter pilot named Pheonix, under the command of one Ulrich Olsen. Throughout the campaign, they'll stick it to a rebel faction while piloting various instruments of war, starting with the well-balanced F-16C, equipped with a machine gun and LRAA missiles. Then, as they delve deeper into the game and earn more cash, players will unlock even cooler jets to mess around with.
Missions, meanwhile, don't rise above the sorts of goals we've seen in previous Ace Combat games, but the developers still did a great job, offering a mix of aerial and ground attacks. One stage will send gamers high above the Twinkle Islands to intercept bombers, while another has them targeting aircraft carriers docked near a metropolis. Namco Bandai even provides a touch of variety by opening two missions at once, allowing users to branch off on different paths.
The gameplay design was also affected by this new direction, but in a more positive way. In addition to fighter jets, stealth bombers, and other planes you now also get to pilot helicopters and take part in the occasional turret gunner mission. While the extra mission types add some variety, the jet combat is still pretty easily the best part of the package. Even the jet combat, though, has changed a bit.
Assault Horizon drops all pretense of simulation and makes the arcade control template the default; left and right turn your plane left and right rather than roll. I briefly balked at this, but then realized the game plays much better this way. Handling the planes in DSM without this control scheme is extremely difficult, but you can still change it back to more traditional controls if you can’t live without them.
Aside from that quirk, I had basically no problem with the controls. The blinking arrow indicator for performing counter-maneuvers and counter-counter-maneuvers can be hard to see, but once you know what to look for, everything’s fine. The only other problem I had was reading the maps in multiplayer. At a certain player density, the minimap will just be a glowing mound of arrows and targets, making it difficult to identify exactly the targets of priority. These are very minor complaints though.
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon not only attempts something new in the arcade flight space but absolutely nails those goals and intentions. Dogfight mode is the first real substantive addition to the genre in about five years, which is doubly refreshing considering this is a series that seemed so set in its ways. This is a game that’s so approachable and entertaining that I can recommend it to anyone that enjoys explosions–which is damn near everyone on the planet. I’ll forego the obvious “under the radar” reference here and just tell you to buy it right now.So I will give this game a final score 8 out of 10.So what do you guys think, why don't you share thoughts in the comment section down below.
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