I’m not sure if we’ve ever had a game review here on OR but I felt it necessary to vent about Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. I’ve been a fan of the series since Ace Combat 4 for the PS2, and despite my better judgment, ended up purchasing this game. I should have canceled my preorder after playing the demo.
The most common criticism you hear about this game, the plethora of comparisons to Modern Warfare, are completely true. It’s as though Project Aces and Namco looked at the success of the franchise specifically and said, “Well fuck, we want to make that kind of money too!” Besides taking the game into the ‘real world’ they’ve pulled the same enemy: militaristic nationalist Russian fringe groups. They’ve even gone as far to include an extremely similar C-130 Spooky support mission and define approach vectors ala HAWX.
The brunt of fighter combat is defined by the new DFM (Dog Fight Mode, probably) system. Essentially, when getting behind an enemy pilot you can hit two trigger keys in conjuncture to jump right behind the enemy fighter (regardless of how impossible that actual maneuver would be). Once on the guy’s tail you get to weave around behind him and shoot him down. Sometimes entering DFM puts your flight on rails, taking you through exploding buildings, along valleys, and at times even bouncing off the ground. Other times you have to keep up with the enemy or they will slip away from the fight. Other pilots can engage you in DFM which you can counter by speeding away or slowing down to perform a loop to reverse onto their tail.
Not a bad concept as a whole, but not something I want to deal with in an Ace Combat game. It’s more fitting another sim like HAWX. The problem is that they designed the game around this mode so invasively that it has a negative impact on normal play. Often your own missiles have trouble tracking, enemies perform impossible evasion maneuvers (which, of course, you can’t do), or have impractical amounts of flares. As such many of the main targets, needed for mission completion, need to be taken out via DFM.
There are also a few new modes, such as the aforementioned AC-130 Spooky gunship support role. On a few levels you get to pilot a magical helicopter (magical because it can perform impossible barrel rolls to dodge missiles, fail to easily take down a Hind even when shooting point blank at the cockpit, and run into buildings and ground alike without taking damage!). It’s fun at first but gets boring quickly due to the mission length and lack of enemy variety. The much noted heli side gunner missions are even worse. The entire level is on a rail and you can’t do anything but slightly zoom in and shoot at targets. Worse yet is that you can’t change from third person view and often have to deal with two thirds of the screen being taken up either by yourself or the side of the helicopter.
That bit above about the mission length and enemy variety? An understated issue in Assault Horizon. Enemies display on a wave by wave basis, behaving and appearing no different than those you shot down earlier. I haven’t timed the missions to compare against previous Ace Combat games but on a whole that constant repetition makes it seem like some missions are never ending.
One thing that really gets under my skin is the AI. Thus far I haven’t seen any fellow pilots provide proper support. They’re out there, flying around, but it feels like the player is singularly responsible for every single opponent on the field. Your wingman is no different. He’s out there, sometimes attacking and never actually clearing enemies from my tail. Unlike previous installments you lack the ability to send your wingman into offensive or defensive roles. Where DFM might be considered a step forward in gameplay mechanics the lack of allied control is a huge step back.
The graphics in this game are fairly nice but I wouldn’t highlight them as something special. Even if flashier it’s still on par with Ace Combat 6. One improvement is the terrain below. Since most of the game takes place over real cities they simply used satellite imagery and other sources to recreate the landscape and buildings. Aside from important structures and a few roadways the bulk of the map is still a 2D wonderland up close. They’ve also improved the visuals following a successful kill, cycling between various levels of carnage ranging from a simple takedown to watching your target break up into multiple pieces. Pretty, yet completely unrealistic and repetitious (Explosions also temporarily splatter your view with oil and other plane juices). Cockpit or third person views give you additional cinematic options such as changing the camera angle to shoot down the gun barrel during DFM sequences. Even with these additions the game has an unfinished look to it. The level of detail that went into the pilot’s faces stands in stark contrast against the flat, empty details on their flight jackets.
In addition, as far as I can tell, the game just throws planes around the battlefield for nothing other than aesthetics. I often see flights with no friend or foe identification that don’t show up on radar. It's been suggested that they're just there for show, to make the battles seem larger than they actually are.
What exactly are these planes made of?
Personally I think Ace Combat Zero had the best soundtrack of the series and it's the benchmark by which I must compare Assault Horizon. There are some solid background tracks featured in Assault Horizon and I’m still deciding how I feel about them. While certainly not up to Zero’s standard they’re better than we saw on Ace Combat 6. The full OST, set to be released shortly, is supposedly three CDs long. There’s a decent variety of tracks and many feature a rock and guitar vibe (because the game is so hardcore!!!!). Mocking aside, it does fit rather well with the theme they were going with but the full impact isn’t there. At one point, during a briefing sequence, they had a ‘reveal’ and played some stereotypical Middle Eastern signing track for dramatic effect, ala a ‘dun dun dun!” It was so bad and out of place that I had a good chuckle.
Though antiquated, Assault Horizon makes you miss Ace Combat’s method of briefing players before and after a mission. It really helped flesh out the plot and provide more detail regarding the war you were participating in. Assault Horizon, lacking this mainstay, tries to flow quickly from one mission to another. Cut scenes here and there help you get to know the characters a bit or provide the basics of what’s going on (literally, you sit through a briefing session with the characters at times). Still I was often left wondering what was going on. Many times I found myself ill prepared for the mission at hand and had no idea why or where I was fighting. Or how my unit got there. Gone too, was any impact of the war I was waging. I can’t feign a sense of nationalism for or hatred without reason.
The most inexplicable element of the game is the random quick time events during cut scenes or moments of interest. Right in the middle of a screen you get a big alert telling you to hit a certain key (a big yellow Y on the 360) that does nothing other than change the camera’s focus, zooming or turning toward the big obvious elephant in the room. As far as I can tell nothing happens if you don’t hit the button. Not that it matters since the QT event lasts so long you’ll have no trouble pressing the key, if only to remove it from view. Why, Project Aces, why? It’s a completely superfluous element that serves no purpose than to follow along with current trends (a sad fact I’ll mention several times later in this review).
A lot has been said about the Assault Horizon’s story, written by the ‘acclaimed’ author Jim DeFelice... I doubt they read the brunt of his fictional works. All I’ve seen thus far has been some characters I don’t care about and the most stereotypical story imaginable: Russian terrorists seizing control in a coup. Sure, Ace Combat games never had the greatest of stories but at least they made an attempt at drawing you into the fictional world you fought above. Real Russians just don’t have the same impact as their allegorical predecessors, nor the same opportunity for sympathy and redemption. In the end it’s so completely unmemorable that it makes Ace Combat 6 seem like an epic.
Don't I know you from somewhere?
While I haven’t gotten around to messing with the online play yet, I’ve actually heard good things. “But Falldog,” you might say, “why would you bash this game as such without giving multiplayer a shot?!” Because, like many, I’m tired of modern games saying 'screw off' to single player campaigns.
Fighter variety is the same as previous series’... minus the unique and custom aircraft you could usually get. Instead they’re going to be offered as extra downloadable content, another sign of Aces just giving in to industry trends.
On a whole, I think it would be fair to say that Assault Horizon isn’t a bad game. It’s just not a good game either. It’s a game that tries too hard to mimic current gaming trends, losing what defined the series in the first place. Had this been released by another group or at least under another name, I think fans would have been more accepting. With the Ace Combat brand tacked on I’m forced to compare it to the legacy it left behind. The bottom line? Don’t waste your money buying this game new. Play the demo a few times or just wait until it’s available for cheap at your local game store. The best part of this game is that it’s not called Ace Combat 7. Project Aces could still continue the series we love, complete with fictional setting and impractical but amazing super weapons to be shot down and flown through. Fingers crossed.
Side Note - I love that Namco is plastering the game with Gamespot's, "Call of Duty in the air is underselling it," in their attempt to further tie the franchises and appeal to casual gamers. Not only the statement a disgrace to the Ace Combat franchise but Gamespot gave Assault Horizon a 5.5/10.
