The Ace Combat series has been in the air since 1992 when the franchise first hit the arcades. The games were always a firm favourite within the arcade combat flight simulation genre, but they were always dogged by one or two shortcomings…
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon ends that cycle as developers Project Aces merge all the essential elements into the best product in town. Simply put, Assault Horizon is seat-of-the-pants action from start to finish, with good tension, a satisfying level of difficulty and some absolutely excellent set pieces.
Something almost unheard of in this type of game is single player plot. Assault Horizon surprises by having well-fleshed and developed characters, good voice actors and an accomplished story. Sure it’s not Shakespeare but all the characters are likeable and understandable, even the villains, and the game creates an unexpected depth, especially in the final few scenes and levels.
The real thing that you’re interested in is the flying. It’s great. Planes and helicopters, a new addition to the series but so well realised, control well each differing design providing the pilot with a selection of new skills to perfect. Weapons perform as you would expect and help is always at hand, introduced through a variety of differing mediums, including radio communications.
The action is hectic; the pauses well balanced, so you can get your bearings, and your plane can self repair before the next array of enemies appears or something else is triggered, causing you to fire the afterburners and leap back into action. In fighters some of this is controlled by the Dogfight Mode (DFM) allowing you to park on an enemy’s tail to punch some heavy damage. Even if this sounds easy it simply isn’t as intelligent enemies will counter, leap behind and do the same to you. You have this option too, and well you should learn it, as at later levels, with missiles closing on your tail, no flares left and seemingly everyone in the air wanting you dead, you need all the tricks up your sleeve.
Another opportunity DFM affords is creating some lovely set pieces. Enemies race for canyons or refineries to escape and you follow them in. Even with the assistance the DFM affords, a steady hand on the stick is needed to stop you ploughing into various structures or the ground before the chase is over and the exhilaration during these sequences is at its highest.
Helicopters have differing issues. Side gunning is relatively easy for those missions, but the ones where you’re piloting the bird will quickly teach you the dangers of getting swamped. The AC-130 mission provides a different type of experience again, leaving the bomber mission to round off a nice selection. In general the whole experience is tough, with a few simpler missions thrown in, but with numerous save points you never have to track back annoyingly far.
Multiplayer in all forms is also a gem. Co-operative missions are well balanced and fun and the air-based death matches intense and dogged adding to the longevity of all those jocks out there but there is one final thing that makes this a near perfect experience…
Music in Assault Horizon is brilliant. Never in your face, balanced for the experience and never annoying: It is perfect. It flows around you and always seems to provide the ideal accompaniment, no matter the situation; especially in the last level where it provides gravitas for what is unfolding.
Namco Bandai are in ascendency of late. A company who always had good ideas seems to have developed the taste for adding a good lick of difficulty and style to their ensemble, making the games they produce a tasty treat for the gamer to get their teeth into.
Long may it continue!
