When people think flight sims, it's often not all that unexpected that the first thing to pop into your head is "Eek, I could never do that." These are a breed of games that, unlike racing games, where you can pretty much wing it even if you don't know what you're doing, seem to require a distinct connection between you and the controller. After all, half the challenge usually comes from keeping your heavy, expensive lump of metal in the sky, yet alone dodging anything like a rocket. Well aware that, in relative terms, few truly savour the challenge of an incredibly realistic flight sim, the Ace Combat series has always erred more towards the action side of things, focusing on dogfighting, pared with an epic storyline, Hollywood presentation, and a stunning soundtrack, letting you concentrate on the wonder of flight, without having to worry about the technicalities of actually, you know, flying your plane.
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is the seventh instalment in a series that started life on the Playstation One, and represents something of a rebirth for the storied franchise. Seeking to make the game appeal to a wider audience, there's a focus on accessibility here, with a number of tweaks and refinement to make zipping on your flight suit and jumping into the cockpit as simple as can be. It's still a flight sim at heart, and you'll still be whizzing around the skies, giddy as a schoolgirl (or boy) in a jet of your choice, but this time around, things are a little bit different.
Flying a plane's a lot of fun. It can be peaceful at times, too.
When we first heard about the plans to change Ace Combat, we'll admit to being a little bit concerned - especially seeing as one of the changes was to the game's setting. Previously, all of the Ace Combat games have taken place in a fictional land - free of political stereotyping, and modern technology, it gave the games a much fresher feel, with a plot that didn't have to worry about real world connotations. It even freed up the gameplay, too, as rather than being a serious, gritty sim, you could take down giant flying aircraft carriers, or perform your very own Death Star trench run on a gigantic, killer cannon in the middle of the desert.
It was with a heavy heart, then, that we read that for Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, the fictional setting's been scrapped, and a generic, real life one - much like practically every other war game, has been drafted in. But after seeing the game for ourselves at the recent German gaming convention, Gamescom, we're pleased to say our fears have been put to rest. The move to real world locations isn't actually as bad as we'd feared - and in fact, from what we've seen so far, it's clear the spirit of Ace Combat lives on stronger than ever.
OK, so now, rather than skimming the waters of Gracemeria, you'll be flying across the palm lined beaches of Miama, and dodging the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, but the change in the setting hasn't actually made that much difference to the story - or the game's over the top nature. The focus in Assault Horizon, like the games that came before it, is on the men and women taking part in the war - not the gritty, militaristic side of the conflict that so many other games show. Adding a human element to a story that anyone can get involved in, regardless of your knowledge of military tactics, the story in Ace Combat games is always a big deal - and Assault Horizon looks to be no different.
Take-offs and landings promise to be challenging.
Second is that for the most part, the gameplay still feels like Ace Combat - only better. Tweaked, with numerous refinements to make it easier for a new player to pick up the controls, the sheer sensation of flying through the air is a large part of the thrill here - and, with the realistic cityscapes lining the ground below you, and the amazing soundtrack calling you on, you'll be whizzing in and out of buildings at hundreds of miles an hour within a few minutes of picking up the controller - and that's a good thing, too, as this is a key part of the new gameplay.
One of the problems with modern flight sims has been the addition of fire and forget weaponry. Where older games had you swooping in behind your enemy, waiting until you were a few feet away to finish them off with machine gun fire, anything set within the last twenty or thirty years simply has you locking onto your enemy, pressing a button, and watching as a little missile tracks it down automatically. Not so Ace Combat. While for most enemies, the above strategy works fine, there's always been the odd, annoying one, who always seems to be better at dodging your missiles at the last second than bankers are at dodging taxes. To make dealing with the annoying folk like this a little bit easier, Assault Horizon comes packing a new feature, called Close Range Assault, which tries to make the combat a lot more up close and personal than before.
Take to the skies online, and you can customise both the colour of your plane, and the trails your missiles leave.
Activated by holding the enemy in your sights, and then pressing the left and right buttons together, the Close Range Assault mode boosts the power of your guns and the tracking capability missiles - as long as you hold the enemy within a (rather large) circle in the centre of the screen. Zooming the camera in to a crazy, over-the-wing perspective, it's intended to get the adrenaline flowing, and give you an advantage in the heat of battle - which is fine by us.
At the recent games fair in Germany, Gamescom, we were lucky enough to have a presentation of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon by the game's producer, Kazutoki Kono. The demo began with a brief cutscene, from the eyes of your pilot, as you walked down a long hallway, introducing your wingmen for the game. As a nice touch, you could actually look around yourself during the cutscene by using the right trigger, making even the story sequences interactive. The mission we saw worked as a sort of tutorial to the game, and plonked you on the gunner seat in a helicopter, which was being flown by the AI. Flying in low over a desert town, it wasn't long before we came under attack. Given clearance to return fire, we squeezed the right trigger, and watched as our gun tore a hole through buildings, destroying practically everything it touched. Tanks, cars, enemies firing rockets at our chopper, even, rather spectacularly, water towers - everything seemed to fall victim to our gun, all to the background of the game's stunning soundtrack. Ah, Ace Combat. It felt good to be back.
The cockpit view adds authenticity.
While there's certainly an emphasis on making the game accessible for new players in Assault Horizon, there's plenty to satisfy the more hardcore too. Going to lengths to retain the authenticity of flying, without necessarily making you worry about G forces, black outs and red outs, each plane comes with a full cockpit view, and, for the first time in the series, you'll be able to fly helicopters, and bombers too.
While its new scope may have concerned us at first, it seems Ace Combat: Assault Horizon's definitely on the right track. Making the game easy for novices to pick up, whilst retaining the same authentic flying experience, epic soundtrack, gripping storyline, and adrenaline-fuelled arcade gameplay that's made the series so popular over the years, Assault Horizon looks another worthy contender in the busy run up to Christmas. If you have even a passing interest in flight sims, or simply fancy a good blockbuster game, this is one you won't want to miss out on. To get yourself in the flying mood, brush off your flying goggles, and check out the trailer below:
