I’ve watched trailer after trailer about Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. Like most people I noticed the graphics were amazing, but I didn’t think it’d have much else up its sleeve.
In actuality this game proved that I make mistakes sometimes.
As soon as the campaign started I was dropped into the action. Since it’s been a long time since I played any type of flying game, the last being Sky Odyssey on the Playstation 2, I was glad I was given a quick tutorial.
Following the instructions and grasping on to the controls are fairly simple. Within no time I was chasing enemy fighters and shooting them down. Of course the first thing I thought when I blew up my first enemy was what any normal individual thinks. After seeing a bright ball of fire I couldn’t help but think "oooh, pretty colors."
Like the trailer led us to believe, the graphics are breathtaking. Whether you’re flying an extremely fast fighter or you’re a chopper door gunner, the explosions are guaranteed to make anyone who remotely loves fire and firepower happy.
Along with amazing graphics, this game has perfect audio. Every sound from helicopter rotors to jet engines is realistic. Explosions and missiles being launched also had realistic sounds.
Ace Combat is nothing short of an adrenaline pumping thrill ride. It doesn’t matter if your having dogfights or in an AC-130. Seriously though, who doesn’t love shooting something with a 120mm cannon. This game also gives you versatility and variety by allowing you to choose your aircraft and load out.
One of my favorite aspects of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon was the ability to pilot a helicopter. Now that I think about it, I might have been overjoyed when I was shooting rockets everywhere too. But the controls were great and of course there was enough destruction to go around. Especially a few missions earlier when I was a chopper door gunner. Most people love missions where they get a chain gun and permission to shoot anything that moves.
If anything even twitched I painted it with bullets. It felt nice to play a game where the explosions were not only realistic, but frequent. This game caused me so much enjoyment in wrecking havoc I questioned if I needed a therapist or if it was only my Army background.
Even though the choppers are cool, dogfights are still the highlight of this game. To engage a dogfight you must get behind your enemy and click both bumpers. Doing so changes your camera angle slightly and gives you a better view of your enemy.
When I first did this I expected the computer to maybe try to be slightly evasive. But the enemy AI is a real pro. My buddy kept laughing at me as I was cursing at the evasiveness of my target. One even decided to make me chase after him through a ravine like some Hollywood movie. After an extended run through the ravine I finally managed a lock-on and hit him with a missile.
Quite a few of the missions are challenging and the campaign is extensive. This is something I’m glad to see. All too often a game has a short campaign because it’s multiplayer based. Only on a couple missions was I was frustrated until I started blowing things up again. I really liked how the camera would sometimes zoom-in on your enemy’s burning heap of a plane. All of this goes to show that there are still good flying games out there.
The only real complaint I have with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is that sometimes if you enter dogfight mode at an angle, then it’ll make your plane go upside down. Once upside down, the controls are virtually unresponsive. So put that in the "don’t do it" file.
Overall, Ace Combat: Assault Horizons should be a game on your list whether you’re a huge fan of flying games or not. I give this game 4.5 Gin Gems out of 5.