Ace Combat: Assault Horizon takes place in the year 2015, featuring a real world setting. We are not too sure about the actually storyline at this stage, but it’s a war story as per Ace Combat tradition with storytelling and presentation similar to Call of Duty. The main focus of the build we played was to give us a feel of the core gameplay mechanics.
The demo level took place in Miami, United States. The map looked quite nice, with plenty of detail, nice lighting effects and such. We took control of one of the 30+ officially licensed aircrafts planned for the game, and worked together with other ally aircrafts to take on the enemy squadron. The core gameplay mechanics and inverted controls will immediately be familiar to anyone who’s played an Ace Combat title before. The controls and mechanics are extremely easy to grasp and quickly become second nature. Even if you’ve never played an Ace Combat or flight video game before, like any other title in the series, it’s extremely user friendly and has that signature ‘arcadey’ feel of a vintage Ace Combat titles.
Taking the scenic route.
The aircraft could accelerate and slow down to perform some sharp turns, and had the usual arsenal of turret gun and missile strikes, with the option of being able to send a barrage of half a dozen missiles in one go as well. Also, the game will feature ‘Dog Fight’ modes, which essentially allow you to actively engage and lock-on to one particular enemy aircraft, allowing you to then chasing them down with a barrage of strikes. The enemy can also engage you in this way, which then requires you to shake them off. Also worth noting are the destructible environments, which had the potential to add more drama and intensity to the combat.
We were also told of several new features that we didn’t get to try in the build we played. One being that the game will feature fully operatable battle helicopters, and is the first game in the series to allow this. We were also told about the fully fleshed out multiplayer mode, featuring death match style matches while also allowing players to play through the campaign missions in co-op mode.
Lock and Load.
The game actually looks brilliant as the textures, lighting effects and the overall visual style certainly impressed us. The stage we played had some really brilliant music. Gamers are probably well aware of the quality soundtracks produced for Ace Combat games, and judging by the track we heard, the final soundtrack of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon should be nothing short of epic.
Finally, we were given word that the limited edition will available not only on the same day as the standard edition, but also for the very same price. The limited edition is available as a pre-order and will include a steel book as well as soundtracks and other content. If you’re a long time fan of the franchise, then Ace Combat: Assault Horizon should already be on your radar. Those unfamiliar should definitely keep an eye on what looks to be another successful entry for this hit flight combat series.
Loading...
