Fires of Liberation succeeds on three fronts: plot, presentation and scale. Sure, it has that lovely flight engine that has been with the series for so long, and continues to be oh-so-polished, but it really feels like Namco has made a commitment to take the series just that little bit further with the latest game. The plot isn’t the typical cliché rubbish seen with most military centric games – it focuses on a number of different people and their experiences within times of war, as well as the progress of the war itself. Land stretches out for many miles, covering different terrains; city, ocean, desert, forest and mountains, while the sky is filled with the most beautiful clouds we’ve ever seen in a game. The game’s environments seem quite tranquil until one sees the massive battles taking place – encompassing far larger armies than in previous Ace Combat games, with multiple operations on the field at any one time.
These are dangerous skies
Emmeria and Estovakia are neighbouring countries. One is rich and democratic while the other is poverty-stricken and militaristic, having lost its prosperity in an unfortunate meteor shower. In the opening mission, a massive Estovakian force invades Gracemeria, the Emmerian capital, with a massive cruise missile barrage forcing the players’ army to retreat. Rather than focus on the typical “we are the bringers of freedom” approach of many recent military applications, the sixth Ace Combat title focuses heavy on the concept of liberating one’s country from outside forces. That’s not the only application of narrative in the game, as cutscenes will provide insight into the thoughts and feelings of those caught up in the war, be they civilians or military personnel. From a conceptual level, this is a really good way of giving a game like Ace Combat an extra dose of story, yet despite a solid premise, the script manages to hurt the execution with some painful lines that are delivered ad nauseum.
On the battlefield, Fires of Liberation stays true to the roots of the Ace Combat series, yet adds a thick layer of polish on top of the game to not only preserve the quality of the series, but to also enhance it. The game boasts marvelous visuals, to which the pictures accompanying this review do not do justice. Sprawling landscapes with a lengthy draw distance, trails of volumetric smoke from missiles and recently destroyed planes littered throughout the sky and, as previously mentioned, amazing clouds. The blistering pace of previous Ace Combat games has been toned down a little, with the frame rate dropping from 60 to 30 frames per second, but this shortcoming quickly fades into the background.
War would be a whole lot easier without all of these enemies
The basic gameplay has not changed in Fires of Liberation; the game is still very much about dogfighting and essentially doing whatever A.W.A.C.S. says. Gameplay structure has moved back to the linear series of missions after drifting off into branching territory with Skies of Deception, though the game is not any worse off. In true Ace Combat style, the game starts out rather serious and realistic, but opts towards the more fantastic in the later missions which will have players raiding massive fortresses, taking out huge flying battle stations and flying down a number of tight mine shafts. Fires of Liberation has changed the wingman assistance system, with only one pilot under direct command of the player. However, players can now call for general assistance from all allies, which really helps to take the heat off.
Fires of Liberation’s missions offer a lot more flexibility in the form of operational decisions. In most missions, the briefing will describe any number of situations that will be taking place on the battlefield, and the player, as leader of Garuda team, must decide which operation they will partake in. It’s not an exhaustive choice either – on the mission briefing, one might choose to start out pursuing operation A, but instead trigger operation B during the mission and complete it instead. The best thing about the operation system is that it gives insight to just how much larger the scale of the battles in Fires of Liberation are. Each operation involves a battle of some kind, and completing it will make the mission go smoother - do you liberate the battlefield airport for fast refueling and rearming, or do you knock out the long range defense system to allow the ground troops to move forward more freely – it’s all up to the player.
Brendan said he'd break my fingers if I dissed Kenny Loggins.
After one has exhausted the single player side of the game, which should only take about six hours for those not farming achievements, they also have the option of hitting Xbox Live for a little multiplayer action. Up to 16 flyboys can participate in a variety of different multiplayer matches – all out deathmatch, team battles, sieges and two co-operative missions are on offer. The online competition may be a little stiff at times (outside of a few wimps that quit when they’re losing), but we had no issues with latency, nor any trouble finding opponents with whom to play. It can be a little grueling essentially flying around in circles for hours with friends, but there is fun to be had.
And that’s really the thing that sells us on Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation – it’s not just a slick looking game with a nice plot, but it’s also a whole lot of fun to play. It manages to take the existing Ace Combat style of gameplay, and just add extra layers of polish on top. The game looks amazing, the plot is rather thought provoking, and the operation management system is really quite cool, and will guarantee that players will revisit missions to see how they play out when they take different courses of action. Sure, it may be a little bit more of an evolution than a revolution, but Namco has taken action in the places where the game really needed it, and those looking for a solid aerial combat game should look no further.
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