Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

I guess it should go without saying that if you have any issues with any kind of motion sickness in gaming, you should probably steer clear of this. Or do as I did and focus on the arrow. Don’t look down. For God’s sake just don’t! Anyway…

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is the latest in a series of Ace Combat games. I’ve heard it dubbed as ‘Call of Duty in the sky’. It’s a pretty accurate description. There have also been obvious comparisons to Tom Clancy’s Hawx. Where it differs, though, is with a more cinematic campaign. Also, in the campaign, you will play different types of levels, the most frequent being in the plane. You will also play as a chopper gunner, control an AC-130, and you will get to fly in a helicopter. Mostly, though, you will be a jet pilot.

The biggest feature that has been added to Ace Combat is Dogfighting. This addition makes the game either too easy or a massive pain in the arse, depending on who you are attempting to chase. Basically you have to get underneath an enemy plane and enter Dogfighting mode, which will start a chase and you have to manouver to keep up, while shooting missiles to destroy him. Now, the problem with this is that there are certain jets that you can only destroy in Dogfighting mode. These planes (Target Leaders) are extremely hard to get into the right position with, as they like to weave about and generally do annoying things like suddenly zip off in the opposite direction when you’ve just spent 10 minutes catching up, aligning, and shooting to slow them down. Also in this mode you are basically a sitting duck for missiles, so when you do finally make it, a message may pop up telling you to get out of Dogfighting mode so that you can avoid the missile that has just been fired at you.

The flip side, is that regular enemy jets, the ones that you can kill with bullets and missiles in the open air, are extremely easy to commence Dogfighting with. Because of this you will probably just use this mode all of the time. This, in turn, makes the game become tedious quite quickly. The levels are long, the checkpoints aren’t brilliant, and when my wingman told me on the radio me to fly to another spot and do the same things again instead of the level ending, I found myself sighing. In Open Mode, you get to modify your jet (read, make it pink!) and redo past missions. However, the novelty of flying around in a multicoloured plane wears off quickly, and all you are left with is a pretty jet to practice in.

The Chopper Gunner and AC-130 bits, are probably the most ‘fun’ in the game. I use that term loosely, because I think that part of it was relief at doing something new. You get to sit in a helicopter and shoot vehicles and buildings. Everyone likes blowing stuff up. It was a welcome break.