Strapped into my fully loaded fighter jet, I slowly make my way from the hanger to the runway. From the cockpit I look around to survey my surroundings; it’s a nice day out there. The runway has heavy traffic, so our squadron is told to wait whilst the other planes take off. Suddenly there is black smoke in the sky, and the radio bursts into life; it’s a plane, one of ours, and it’s coming in badly damaged. For a second it looks like the crippled plane might just make the runway, but then the explosion occurs.
Debris rains down as the plane carves a groove in the ground, and an urgent voices tell us to get in the air straight away. As I line up my plane on the runway, a HUD pops up telling me how to take off. I accelerate hard, and within seconds I’m in the air. That’s where the attack happens, swift and brutal, catching everyone by surprise. We need to fight back, or be wiped out…
When it’s good, like this, aerial combat game Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is one of the most immersive games of 2011.
[drop2] Described as a “complete rebirth” of the franchise, the story in Assault Horizon is written by New York Times’ bestselling military author, Jim DeFelice. It’s not a bad old yarn, focusing on several characters, although it does tread ground covered many times before. There are twists and turns, betrayals, and enough military buzz-words to batter an elephant to death with.The story, however, was always going to play second fiddle to the air-based carnage, and it’s here where things garner a far more mixed reaction.
Taking control of a fighter plane for the first time is a rather liberating experience. The controls are spot on, and the sense of speed is impressive. It’s hard to stop oneself from just weaving around for the hell of it. For those wanting to add to the experience, you can also view the action from the cockpit. I found this to be a great addition, and rarely strayed from it.
When it comes to air combat, you can destroy enemies without using a lock-on, but more often than not you’ll have to enter the new dogfight mode. When getting close enough to a single enemy fighter, you are prompted to tap the shoulder buttons, which will then enter you into a dogfight. This takes the control of your plane away from you, and leaves you to try and keep your targeting reticule over the enemy long enough for it to turn red. When this happens you can unleash your missiles until your opponent is destroyed in a cinematic, slow motion set piece.
It’s smooth and it’s slick at first. The only problem is you find yourself spending large portions of time without any control over your plane. This wouldn’t be a problem if it had been saved for boss battle type events, but you’re literally entering dogfight mode every 10-15 seconds. It’s used far too much.
Of course, you’ll not always be on the offensive, and there will be times when you find yourself being tailed by an enemy. Your basic, first line of defence is your chaff, which you can fire off to try and confuse any missiles looking to make you a red smear on the ground.
This won’t always work so by slowing down and hitting the shoulder buttons at the right moment you’ll flip up and over the enemy until you’re behind them. Then it’s simply a case of coming up with a witty catchphrase before blasting them out of the sky.
Another big talking point for Assault Horizon is the inclusion of helicopter missions. During these you’ll either be a gunner or a pilot, but unfortunately they aren’t nearly as fun to use as the planes. I’m aware that in real life helicopters are a right pain to control, and the game mirrors this accurately with dodgy camera angles and frustrating aiming.
The campaign mode, which you’ll get through in ten hours or so, is mission based and has a surprising amount of variety. I’ve mentioned the dogfights and helicopters, but I don’t really want to go on about it anymore for fear of spoiling any surprises for you. However, there is a fairly significant problem here: the mission lengths almost ruin the game.
Make no mistake about it, Assault Horizon is an arcade game, and as such one would expect short, tight knit levels full to bursting with explosions, dogfights and all sorts of mayhem. Instead what we get are levels that can last 40 minutes plus and are comprised of exactly the same thing over and over again. “Hostiles approaching from the North!” the game will cry, so off you go and engage in 15 or so minutes of dogfighting. That’s a fairly manageable length of time, and you prepare yourself to see the mission completion screen.
[drop] “Hostiles approaching from the South East!” is what happens instead, so you flip your fighter around and head off to kick some behind. There, done and dusted. “More hostiles inbound!” You get the point. This isn’t just a one off, but every single mission. When you find yourself becoming bored piloting what is essentially a giant gun with wings, you know something has gone wrong.It doesn’t really help that checkpoint spacing can often be a bit iffy, forcing you to repeat large chunks of the mission. It’s a shame because there are times, such as the opening paragraph, where you genuinely think “wow”.
Graphically it’s hard to fault Assault Horizon. The real world locations are instantly recognisable from their landmarks; the plane models look absolutely stunning (especially during cutscenes), and the explosions caused from destroying a plane look suitably meaty, with red tinged oil splattering all over the screen. It’s like Gears of War, but with planes!
Once you’re done with the campaign mode, there’s a wealth of multiplayer options to try. Domination is a team based mode, seeing you capturing bases. Capital Conquest is also team based, but swaps bases for an enemy HQ. Then there is Deathmatch, and co-op Mission mode. Needless to say dogfighting against an actual person is far more enjoyable than when up against the AI.
Pros
- Visually fantastic.
- Some amazing moments in the campaign.
- The plane controls are very slick.
- Solid multiplayer options.
Cons
- The missions become a slog.
- The helicopter parts aren’t great.
- Some of the checkpoint spacing needs addressing.
You have to admire Ace Combat Assault Horizon for trying something interesting with its almost cinematic approach to things. When it all clicks, and you’re blasting through the sky, narrowly avoiding missiles whilst flipping over hostiles it’s incredibly good fun.
Unfortunately the experience is knocked down a peg or two by the sheer monotony of having to do the same thing for extended periods of time, and this is such a pity.
cam the man
I was tempted to get this but with Driver, F1 2011 and the ever expanding GT5 I’ve got plenty to keep me going at the moment.
Grabacr
‘Unfortunately the experience is knocked down a peg or two by the sheer monotony of having to do the same thing for extended periods of time’
Oh, you mean exactly like Call of duty, gears of war, Halo, Battlefield, Crysis, and Left 4 dead? Yet I doubt they ever get criticised or score anything below 9/10.
If it’s not a generic FPS/TPS or has zombies in it, it’s mediocre or shit according to this website.
Grabacr
*doesn’t have zombies in it
yogdog
Say whaaaa?
Christ….
Dan Lee
LOL http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2011/10/11/crysis-review-ps3-360/
And I should also add, 7/10 is neither average or bad.
Origami Killer
Thought this has got a good score. LA Noire scored the same and also had a similar comment to the one above and that was a great game. I really don’t get some people…
halbpro
In fact just taking a quick browse through our reviews we have LBP, SingStar volume 2, flower, Split/Second and God of War (to name a few) that have score 10/10 and are not a shooter of any kind, nor do they feature zombies.
SingStar Zombies’d be good though.
rht992
now thats just a nasty thing to say
tonycawley
I can’t believe any of you gave this tool the satisfaction he was after by replying to him, remember never feed the troll.
jikomanzoku
To go off at a complete tangent I watched the Troll Hunter recently and loved it. Tremendously fun film :D
rht992
wrong kind a troll dude. they are the fun type!
jikomanzoku
Indeed they are :D TRROOOOOLLLLLLLL!!!!!
minerwilly
Hey the Battlefields never received 9/10s if i remember correctly they both got 8’s which left me miffed as they’re 9+ for me but alas i am just one man.
nofi
Today on TSA: Grabacr
Death_In_Flamez
I think whats ironic there is that when you disect his name it’s implying to grab an ACR, a military assault rifle. Nice going…..
Origami Killer
Great review. Played the demo to this. It reminded me very much of HAWX but the controls felt a bit smoother. I liked the dog fight mode but even after 15mins of it I became bored with it. Same happened to me with HAWK, the missions were too long and all the same practically. Would still love to give this a try but only see myself playing it in short bursts.
“Then it’s simply a case of coming up with a witty catchphrase before blasting them out of the sky.” made me laugh :)
aerobes
This game is the reason every release should get a demo. It’ll have gained a lot of sales from putting that demo up on the store and conversely, I was going to buy it day 1 until I tried it. I thought the dogfight sections were, while beautifully destructive, horrendous to control and ruined the entire thing for me, the chopper section wasn’t great either. I might get it on the cheap one day for the story which I’ve always enjoyed but for now, it stays on the shelf.
bacon_nuts
I agree about the dogfights, though it was a really odd method, the rest of it was pretty good though..
Great review anyhow.
Amphlett
@Aerobes – Totally with you there. This was going to be a day 1 buy for me until the demo brought my hope crashing down. The dogfights felt a little too unnatural and the controls on the chopper section were just poor. I doubt I’ll even bother with this when it goes to the bargain bin.
rht992
shame. sounds like if it were given a bit of a tweek it could have been as fantastic as the opening of the review sounded. Never paid atention to these kind of games before but i have to say this sparked my interest
bunimomike
A bit gutted but I can see myself enjoying this too. Lovely review, Dan, and one that gives us a decent idea of the things we may or may not like. Still, kudos to them for taking Ace Combat in a new (if slightly questionable) direction.
cnutard
I’m been waiting for a good fighter jet game to come along (BF 1943 just doesn’t cut it) and from the first time I saw this announced I’ve been extremely interested.
Do you have to go into dogfight mode? The article says you need to press the shoulder buttons for it, so surely you could just leave them along and try take down the planes yourself while still flying? Maybe I’m missing something here as I haven’t played the demo.
I will be getting this once it’s hits the bargain bin (as with all games I buy).
cnutard
I should really check my post for typos before posting (Or give an edit button!).
I’m = I’ve*, along = alone*, it’s = it*
Dan Lee
Whilst you can take down a number of enemies without dogfight mode, it’s made very difficult. The game makes no attempt to hide the fact it wants you to use it.
The Lone Steven
Excellent Review Dan. I liked the demo but i prefered to control my plane then enter DFM. I dislike the helicopter mission as the controls were a bit hard to get used to. I may pick it up when it’s cheap. Unless TSA gives it away. ^-^
Death_In_Flamez
This game was quite meh for me personally. Battlefield 3 does better controls for all vehicles in a non-vehicular-centric game. Just my two-penneth though :P
minerwilly
Battlefield 2 Jets where out of this world as where the planes in 1942 … ah great memories.