Ace Combat 6:Skies of Liberation for XBOX360!

[yellowlightman]

Anyone?

It won't. Only official Xbox 360 controllers will work on the Xbox 360.

[Uxi]

Ah yeah, forgot about that. Damn. Guess I'll pass at least until a markdown since the reviews aren't exactly glowing.

Edited October 27, 2007 by Uxi

[David Hingtgen]

Or you could just use the controller. I do, despite being a HUGE jet-nut. (I even play flight sims using the numeric keypad)

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I HATE the tunnel missions. Despite it being in each Ace Combat, I wouldn't miss it if it was missing from the next game. Mission 10 is the hardest tunnel mission I have ever played. I've followed the series since AC2.

One thing I was very happy with is the revitalized stat system for the planes. Some of the planes have different stats than the other games, and makes for more reasonable comparisons. For once a Flanker is not the BE ALL, END ALL of all airplanes in an Ace Combat game! Its "High-G" turn only lasts for a few seconds, so it makes it harder the newbies to abuse. Its stats are not maxed out all the way in nearly every category like the previous Flankers in previous AC games.

After finishing mission 13, without giving away any spoilers, I'll just say that the game is definitely the worst since Air Combat, and I feel bad for people jumping into the series now, because they're never going to know how good the series actually is.

Is it as bad as the US version of 3? That was my biggest dissapointment in the series. So far, I like 6 a lot better than 3. 6 is one of my favorites at this point, although I wish it had a more involved storyline, no demigod dogfighter reputation of the main character(from what I recall, Scarface from AC2 did not recieve a ton of praise in the AC2 storyline as the story progressed, he remained a vague character, not overhyped and praised like Mobius 1, Blaze, and Cipher), better music, and of course, more planes. 0 wet my appetite for older planes, and I was expecting an F-4, F-5, Draken, maybe even Viggen or Crusader. The killbox upgrading system from AC5 would have been great in this game.

I like how Strigon team can actually be shot down. This is an improvement over the indestructable Yellow Squadron in one of the earlier AC4 missions.

[David Hingtgen]

6 is far better than 3 of course, it's just notably below 4/5/0.

Mission 10---I only had to go through one tunnel. #3 I think. You never have to (and usually can't) complete EVERY objective and every operation in a mission. Usually 2 of 3 or 4 of 6 operations to get a mission to go to "part 2" which half the time means Strigon shows up. Currently trying for the "all operations" goal---you'll do most of them just going through once, should be easy to get all of them the second time. Currently at mission 6 of 2nd play. Have yet to find an ace to shoot down--they're either rare, or hidden way out there in parts of the area you'd never fly to. (I'm sorta hunting around in likely spots)

I'm thinking few people will get the final medal, which looks like "All S on Ace of Aces mode". Which is a level beyond what was "Ace" in 4/5. (Extreme is what 6 calls the former Ace level).

I'm betting there's a "S on all operations in all missions" goal/requirement in there somewhere too.

Guessing "gold" for machine gun is 250 kills. Sigh. Probably have like 100 now, maybe.

[Chowser]

wow, i like this.

first thing i did was boot it up and play in a team battle.

my team sucked!!

i got around 9000 pts and the next closest on my team was in the 4000s.

i need better teammates!!!!

[F-ZeroOne]

More missile decoys, you mean...

[David Hingtgen]

A few more missions until I have (I think) all operations. Got gold marksman---200 gun kills. Don't know if it requires 100% of damage to be done with gun, or just the killing blow. (I think it was AC 0 where it had to be pure guns to count)

Plan to be online tonight, say midnight CST.

PS--I just saw a list of medal requirements. Some of them I think I'll never get. (Such as, beat entire game using only machine gun, and beat entire game without ever taking damage)

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

A few more missions until I have (I think) all operations. Got gold marksman---200 gun kills. Don't know if it requires 100% of damage to be done with gun, or just the killing blow. (I think it was AC 0 where it had to be pure guns to count)

Plan to be online tonight, say midnight CST.

PS--I just saw a list of medal requirements. Some of them I think I'll never get. (Such as, beat entire game using only machine gun, and beat entire game without ever taking damage)

Beating it without taking damage could be done in my opinion, but with guns only? Goodness, thats going to take forever! It would be awesome if the reward was not just a medal, but an increase in power for the A-10's gun.

[David Hingtgen]

Others include:

Beat entire game in 2:15 of flying time.

Beat entire game using only attack/fighter/multi-role planes (3 different medals) (shouldn't be too hard, though "attack" might be A-10/F-117 only---could be hard against Strigon)

I really wish each of the medals was worth like 5 pts. Not giving any points until you get ALL of them is asking a bit much IMHO. I can get about half pretty soon, most with a little work. But all? Maybe if I played 500 hours...

[Ishimaru]

I haven't played online, been trying to get through the campaign. And I don't care how good the online is (if it even turns out to be good), good online doesn't make up for shoddy single player. After finishing mission 13, without giving away any spoilers, I'll just say that the game is definitely the worst since Air Combat, and I feel bad for people jumping into the series now, because they're never going to know how good the series actually is.

Good online can make up for a shoddy single player, it would have a better and funner replay wouldn't it?

Example: Halo 3

[mikeszekely]

6 is far better than 3 of course, it's just notably below 4/5/0.

Sorry, I don't agree with that. Yes, we had to deal with a few fictional planes, or fictional upgrades to real planes. And yes, the US version had the story somewhat butchered. It still gave us around 30 missions with a lot of variety and solid Ace Combat gameplay. There were some memorable moments, like fighting the Night Raven inside that fortress, chasing the train, and taking out the virus factory. Do I wish we could have got the full story with branching paths like the Japanese did? Absolutely. Does that make the US version inferior to the Japanese version? Again, yes. But does that make it a crappy game? Not at all.

Ace Combat 6, on the other hand, if 15 missions of shooting random crap so the guys on the ground can win the war. The story is weaker even than 3's butchered version. There's little variety in the missions. The boss fights are irritating (the CFA-44 doesn't just disappear off your radar, it does it while spawning dozens of drones and flying like the Ghost X-9), the aces are irritating (one Strigon pilot kept flying past me at high speed so he was out of even XMAA range, then turning so that when I was in range he was rocketing past me again), and the allied pilots are irritating (I give them the hold-down-the-button cover order, and promptly find myself shot down). And I wanted to jam a pen in my ears after about the fourth time someone said "dance with the angels."

So for me, the order from best to worst is 2, 0, 5, X, 4, 3, 6, 1.

Good online can make up for a shoddy single player, it would have a better and funner replay wouldn't it?

Example: Halo 3

Absolutely not, and I can't stand it when developers think that way, especially when the game has traditionally been single player. I buy a game to get away from the world, if it can't stand on it's singleplayer, then it's not worth crap to me. I'm too old; I don't have the time or patience to master a game the way I did back when I was playing Megaman on my NES. The last thing I want to do is go online to play with cocky, foul-mouthed 'tweens who act like Tom Cruisees when they're winning and even bigger Tom Cruisees when they're losing.

EDIT: Apparently the language filter replaces "jack@$$" with "Tom Cruise." Slightly amusing, but can the mods tone the language filter down a bit? I'm pretty sure everyone on the boards is at least 13, so we don't really need to filter our language down to G.

Edited October 28, 2007 by mikeszekely

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

And yes, the US version had the story somewhat butchered. It still gave us around 30 missions with a lot of variety and solid Ace Combat gameplay. There were some memorable moments, like fighting the Night Raven inside that fortress, chasing the train, and taking out the virus factory. Do I wish we could have got the full story with branching paths like the Japanese did? Absolutely. Does that make the US version inferior to the Japanese version? Again, yes. But does that make it a crappy game? Not at all.

Somewhat butchered? No. Close to completely butchered, yes. There were different intertwining storylines(branching missions along with 3 sides to choose from what I remember) in the japanese version as well as characters. These characters were highly overlooked in the US version. The gameplay was better, the optional guns, full mission replay viewer, & SP weapons was a great addition as well as being able to look around using the right dual shock stick. However, the lack of story in the US version, the fact that the only cut scene retained was an unlockable intro(there was a lot of cut scenes in the japanese version), and the total butchering of the which sides you could choose to play for in the storyline ruined what could have been the best Ac on ps1. I was very dissapointed with it after playing part 2. AC4 was great, especially after coming off from the dissapointment that 3 was. From what I remember the ending for 3 in the japanese version was a shock. The lack of the original story and everything else mentioned above made 3 the most boring Ace Combat I have played(have yet to play 1 or X). This is the reason why a lot of people want the Project Aces team to upgrade the graphics to the japanese version of Ace Combat 3 and bring it over stateside for a next gen system. Not a crappy game, but a boring Ace Combat, it lacks the longevity of other Ace Combat games.

I don't think multiplayer will worry a lot of people, holding R1 down and pulling the stick back won't dodge missles forever, and stalls are more prevalent, especially when people abuse the High-G turn. It also takes a bit longer to recover from a stall. Multiplayer is a completely different animal than the versus modes in Ac4 and 0, and its for the better.

I'm currently on mission 13. I wish we had some shorter missions, as well as more dramatic music. Some guitar music wouldn't hurt either. Mission 12 or so had so many missle alarms going off. The feel of the dogfights is better than previous games, the AI does a good job of trying to evade and get defensive. I miss how in AC4, the main enemy wasn't cocky(Yellow 13). I hope additonal downloadable content consists of the XFA-27, Ace Combat 2 music/levels/maps, aircraft upgrade components like in ACx, X-02, YF-23(why the hell was this plane not included?), F-4, A-4, Kfir, F-8, F-20, F-5, X-29, and actual F-15S/TMD(not even sure why the ACTIV colors download content does not even come with canards).

Has anyone unlocked all the color schemes yet? I wonder if they are better than the initial ones. I wonder if the Tomcat's other 2 color schemes are based on actual squadrons. I hope we don't have the sakura blossom purple F-14D from Ac5, or anything like the Mindjammer F-4G from AC5.

[mikeszekely]

If the version we got of Ace Combat 3 would have been the original, and had the Japanese version not existed, Ace Combat 3 would have been held in higher regard across the board. It was still a solid game with great missions and tight gameplay. It gets a bad rap for being the worst in the series just because the Japanese version was better.

I didn't know beans about the Japanese version when I first played it, and I loved it. I was actually disappointed the first time I played 4 because 4 was shorter and had less variety in the missions. Knowing what I do now, do I wish that our version of 3 could have been as great as the Japanese version? Of course I do. But I'm not going to suddenly say that a game I loved was crap just because the Japanese version was better.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

If the version we got of Ace Combat 3 would have been the original, and had the Japanese version not existed, Ace Combat 3 would have been held in higher regard across the board. It was still a solid game with great missions and tight gameplay. It gets a bad rap for being the worst in the series just because the Japanese version was better.

I didn't know beans about the Japanese version when I first played it, and I loved it. I was actually disappointed the first time I played 4 because 4 was shorter and had less variety in the missions. Knowing what I do now, do I wish that our version of 3 could have been as great as the Japanese version? Of course I do. But I'm not going to suddenly say that a game I loved was crap just because the Japanese version was better.

To be honest, even if it was the only version out, I still wouldn't have liked it as much as 2 and 4. I always wondered what was lacking with it when I first bought it. It wasn't until much later that my friend revealed to me that the japanese version had so much more. So I was dissapointed with it before I even knew what it was actually missing. The missions and gameplay were good, I'll agree with you on that, the gameplay was the best of the PS1 series, but there was a lack of immersion in the story, and its worse in 3 than it is in 6. Unlike Ac2, Ac3 grew boring quick after a few months. With AC2, I can pick it up now and still have fun.

I wonder when more DLC will be available for 6.

[David Hingtgen]

Yup--I disliked 3 almost immediately. Plot was incomprehensible. AC 2 had very little plot, but it made sense and tied in with the missions. I didn't find out about the "real" AC 3 for years, long after I had sold it.

Anyways---played online last night, hooked up with Apollo Leader. I had already been playing like 3 hours so couldn't go much longer. Suggestions for people online (particularly hosts):

1. 5 min games, maybe 10 mins. Anything else is so long nobody has a chance to join in with friends.

2. Limit planes to Level 3. That allows everything BUT the uber-plane, which is just insanely cheap.

3. 8 players is "the perfect number" IMHO. Others have so many there's no fun in trying to get "revenge" or ganging up on someone. Also takes forever to get 12+ people to join.

There's one annoying thing with online though---you can't change stages. I got sick of "Team battle 3" after a while, but couldn't change it without kicking everyone out and starting a new session. They really should allow stage changes while keeping all the other settings the same--it's not like I wanted to change it to co-op or anything.

[VT 1010]

Ace Combat 3 wasn't that bad. I still play it every once in while. I never have finished it though (one of these days, when I have some spare time...).

The Gamespot review said AC6 gets better towards the end. Has anybody finished the game yet? I'm on level 10 and I'm still somewhat disappointed by AC6's story and atmosphere. It just doesn't really compare to the other games. I hope the main creative team behind AC6 will "go dance with angels" for 7.

Nobody talks about Ace Combat X much. Am I the only one who has played it? I enjoyed it a little more than AC6. I like how it's possible to upgrade some of the planes. Too bad that wasn't implemented in 6.

[David Hingtgen]

Better at the end? Not really. Non-spoilers because it's like every other AC:

1. You take down the big enemy squadron "one last time" and capture the capital. (Yellow, Ofnir, Strigon)

2. Uber-plane shows up. (ADF-01, ADFX-02, CFA-44). You take down the ace piloting it.

3. There's some gigantic mega-complex that nobody knew about until now that's being used to attack you. Go fight the remnants of the enemy squadron, shoot out the power generators/cooling towers/thermal exhaust port then blow it up from the inside.

IMHO 5 was the most interesting because it's the most "personal" because of what's going on, and it's the least predictable.

My only real complaint is the Su-47---stop putting it in games! It's just another Flanker, and there was only ever one built. At least there were 2 YF-23's, and they're not knock-offs of another plane.

(I'd love to see the F-5/20 back). Having the F-16 at the start is traditional, but they make it too weak---no matter how slow another plane is, if it shows up later in the game, it'll be better than the first plane---but there's NO way a Super Hornet should come close to a -16's speed, or an F-117 as agile as the F-16, etc. They need the F-4/F-5 in all games just to allow the F-16/18 to have more realistic stats in comparison. The F-16 should be a nice "2nd all-purpose" plane. Bought fairly early, but not right at the start. (AC5 did make you wait too long for your second plane though)

PS---I finally found (and took out) some XB-70's. A lot easier than in earlier games---though luckily I had the F-14 and Phoenixes at the time, so that helped.

[F-ZeroOne]

6.5 Editors rating on 1-up, but some of the criticisms seem to be those of someone not familiar with the way previous games in the series played. They also make a comment about your cannon never running out of ammo, but I'm assuming that this varies with the difficultly setting - seems an odd thing to miss...

Edited October 28, 2007 by F-ZeroOne

[myk]

Better at the end? Not really. Non-spoilers because it's like every other AC:

1. You take down the big enemy squadron "one last time" and capture the capital. (Yellow, Ofnir, Strigon)

2. Uber-plane shows up. (ADF-01, ADFX-02, CFA-44). You take down the ace piloting it.

3. There's some gigantic mega-complex that nobody knew about until now that's being used to attack you. Go fight the remnants of the enemy squadron, shoot out the power generators/cooling towers/thermal exhaust port then blow it up from the inside.

Funny, that sounds like Air Force Delta also...

[David Hingtgen]

Cannon ammo has varied with difficulty since AC4. "Normal" on AC is "easy" on any other game---since there's 3 levels beyond that. "Easy" on AC is "hard to lose" with other games. Can't crash, almost infinite ammo, 1 hit takes down badguys, can take a half-dozen missiles without dying, etc. Hard gives 800+ rounds. (I never ran out).

Just beat hard, on to extreme. (hope I see some aces, I don't want to have to go through again just to start getting them)

PS--it always amazes me how "unknown" the AC series is among game reviewers---yeesh, AC4 was a best-seller, but they always act surprised that "a plane can carry 50 missiles, unlike real ones". That's part of it. It's a game, not a sim. If you want a sim, you need a keyboard, and joystick, and throttle, and still don't have enough buttons...

[Apollo Leader]

My only real complaint is the Su-47---stop putting it in games! It's just another Flanker, and there was only ever one built. At least there were 2 YF-23's, and they're not knock-offs of another plane.

I don't see hardly any resemblance to the Flanker family in the Su-47 (it's bigger, has forward swept wings, different type of air intakes, internal weapons bay, etc.).

I got to play with David a few rounds last night. I saw that he was on so I quickly got the game out of its package and fired it up. Didn't even have time to hook up the flight stick and throttle so I played with just the controller. I hadn't played any version of Ace Combat in awhile, but at least it's similar to Over G and some of the other console "flight sims" out there. I was doing poor to begin with, but by the last round we played, I finally got like two kills in the match. Great to finally play with/against others at this game online. After we were done, I hooked up the flight stick and played through the tutorial and through the first mission. Definitely a different experince from using the regular controller!

Funny I just now played it last night... today Guitar Hero III came out! Still wanting to play Halo 3 and wanting ti fire up the Orange Box and Bioshock. And in another week COD4 and a month from now Rock Band! Definitely a good time for gaming.

[Apollo Leader]

PS--it always amazes me how "unknown" the AC series is among game reviewers---yeesh, AC4 was a best-seller, but they always act surprised that "a plane can carry 50 missiles, unlike real ones". That's part of it. It's a game, not a sim. If you want a sim, you need a keyboard, and joystick, and throttle, and still don't have enough buttons...

Probably the closest thing to a sim on consoles would probably be Sega's Aero Dancing/ Aerowings / Aero Elite series. Over G Fighters (Energy Air Force) I would say is in the same boat. Ace Combat is more about arcade action and it does it well.

[Axelay]

I have to say that while I enjoy the multiplayer, I am highly annoyed by the lack of detailed stats. I really want to see how many kills I had, how many times I was shot down, how many shots I fired, how many connected/missed, etc. I don't even know how I'm scoring the points I'm being given.

Also, is there a chart or list out there which illustrates the stats for each plane? I'd really like to see how some of them compare to each other, and which weapons they can carry.

[mikeszekely]

Ace Combat 3 wasn't that bad. I still play it every once in while. I never have finished it though (one of these days, when I have some spare time...).

The Gamespot review said AC6 gets better towards the end. Has anybody finished the game yet? I'm on level 10 and I'm still somewhat disappointed by AC6's story and atmosphere. It just doesn't really compare to the other games. I hope the main creative team behind AC6 will "go dance with angels" for 7.

Nobody talks about Ace Combat X much. Am I the only one who has played it? I enjoyed it a little more than AC6. I like how it's possible to upgrade some of the planes. Too bad that wasn't implemented in 6.

I bought a PSP for X. I loved it. But I don't think a lot of people have played it here.

[VT 1010]

Okay, I just finished AC6. I'm a little disappointed. The ending...wasn't very satifying. I'm glad I finally finished it though. If had I heard the phrase "dance with the angels" on more time, I was going to go nuts! Over all, the game was decent. It's not one of the strongest the series has to offer, but was still fun. Next up: online play.

I actually enjoyed ACX more than AC6. Unfortunatley, my hands always cramp up playing a game on the PSP. If only there was a PSP emulator for the PC, so I could use a good controller (and maybe add some anti-aliasing).

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Finished normal mode and now started hard mode. Hard mode is actually hard this time around. Getting shot down in mission 1 surprised the hell out of me in hard mode. It happened so quick! That usually never happens.

It sucks that you have to buy the other color schemes. Most of the Estovokian schemes are boring.

In future games, all ECM aircraft should have ECCMP as standard, and on all the time, and not used as an SP weapon. The SP weapons should be AGM's, Shrikes, HARMs, or other armnaments. The jammers are the defining characteristics of ECM aircraft, and for them to be used only as SP weapons is a handicap.

Playing this game makes me miss the A-4, A-6, F-5, F-20, X-29, S/TMD, and YF-23.

[Alpha OTS]

I downloaded the demo for this and thought it was just ok. Hearing you guys talk about it, you definitely don't make it sound like it's what you expected. In fact, I'm reading more negatives than positive. I take it this is a discount bin title for an Air Combat novice like me then?

[David Hingtgen]

Buy AC 5, it's cheaper and better. I *know* 4 is a greatest hits so should be cheap, but 5's worth the extra money if it's not a greatest hits. Zero's good too---I rate it below 4, most people think it's right behind 5.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I downloaded the demo for this and thought it was just ok. Hearing you guys talk about it, you definitely don't make it sound like it's what you expected. In fact, I'm reading more negatives than positive. I take it this is a discount bin title for an Air Combat novice like me then?

Its worth buying even if you're a novice. Its just that most of us here have followed the series for a long time, got tired of the typical motifs in the series, and expected more than 6 delivered. Despite that, it has a lot of good things going for it, but it does lack in some areas compared to previous games. Like some have said earlier, the next one will probably be a lot better. Its better than all other jet arcade games out there like Air Force Delta Strike or Lethal Skies, its just not the best Ace Combat in some fans' opinions.

I'd pick it up if I were you. I like the replay system so much in this version(they were boring in 5/0, and 4's got boring after a while).

[mikeszekely]

Its worth buying even if you're a novice. Its just that most of us here have followed the series for a long time, got tired of the typical motifs in the series, and expected more than 6 delivered. Despite that, it has a lot of good things going for it, but it does lack in some areas compared to previous games. Like some have said earlier, the next one will probably be a lot better. Its better than all other jet arcade games out there like Air Force Delta Strike or Lethal Skies, its just not the best Ace Combat in some fans' opinions.

I'd pick it up if I were you. I like the replay system so much in this version(they were boring in 5/0, and 4's got boring after a while).

SDK summed it up nicely. The worst Ace Combat (well, maybe not the original) is better than the best any other console flight game has to offer. We were just hoping that the first next-gen Ace Combat would be one of the best Ace Combat games, and what we got a great game that was just mediocre as far as Ace Combats go.

[David Hingtgen]

Or in short:

Even a mediocre AC game is better than 90% of all games out there. We were just expecting something truly amazing. (because every previous AC topped the last one)

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I turned down the voice BGM so I could hear the music more. Turns out I was missing a lot since the vocals drown out the BGM if both are at equal sound levels. The music is growing on me more, but nothing is hitting me right away like with the previous 3(Merlon from 0 was EXCELLENT).

[David Hingtgen]

The best tracks in AC6 are early---mission 1, 2, and 3. After that---meh. Though I do kinda like the children's choir at the end, it's not as cool as the other choirs.

PS--people seem to be confirming what I suspected----online, the points you get are based on what you're flying, and what you shot. Taking out a Mirage with an F-22? Few points. Taking down a F-22 with a Mirage? Lots of points.

I'm going to try a new tactic next time online---fly the Tornado with ECM. Avoid being shot down, as opposed to trying to shoot down everybody else. If nothing else it'll really frustrate all the F-22 and Su-33 users. (The Super Hornet seems to be much worse agility-wise than it should be, don't know why---no AMRAAM or QAAM either---if it was better dogfighting I'd fight with that with ECM---but the Tornado's high defense is a huge benefit online)

[Apollo Leader]

Yup--I disliked 3 almost immediately. Plot was incomprehensible. AC 2 had very little plot, but it made sense and tied in with the missions. I didn't find out about the "real" AC 3 for years, long after I had sold it.

For some odd reason, the US version of Ace Combat 3 axed and butchered most of the original story from the Japanese game. Don't know why.