Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

[Macross_Fanboy]

Honestly.. I can't believe they stuck that splatter cam crap in multiplayer. Is there even an option to disallow that? That, and the counter maneuvers.. if I wanted to be turning backflips at the push of a button, I'd go play Starfox.

I mean, I understand why some people enjoy it, but I generally stay far away from any game that caters to that type of player, and I'd rather have to shake people off with something called skill.

You still can and counter maneuvers have drawbacks to them especially if you find yourself low to the ground around some buildings. The DFM does make for some interesting encounters. The best one I've had so far is myself in the Rafale against another guy in the same type and we kept countering each other until I slipped. It makes it fun, more than Star Fox did since you didn't have to just keep level when you have some other guy half the map away launching Phoenix missiles at you.

[Chronocidal]

The gimmicky counter maneuvering is what makes me want to slap the developers. I mean, besides the fact that aircraft cannot do that, it's exactly like starfox 64. Not to say I didn't enjoy the duels with my brother where we were constantly looping to get behind each other (all the way across the map), but like I said, if I wanted to do that, I'd go hook up the N64 again.

Automated maneuvers just go against everything I like(d) about these games. They're not starfox, they're supposed to be more realistic than that. Ace Combat has never been about "press A to culbit," and I think it severely detracts from the idea that you need any kind of skill to play the game well.

Oh well. I'll just hope and pray that the developers come to their senses, stop trying to appease the blood and guts CoD fans, and get back to what made AC fun to play.

[anime52k8]

they're supposed to be more realistic than that

[Chronocidal]

point taken. But you have to admit, outside of the weapons mechanics, AC used to be pretty realistic.

[Macross_Fanboy]

point taken. But you have to admit, outside of the weapons mechanics, AC used to be pretty realistic.

Ace Combat was never realistic. People who insist that they were should probably go play something like Energy Air Force(or whatever they called it in the States). It was always meant to be arcady.

[Macross_Fanboy]

The gimmicky counter maneuvering is what makes me want to slap the developers...

Automated maneuvers just go against everything I like(d) about these games. They're not starfox, they're supposed to be more realistic than that. Ace Combat has never been about "press A to culbit," and I think it severely detracts from the idea that you need any kind of skill to play the game well.

Oh well. I'll just hope and pray that the developers come to their senses, stop trying to appease the blood and guts CoD fans, and get back to what made AC fun to play.

But it isn't as gimmicky as you make it seem because it does come at great risk because it doesn't read the inputs 100% of the time since it depends on how level your aircraft is and if your opponent is smart enough to hang back while you try and bring him in as close as possible. Star Fox lets you do it no matter what and you don't die as easily. The skill that doesn't exist in the game is when some douche decides to descend from 15-20k feet all the way into the ground trying to make you crash. That's like BFers claiming their game is soooo realand COD is not when neither is not because you can't go up to an F-18 and fly it and RPGs don't wipe out entire floors of buildings or launch a nuke from a Panasonic ruggedized laptop.

People saying the developers need to have their senses knocked into them need to have senses knocked into themselves. The creator said it needed to change and it probably reflects the attitudes that Japanese game developers are becoming more irrelevant in recent years so they needed to do something with the franchise to get new fans to play it and show them that it is still appealing. AC6 was good, but nobody was invested in the story of Matilda quite like Wardog or Mobius 1. My only downers in the game is lack of boresight targeting (AC0), High G maneuvering(AC) and no Strangrealworld and the Super Hornet with it's weak capabilities compared to what it could do in AC5(AMRAAM) and AC6(JSOW).

[Fly4victory]

Nah, Ace Combat has always been non-political semi-realistic gaming, not simulation.

The only thing that was really way out there was not the amount of ordinance on the aircraft because you can do the same in some of the simulators... It was the fly underground, in a tunnel, and Sulejmani's maneuvers in the last PSP AC.

Changing a franchise just for the sake of change is a bad idea.

Before ACAH there wasn't any AC on PS3 except for those that have reverse compatibly and were playing PS2 games. That would have been a minor secondary market that would have been unmeasured for future production. ACES went with X360 exclusive and lost out on PS3 sales, not based on the AC fans decision not to purchase the game but because it was in the wrong market because it was the wrong system.

It would have been simple to release AC6 on PS3. People would have happily bought it. Could of had a bundled set with Hotas and throttle, just like the X360 and cornered the market before Thrustmaster even developed the Hotas X.

They didn't do it and for some reason, poor sales of AC6 added with the current trend in raspberry splash first person shooters, we don't know... We do know the result of the decision.

A poor game that has not lived up to expectations, expectations that are based on the franchise history and in some cases elevated because fans have had to wait so long. The wait alone could create unrealistic expectations.

Yet, Neither fan nor developer can have sense beat into them, just the sense beat out of them.

[Macross_Fanboy]

Nah, Ace Combat has always been non-political semi-realistic gaming, not simulation.

The only thing that was really way out there was not the amount of ordinance on the aircraft because you can do the same in some of the simulators... It was the fly underground, in a tunnel, and Sulejmani's maneuvers in the last PSP AC.

Changing a franchise just for the sake of change is a bad idea.

Before ACAH there wasn't any AC on PS3 except for those that have reverse compatibly and were playing PS2 games. That would have been a minor secondary market that would have been unmeasured for future production. ACES went with X360 exclusive and lost out on PS3 sales, not based on the AC fans decision not to purchase the game but because it was in the wrong market because it was the wrong system.

It would have been simple to release AC6 on PS3. People would have happily bought it. Could of had a bundled set with Hotas and throttle, just like the X360 and cornered the market before Thrustmaster even developed the Hotas X.

They didn't do it and for some reason, poor sales of AC6 added with the current trend in raspberry splash first person shooters, we don't know... We do know the result of the decision.

A poor game that has not lived up to expectations, expectations that are based on the franchise history and in some cases elevated because fans have had to wait so long. The wait alone could create unrealistic expectations.

Yet, Neither fan nor developer can have sense beat into them, just the sense beat out of them.

I wouldn't go as far as saying AC6 didn't sell well for 360 considering PS3 was still expensive at the time and 360 still had an edge in sales. I'm sure the majority of the sales were in Japan itself and very dismal in the Americas. Either way, I was reserved about the game, and I still like it besides its real-world tired story of evil Russians and a bomb. It was probably one of the franchise on the chopping block too if it didn't churn out good sales abroad. Oh, I also don't like how they didn't add a self-computing gunsight and score counter for Free Mission, that crap is annoying when you think you kicked ass only to get a B or C rating, or worse, a D.

[Hikuro]

I liked the demo but at the sametime I felt sort of clustered. I dunno if that's right or not for a feeling towards playing a game. Like it's just to damn busy!

[mikeszekely]

ACES went with X360 exclusive and lost out on PS3 sales, not based on the AC fans decision not to purchase the game but because it was in the wrong market because it was the wrong system.

So... you're saying that the Xbox 360 is the wrong system? I know that MacrossWorld tends to skew in favor of the PS3, but the time AC 6 launched, the Xbox 360 was ahead by a solid margin, especially in the North American market. I think a case can be made that Namco might have been better off releasing AC 6 on the PlayStation 3 also, but it would have been silly not to release it on the Xbox 360.

They didn't do it and for some reason, poor sales of AC6 added with the current trend in raspberry splash first person shooters, we don't know...

Who said AC 6 sold poorly? It's on the Xbox's Platinum Hits. I'm not sure how accurate these numbers are, but a quick check for sales figures gave me these numbers for the first 10 weeks of sales.

Ace Combat 4: 367,395 units sold

Ace Combat 5: 294,849 units sold

Ace Combat Zero: 190,037 units sold

Ace Combat 6: 368,481 units sold

Now, I suppose that after the first 10 weeks, the PS2 trilogy could have continued to sell like gangbusters, and it's possible that no one bought another copy of 6 after the first 10 weeks. But Ace Combat 6 has, at the very least, better 10-week totals than any of the ones on the PS3.

I wouldn't go as far as saying AC6 didn't sell well for 360 considering PS3 was still expensive at the time and 360 still had an edge in sales. I'm sure the majority of the sales were in Japan itself and very dismal in the Americas.

Ace Combat 6 sold around 3 copies in the North American market for ever copy sold in Japan. That's about the same as it was on the PS2.

[Macross_Fanboy]

I liked the demo but at the sametime I felt sort of clustered. I dunno if that's right or not for a feeling towards playing a game. Like it's just to damn busy!

They sold clusterfrakk in this one. I have to stick to cockpit view or HUD because everything else happening around you is too distracting, especially in DFM although it is cool when you're blazing away with your cannon for that sweet close up.

[Chronocidal]

See... really, that is what pissed me off the most, and made me want to strangle the devs. I want blood and guts in my flying games just as much as I want to play a game where I wipe out zombies from an orbital gunnery platform. They just don't fit the genres, or cater to anything that people generally like about them.

When I say "realistic" about AC, I mean the flight controls alone. I don't care about the other stuff, because those are limits that make a sim harder to get into, and limit what you can do. Crazy amounts of weapons can be fun. Being forced to use built in gimmicks that no one asked for in order to kill boss enemies is taking a very free-form combat game, and turning into "do it this way, or you fail."

Throwing people into a rails mode that forces you to use gimmicky controls and lets you pull impossible flight manevuers via the push of a button is just everything I absolutely loathe about modern games all rolled into one system. I dunno about anyone else, but I like the hour long white knuckle dogfights where you have to outgun a boss enemy by your own wits and developing your own tactics. Locking me onto his tail for free and making me suddenly much more maneuverable so I can keep up is just too gimmicky. The blood and guts view was just the crap frosting on the gimmick cake.

I get that some people like it, and that's fine, but it feels like a slap in the face to their old fanbase saying, "Screw you, this is what sells now, so we're changing it all." It's their game, and they can do it if they want, but I hope it fails as an experiment, and they go back to what I used to enjoy.

Edited November 3, 2011 by Chronocidal

[Fly4victory]

Mike, thanks for the hard sales numbers. I just look at the shelf in the BX and could almost never find AC and would have to visit Gamestop or Amazon.

I agree that AC6 should have been released on both systems, X360 first to get that "exclusive" fervor and then PS3 6 months later. Don't understand why companies close the door on potential sales.

Saying X360 was the wrong system was personal judgement on my part, tainted by RROD.

I was on X box then X360 until visited by RROD and I experienced Microsoft customer service then jumped to the reverse compatible PS3 during the get six free blu-ray and an extra controller. I had a PSP before the PS3 and the X box is still going strong. That thing is built like a tank and some games were just better on X box than PS2/PS3.

Chronocidal, I fully agree on flight controls and success should be related to an individuals ability to manipulate the controls "FLY" not mash a button.

This is where simulators depart from games but I also what the correct aerodynamics and flight physiology. Yes, you/we as the end used should be able to adjust the difficulty to the game by removing them. But I want stalls, Hughes spins, dynamic coupling, compressor stall, black outs.........

I doubt it is high in anyone's list other than mine but I like a "free cruise" mode that allows you to fly and look at stuff. Programers put lots of work into the scenes so let me remove the game to look at your work but please as has been said well enough by others don't slow things down and put us on a rail.

[atomicscissors]

Speaking of Star Fox...

Go to google and enter in the search box "do a barrel roll" (without the quotes).

Edited November 3, 2011 by atomicscissors

[BeyondTheGrave]

Before ACAH there wasn't any AC on PS3 except for those that have reverse compatibly and were playing PS2 games. That would have been a minor secondary market that would have been unmeasured for future production. ACES went with X360 exclusive and lost out on PS3 sales, not based on the AC fans decision not to purchase the game but because it was in the wrong market because it was the wrong system.

It would have been simple to release AC6 on PS3. People would have happily bought it. Could of had a bundled set with Hotas and throttle, just like the X360 and cornered the market before Thrustmaster even developed the Hotas X.

They didn't do it and for some reason, poor sales of AC6 added with the current trend in raspberry splash first person shooters, we don't know... We do know the result of the decision.

A poor game that has not lived up to expectations, expectations that are based on the franchise history and in some cases elevated because fans have had to wait so long. The wait alone could create unrealistic expectations.

IIRC developers had issues developing for the ps3 at the time.

When I say "realistic" about AC, I mean the flight controls alone. I don't care about the other stuff, because those are limits that make a sim harder to get into, and limit what you can do. Crazy amounts of weapons can be fun. Being forced to use built in gimmicks that no one asked for in order to kill boss enemies is taking a very free-form combat game, and turning into "do it this way, or you fail."

Throwing people into a rails mode that forces you to use gimmicky controls and lets you pull impossible flight manevuers via the push of a button is just everything I absolutely loathe about modern games all rolled into one system. I dunno about anyone else, but I like the hour long white knuckle dogfights where you have to outgun a boss enemy by your own wits and developing your own tactics. Locking me onto his tail for free and making me suddenly much more maneuverable so I can keep up is just too gimmicky. The blood and guts view was just the crap frosting on the gimmick cake.

I get that some people like it, and that's fine, but it feels like a slap in the face to their old fanbase saying, "Screw you, this is what sells now, so we're changing it all." It's their game, and they can do it if they want, but I hope it fails as an experiment, and they go back to what I used to enjoy.

Those one hour dragged out boss fights are painful to me. In AC6 the boss fight before the fight with metal gear was like this. I ran out of munitions landed , took off then continued the fight. that was fun. The dev wanted to make the game move faster and tell a story. I think they accomplished that.

[F-ZeroOne]

Just my tuppence worth on the "AC realism" issue - the way I look at it is that the Ace Combat series is not meant to be a simulation of how modern air combat actually is, but instead a simulation of how we imagine air combat to be. Its the air combat of Area 88 and Yukikaze, where you can launch backwards off an aircraft carrier and not melt half a billion dollars worth of antenna with your afterburners whilst doing so...

I still haven't played much of this game yet, got two other games on the go and its been a bit at the back of the queue for a while...

[Keith]

Got it free with the amazon deal, and so far:

-I hate the helicoptor part (I've only done 1

-I hate the bomber part (it's freakin' daytime, why is it black & white)

-I don't quite hate DRM as much as I did in the demo, but it should be a completely optional feature instead of a manditory one.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Got it free with the amazon deal, and so far:

-I hate the helicoptor part (I've only done 1

-I hate the bomber part (it's freakin' daytime, why is it black & white)

you mean the ac130 part?

[Keith]

If that's the part where you're the bomber dude dropping bombs on crap and shooting guns at other crap, then yeah, I don't see why they thought that belonged in this game.

[anime52k8]

Because blasting stuff with a 105mm howitzer from an airplane is the single most entertaining thing ever. EVERY game should have an AC-130 level just because it's that awesome. racing games, platformers, JRPGs, motion control dancing games; they should all include at least one AC-130 gunner level.

[BeyondTheGrave]

If that's the part where you're the bomber dude dropping bombs on crap and shooting guns at other crap, then yeah, I don't see why they thought that belonged in this game.

That's the most vague description of a level I've ever read.

[mikeszekely]

Because blasting stuff with a 105mm howitzer from an airplane is the single most entertaining thing ever. EVERY game should have an AC-130 level just because it's that awesome. racing games, platformers, JRPGs, motion control dancing games; they should all include at least one AC-130 gunner level.

I could totally see an AC-130 level in a Need for Speed game. Just saying.

[BeyondTheGrave]

I could totally see an AC-130 level in a Need for Speed game. Just saying.

Especially the new one.

An AC-130 in superman 64 could have helped it. On second thought I'd probably have to shoot the rings.

[David Hingtgen]

That's the most vague description of a level I've ever read.

It's quite accurate though. I knew *exactly* what he meant having played it. That's pretty much what it is.

[Keith]

That's the most vague description of a level I've ever read.

Just imagine playing something that completely ignores the convention of HD gaming, makes it hard to distinguish between enemy targets & the terrain t heir on, only has a grayscale to look at, and a mirky one at that, and penalizes you not knowing which little block thingy you're supposed to hit fast enough. Also, if you use a bomb that's too big, you also lose. The most hilarious part, there are A-Team esque big explosion scenes thrown in (for when you hit something accurately) that are just long enough to jar your eyes from what they were focusing on previously.

Yeah, these levels suck!

[Valkyrie23]

FYI - for anyone who didn't pick this game up yet, it is on Amazon's lightning deals for the next 30 min for $45

http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox

[BeyondTheGrave]

Just imagine playing something that completely ignores the convention of HD gaming, makes it hard to distinguish between enemy targets & the terrain t heir on, only has a grayscale to look at, and a mirky one at that, and penalizes you not knowing which little block thingy you're supposed to hit fast enough. Also, if you use a bomb that's too big, you also lose. The most hilarious part, there are A-Team esque big explosion scenes thrown in (for when you hit something accurately) that are just long enough to jar your eyes from what they were focusing on previously.

Yeah, these levels suck!

So let me get this right. Your complaining about a game that basically ripped its level straight from another game. They had you use thermal vision so you can distinguish your targets from rocks on the ground. I think we can all agree that they did not render the environments with the same detail as they did the aircraft.

Using a bomb that's too big and losing makes sense. I don't think anyone can survive a howitzer cannon round going off ten feet away.

I did not like the objectives that were impossible to complete. Such as save the destroyer.

Edited November 9, 2011 by BeyondTheGrave

[Ghost Train]

Having played through the whole thing, I'd say the game and some of its elements had potential, but instead of focusing on them, they spent time ON THE WRONG THINGS: Helicopter piloting, Gun-Ship door gunner (wtf ... ? Well at least glad to know Mr. Simon "Ghost" Riley is still alive), and the singular bomber mission.

[Old_Nash]

I bought an Xbox 360 because of Ace Comabt 6: It does not takemuch, and the worm gives 3RL ...

I hope to launch urgently to WiiU.

[electric indigo]

ZOMG

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Macross anime franchise, Namco Bandai Games is offering "VF-1J & VF-1S Valkyrie" colors for the F-14D fighter as downloadable content (DLC) in the Ace Combat: Assault Horizon game. The DLC are specifically "exclusive to Japan" for the PlayStation 3 (600 yen) and Xbox 360 (400 Microsoft points). Namco Bandai is also offering The IDOLM@STER color schemes.

more

Edited March 13, 2012 by electric indigo

[eugimon]

oh my, that's fantastic!

[VF5SS]

But what about the actual Macross F-14 :3

[Ghost Train]

The Makoto IM@S Typhoon looks stunning.

[Old_Nash]

ZOMG

more

[David Hingtgen]

Yeah, THIS is Japan-exclusive, yet all the Idolmaster crap was available in the US. Talk about mis-reading your market...