Since launch I've felt that anyone that going into AC:AH with the expectation that it would be like the previous games was setting themselves up for disappointment right out of the gate.
That's the problem though, even from the perspective of this being a Tom Clanciesh style mil-porn game it's not terribly gripping or interesting. The Trinity weapon is never really explained as to why it's a real threat instead of just being a regular ole explodey thing. Nukes would have been more generic but at least understandably more of a threat because, yanno, radiation/fallout/etc.. Does Trinity spread Ebola when it detonates? Does it give everyone a case of AIDS? What's so special about it?
Again, the big bad in this game goes nowhere and never generates a suitable sense of menace or at least presents himself as a constant nemesis. While it's a recurring Ace Combat trope, even in the related mil-porn genres the big bad is at least constantly being shown doing things and screwing with you, often personally.
Warwolf flight and their buddies are made up of a bunch of cardboard cutouts save for Guts who's just annoying. You're supposed to feel something when
Warwolf 2 gets shot down but the guy is such an immature frat style twat that I was kinda glad to see his plane explode.
Even the chance they had at a really fucking cool set piece with the
fight in the hurricane ended up going nowhere or doing anything interesting.
Looking at Assault Horizon just on its own merits it's still kinda wank as a "modern shooter" sorta game from a fluff perspective. If just shooting stuff is all you need to be happy then I'm sure AH will work just fine for you, but for me I still enjoy that sense of epic FUCK YEAH in games like these. AH's story isn't bad, it's just...there. Without it, it's just whackamole with prettier pictures. Being boring is far more of a sin than being dumb.
Trinity is based on a real world, theoretical weapon that has all the punch of a tactical nuke with none of the fallout. It can turn the tide of a battle with one shot, that's why its a big deal.
AH has its detractors, but I felt the set pieces were quite good and that, "sense of epic FUCK YEAH" was there for me in the best missions. The music really helps with that.
Best missions:
Dubai: Best of the city dogfights, lots of buildings to play hide and seek between and requires strict time management because the bombers will trash the city if you don't shoot them down quickly. It's easy to get overwhelmed, and that means it's the right number of enemies for an AC game.
Beyond the Canal: Best shooter segment, exciting, crazy, and actually integrates the ground forces into the mission in a very immersive way. You can even see the dudes shooting each other! You NEVER see that in air combat games.
White Devil: My favorite air superiority mission, lots of targets to shoot, best music in the game, and lots of cool little details like the friendly triple AAA guns fighting off a bombing run while you're stranded on the ground.
Russian Fortress: This one really feels like a classic AC mission, devastating a massive ground installation while shooting down tons of fighters was awesome. You weren't forced into using the CAS, but if you did all sorts of awesome things happened like friendly bombers assisting you, stuff blowing up, trains being tossed like toys, and finally saving a whole army by shooting down a trinity missile.
Naval Warfare: Also feels like a classic AC mission, besides the insanity of flying an A-10 for a naval attack mission, you had awesome stuff like defending the commandos, overwhelming battleship point defense guns with huge missile swarms, and generally being a grim reaper of the battlefield.
White House: A lot of people hated the Markov fight, but the level leading up to it is awesome. Just pure chaos and desperation, the friendly chatter here does an awesome job selling that this really is a desperate fight with nothing being held back by either side. The final dogfight is very QTE intensive, but stopping a nuclear cruise missile with a last second slowmo cannon shot was about as "Acey" as things get.
Trinity is based on a real world, theoretical weapon that has all the punch of a tactical nuke with none of the fallout. It can turn the tide of a battle with one shot, that's why its a big deal.
AH has its detractors, but I felt the set pieces were quite good and that, "sense of epic FUCK YEAH" was there for me in the best missions. The music really helps with that.
Trinity may be based on a real weapon, but I can't chase Flankers through it's hangar belly, bursting out the other side in a shower of sparks and metal, so it lacks oomph as an Ace Combat super weapon. I didn't feel any really epic moments, except for the rare occasion where all the DFMs lined up and I was able to chain a dozen of them, with a bunch of reversals thrown in.
I like AH, I do. Its just missing some Ace Combat feeling for me. I guess the best way to put it is it doesn't seem over the top enough. I don't know.
Eh, chasing down an ICBM into space vertically while dodging missiles and rocket fuel was pretty awesome. It boils down to what you consider over the top, it absolutely was compared to other games.
It was as crazy as you could get without the fictional superweapons of Strangereal like Stonehenge, the Scrinfaxi carriers, SOLG, the XB-0 etc.
Eh, chasing down an ICBM into space vertically while dodging missiles and rocket fuel was pretty awesome. It boils down to what you consider over the top, it absolutely was compared to other games.
It was as crazy as you could get without the fictional superweapons of Strangereal like Stonehenge, the Scrinfaxi carriers, SOLG, the XB-0 etc.
That's pretty much it. The Strangereal super weapons were so out there it was fucking awesome.
I mean, HAWX had you defending a space shuttle as it launches through the atmosphere from long range missiles while dodging fighters. If it is almost exactly from a Tom Clancy novel/game, its too low key for me to feel sufficiently Ace Combat-like. I don't know why, but the ICBM part just felt run of the mill.
Refining the DFM is going to be pretty awesome though.
While we're on the subject of superweapons, btw, i think stonehenge is quite important to discuss, seeing as how I think it's the debut of the superweapon concept in the series. Every game after 4, you've been surprised mid mission by some super weapon that has seemingly come out of nowhere. That surprise keeps coming earlier and earlier, until 6 where it was literally in the first mission.
What I think was so fascinating about stonehenge is that, not only did you know about it well before it ever attacked you, you knew about it before the first mission even started. The entire war is going on because of stonehenge, so it's building a mythology around itself from the intro movie sequence. You're left to wonder why it's so important, and why it's so devestating until deep strike. When skyeye calls out the incoming from stonehenge, everyone knows what's going to happen except you, the player. Rose colored glasses, maybe, but I think that aspect of 4 really sets it apart from the others in building a believeable and engaging progression for a war.
I mean, HAWX had you defending a space shuttle as it launches through the atmosphere from long range missiles while dodging fighters. If it is almost exactly from a Tom Clancy novel/game, its too low key for me to feel sufficiently Ace Combat-like. I don't know why, but the ICBM part just felt run of the mill.
And when a Tom Clancy game is more batshit crazy than an Ace Combat game, even an Earth based one, you know something is wrong.
Trinity is based on a real world, theoretical weapon that has all the punch of a tactical nuke with none of the fallout. It can turn the tide of a battle with one shot, that's why its a big deal.
AH has its detractors, but I felt the set pieces were quite good and that, "sense of epic FUCK YEAH" was there for me in the best missions. The music really helps with that.
Best missions:
Dubai: Best of the city dogfights, lots of buildings to play hide and seek between and requires strict time management because the bombers will trash the city if you don't shoot them down quickly. It's easy to get overwhelmed, and that means it's the right number of enemies for an AC game.
Beyond the Canal: Best shooter segment, exciting, crazy, and actually integrates the ground forces into the mission in a very immersive way. You can even see the dudes shooting each other! You NEVER see that in air combat games.
White Devil: My favorite air superiority mission, lots of targets to shoot, best music in the game, and lots of cool little details like the friendly triple AAA guns fighting off a bombing run while you're stranded on the ground.
Russian Fortress: This one really feels like a classic AC mission, devastating a massive ground installation while shooting down tons of fighters was awesome. You weren't forced into using the CAS, but if you did all sorts of awesome things happened like friendly bombers assisting you, stuff blowing up, trains being tossed like toys, and finally saving a whole army by shooting down a trinity missile.
Naval Warfare: Also feels like a classic AC mission, besides the insanity of flying an A-10 for a naval attack mission, you had awesome stuff like defending the commandos, overwhelming battleship point defense guns with huge missile swarms, and generally being a grim reaper of the battlefield.
White House: A lot of people hated the Markov fight, but the level leading up to it is awesome. Just pure chaos and desperation, the friendly chatter here does an awesome job selling that this really is a desperate fight with nothing being held back by either side. The final dogfight is very QTE intensive, but stopping a nuclear cruise missile with a last second slowmo cannon shot was about as "Acey" as things get.
This is where we agree to disagree because I thought most of the missions were pretty bland. I will concur, however, that the Naval Warfare one was pretty awesome. That was a great example of Ace Combat insanity being successfully transitioned into a "real world" scenario because it was essentially the multi-stage super weapon fight with a different coat of paint. Unfortunately, for me, most of the other missions fail to be as gracefully done.
Trinity is based on a real world, theoretical weapon that has all the punch of a tactical nuke with none of the fallout. It can turn the tide of a battle with one shot, that's why its a big deal.
Neat, too bad the game utterly fails at conveying why Trinity is a big deal.
Also, it's kinda hilarious that the game
vaporizes Moscow, shrugs its shoulders, and moves on to ZOMG DEFEND AMERIKUH as if that whole "half of Moscow being a smoking crater" bit was not a big issue.
every ace combat needs a trench run of some type or some special combat scenario like the joust with pixy.
I felt that was the problem with assault horizon it was either to toned down or felt too restrictive.
I did like the set pieces with taking out enemy bombers though. They did that right, in fact better id say than any other ace combat. Where you would just switch to special weapons and blast them out of the sky
every ace combat needs a trench run of some type or some special combat scenario like the joust with pixy.
I felt that was the problem with assault horizon it was either to toned down or felt too restrictive.
I did like the set pieces with taking out enemy bombers though. They did that right, in fact better id say than any other ace combat. Where you would just switch to special weapons and blast them out of the sky
It kind of had a trench run. Except instead of a ceiling limit, it was green beams to avoid. Fucking bomber mission.
I beat AH twice. Really sad that there aren't more arcade flight combat games on the PC.
The DFM and ground strafing mode things are okay but really jerk you onto the rails when activated. Either making them completely optional or at least making the transitions into them more smooth would go a long way in soothing peoples' ruffled feathers.
The helicopter missions are so bad. I sympathize because they had to give you the controls for both the pilot and gunner on one gamepad, but it really doesn't feel at all like you're actually in some sort of flying contraption. The old Strike games are more realistic "feeling" and interesting from a flight model perspective.
The blackhawk door gunner segments are even worse. Absolutely no variation in route or enemy locations or anything. Completely static. Shitty. Ass.
The AC130 segment is the worst. Awful. Shitty shit. Assy ass.
The bombing run was okay, but there's only one of them in the whole game???
Dumb story is dumb. Just a real-world dumb story vs Strangereal dumb store. Don't care.
Good game. Sucks that we'll probably never see another one on the PC before the end of time.
Edit: Oh, and I wish you could take off and land on each mission.
I just watched the preview they put on their facebook and I was getting goosebumps and clapping and gigling like an idiot.
The first free-to-play game of the legendary Ace Combat series unveils with a second trailer!
Set in a precise near future world and including beloved elements like super weapons and hyper-real visuals, Ace Combat Infinity will offer a brand new story campaign as well as an original co-op multiplayer mode where skilled aces will form two teams and compete to inflict the most damage on a common enemy.
Ace Combat Infinity is scheduled for take-off later in 2013.
Hey, I loved 5, and I may or may not have cried with Chopper died
Don't feel bad, it's not like he's Solo Wing Pixie. God gave you an aircraft decked out in superweapons that invulnerable from anywhere but 12 o'clock and and you still suck? Stick to mugging for the camera with your plastic gun, Iron Man 3-style.
Zero had great moments, but for a conclusion--give me chasing SOLG down from space or the Megalith Site any day.
as an ace combat fan myself i have to say yeah the assault horizon was a little soulless.
It just did not have enough variety in the missions and it felt like the missions were scaled down from previous games. I actually feel the same way about ace combat 6.
for me probably the best ace combat game and the one they should take notes from is ace combat zero.
tons of airplanes and missions types as well as an astounding amount of secrets and planes to unlock. also the fact that it had by far the most super weapons and enemy aces of any ace combat helped alot too
When I first played zero, I was a little disappointed in the short length and plot simplicity, coming off the heels of AC5. In retrospect, though, It really was a damn good game, with the best soundtrack in the series.
It's got a very, very memorable soundtrack--the first time i heard it, that flamenco music came the fuck out of nowhere--but The Unsung War is still my favorite, for probably the same reason I love the Suicide Mission theme from ME2.
Literally the only reason I own a 360 is Ace Combat 6.
Same here. I had picked up a refurbed PS2 and a shitpile of used games from a Gamestop in Long Beach when I was first sailing deep sea on a four month hitch for Alaska Tanker Company. In the pile was Ace Combat 4, 5, and Zero and I got massively hooked. When I saw AC6 was a 360 exclusive I was just like "FUCKING SOLD."
Now my 360 is just a very attractive paperweight since I never use it. I regret nothing.
Literally the only reason I own a 360 is Ace Combat 6.
Same here. I had picked up a refurbed PS2 and a shitpile of used games from a Gamestop in Long Beach when I was first sailing deep sea on a four month hitch for Alaska Tanker Company. In the pile was Ace Combat 4, 5, and Zero and I got massively hooked. When I saw AC6 was a 360 exclusive I was just like "FUCKING SOLD."
Now my 360 is just a very attractive paperweight since I never use it. I regret nothing.
Sounds like me and my PS3.
It's become a Gundam Battle Operation machine, exclusively, thanks to the mediocre BD market here.
I think I got to the mission where you had three objectives to take down over a desert landscape and it was just so fucking long, like going 30 minutes per attempt and then getting a game over. I think I died a bunch of times and just never came back to it because there was something in it that just kept pissing me off.
Literally the only reason I own a 360 is Ace Combat 6.
I have more games for my 360 than PS3, but the reason I bought the system in the first place was Ace Combat 6, having arrived late to the party on the PS2 and played AC4, 5, and Zero in fairly quick succession.
Assault Horizon's demo unsold me with the endless, mind-numbing tedium of the Apache mission. But I'm also glad to see the Strangereal setting apparently back in Infinity, judging from that link. Not just for the superweapons, but also the excuse it provides for the flying-circus menagerie of old and new aircraft operated by each side.
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." - Bertolt Brecht
what if the meteorites are responsible for changing the Earth into Strangereal?
I was thinking this may be a potential thing happening. I don't really play console games at all though anymore so I kinda don't give a damn. Hell, my next gen console is probably gonna be a hand built Steam Box.
Posts
That's the problem though, even from the perspective of this being a Tom Clanciesh style mil-porn game it's not terribly gripping or interesting. The Trinity weapon is never really explained as to why it's a real threat instead of just being a regular ole explodey thing. Nukes would have been more generic but at least understandably more of a threat because, yanno, radiation/fallout/etc.. Does Trinity spread Ebola when it detonates? Does it give everyone a case of AIDS? What's so special about it?
Again, the big bad in this game goes nowhere and never generates a suitable sense of menace or at least presents himself as a constant nemesis. While it's a recurring Ace Combat trope, even in the related mil-porn genres the big bad is at least constantly being shown doing things and screwing with you, often personally.
Warwolf flight and their buddies are made up of a bunch of cardboard cutouts save for Guts who's just annoying. You're supposed to feel something when
AH has its detractors, but I felt the set pieces were quite good and that, "sense of epic FUCK YEAH" was there for me in the best missions. The music really helps with that.
Best missions:
Dubai: Best of the city dogfights, lots of buildings to play hide and seek between and requires strict time management because the bombers will trash the city if you don't shoot them down quickly. It's easy to get overwhelmed, and that means it's the right number of enemies for an AC game.
Beyond the Canal: Best shooter segment, exciting, crazy, and actually integrates the ground forces into the mission in a very immersive way. You can even see the dudes shooting each other! You NEVER see that in air combat games.
White Devil: My favorite air superiority mission, lots of targets to shoot, best music in the game, and lots of cool little details like the friendly triple AAA guns fighting off a bombing run while you're stranded on the ground.
Russian Fortress: This one really feels like a classic AC mission, devastating a massive ground installation while shooting down tons of fighters was awesome. You weren't forced into using the CAS, but if you did all sorts of awesome things happened like friendly bombers assisting you, stuff blowing up, trains being tossed like toys, and finally saving a whole army by shooting down a trinity missile.
Naval Warfare: Also feels like a classic AC mission, besides the insanity of flying an A-10 for a naval attack mission, you had awesome stuff like defending the commandos, overwhelming battleship point defense guns with huge missile swarms, and generally being a grim reaper of the battlefield.
White House: A lot of people hated the Markov fight, but the level leading up to it is awesome. Just pure chaos and desperation, the friendly chatter here does an awesome job selling that this really is a desperate fight with nothing being held back by either side. The final dogfight is very QTE intensive, but stopping a nuclear cruise missile with a last second slowmo cannon shot was about as "Acey" as things get.
Oh and graphics so real I get nauseous when playing drunk. I'm easy to please with my flight sims.
Trinity may be based on a real weapon, but I can't chase Flankers through it's hangar belly, bursting out the other side in a shower of sparks and metal, so it lacks oomph as an Ace Combat super weapon. I didn't feel any really epic moments, except for the rare occasion where all the DFMs lined up and I was able to chain a dozen of them, with a bunch of reversals thrown in.
I like AH, I do. Its just missing some Ace Combat feeling for me. I guess the best way to put it is it doesn't seem over the top enough. I don't know.
It was as crazy as you could get without the fictional superweapons of Strangereal like Stonehenge, the Scrinfaxi carriers, SOLG, the XB-0 etc.
That's pretty much it. The Strangereal super weapons were so out there it was fucking awesome.
I mean, HAWX had you defending a space shuttle as it launches through the atmosphere from long range missiles while dodging fighters. If it is almost exactly from a Tom Clancy novel/game, its too low key for me to feel sufficiently Ace Combat-like. I don't know why, but the ICBM part just felt run of the mill.
Refining the DFM is going to be pretty awesome though.
What I think was so fascinating about stonehenge is that, not only did you know about it well before it ever attacked you, you knew about it before the first mission even started. The entire war is going on because of stonehenge, so it's building a mythology around itself from the intro movie sequence. You're left to wonder why it's so important, and why it's so devestating until deep strike. When skyeye calls out the incoming from stonehenge, everyone knows what's going to happen except you, the player. Rose colored glasses, maybe, but I think that aspect of 4 really sets it apart from the others in building a believeable and engaging progression for a war.
This is where we agree to disagree because I thought most of the missions were pretty bland. I will concur, however, that the Naval Warfare one was pretty awesome. That was a great example of Ace Combat insanity being successfully transitioned into a "real world" scenario because it was essentially the multi-stage super weapon fight with a different coat of paint. Unfortunately, for me, most of the other missions fail to be as gracefully done. Neat, too bad the game utterly fails at conveying why Trinity is a big deal.
Also, it's kinda hilarious that the game
I felt that was the problem with assault horizon it was either to toned down or felt too restrictive.
I did like the set pieces with taking out enemy bombers though. They did that right, in fact better id say than any other ace combat. Where you would just switch to special weapons and blast them out of the sky
It kind of had a trench run. Except instead of a ceiling limit, it was green beams to avoid. Fucking bomber mission.
The DFM and ground strafing mode things are okay but really jerk you onto the rails when activated. Either making them completely optional or at least making the transitions into them more smooth would go a long way in soothing peoples' ruffled feathers.
The helicopter missions are so bad. I sympathize because they had to give you the controls for both the pilot and gunner on one gamepad, but it really doesn't feel at all like you're actually in some sort of flying contraption. The old Strike games are more realistic "feeling" and interesting from a flight model perspective.
The blackhawk door gunner segments are even worse. Absolutely no variation in route or enemy locations or anything. Completely static. Shitty. Ass.
The AC130 segment is the worst. Awful. Shitty shit. Assy ass.
The bombing run was okay, but there's only one of them in the whole game???
Dumb story is dumb. Just a real-world dumb story vs Strangereal dumb store. Don't care.
Good game. Sucks that we'll probably never see another one on the PC before the end of time.
Edit: Oh, and I wish you could take off and land on each mission.
I really don't know how i feel about this. War thunder a free to play ww2 flight game is pretty great.
so long as its not pay to win ill be fine with it. apparently it comes with a campaign as well so that's good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ccY4YERquk
Yyyyyyup. [/Lana Kane]
that's some nostalgia right there
was that the giant flying battleship from 6 too?
This forum does not have a big enough sad face emoticon to truly convey how I feel right now.
Godfuckingdamnit.
AWACS.
Heh heh.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
I'm not pleased either but at least its free.
"Garuda doesn't take debts up here HUAHAHAYUHEPUAH!"
Don't feel bad, it's not like he's Solo Wing Pixie. God gave you an aircraft decked out in superweapons that invulnerable from anywhere but 12 o'clock and and you still suck? Stick to mugging for the camera with your plastic gun, Iron Man 3-style.
Zero had great moments, but for a conclusion--give me chasing SOLG down from space or the Megalith Site any day.
It's got a very, very memorable soundtrack--the first time i heard it, that flamenco music came the fuck out of nowhere--but The Unsung War is still my favorite, for probably the same reason I love the Suicide Mission theme from ME2.
http://youtu.be/o1Qkzj5bStU?t=3m36s
Same here. I had picked up a refurbed PS2 and a shitpile of used games from a Gamestop in Long Beach when I was first sailing deep sea on a four month hitch for Alaska Tanker Company. In the pile was Ace Combat 4, 5, and Zero and I got massively hooked. When I saw AC6 was a 360 exclusive I was just like "FUCKING SOLD."
Now my 360 is just a very attractive paperweight since I never use it. I regret nothing.
Sounds like me and my PS3.
It's become a Gundam Battle Operation machine, exclusively, thanks to the mediocre BD market here.
I think I got to the mission where you had three objectives to take down over a desert landscape and it was just so fucking long, like going 30 minutes per attempt and then getting a game over. I think I died a bunch of times and just never came back to it because there was something in it that just kept pissing me off.
I have more games for my 360 than PS3, but the reason I bought the system in the first place was Ace Combat 6, having arrived late to the party on the PS2 and played AC4, 5, and Zero in fairly quick succession.
Assault Horizon's demo unsold me with the endless, mind-numbing tedium of the Apache mission. But I'm also glad to see the Strangereal setting apparently back in Infinity, judging from that link. Not just for the superweapons, but also the excuse it provides for the flying-circus menagerie of old and new aircraft operated by each side.
Go Dance with the angels yourself.
I was thinking this may be a potential thing happening. I don't really play console games at all though anymore so I kinda don't give a damn. Hell, my next gen console is probably gonna be a hand built Steam Box.
That's still better than the vast majority of AH's dialogue.
Hey, if it can't be explained by a metaphor involving vodka, I don't want to hear it!
AH > AC6
Ugh... there's a joke somewhere in there about the bros and the 360, but...
because it is the best Ace Combat game ever made.
... I need to go see if I still have my copy. Time to play again.