Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Review

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is a strange title. It's a military aircraft simulator that seems to borrow bits from other games like Call of Duty to create an experience that shifts from one genre to the next. Does that truly make it the game it claims to be? Whilst the definitive genre is a shaky one, there is something about Assault Horizon that is completely certain; it's a lot of fun.

For a game that tries to effectively reboot a franchise that has been quiet for some time, Assault Horizon takes from the best to feel more accessible, more mainstream and in the end creates a title that is constantly throwing new things at you and will have you on your toes for almost the whole game.
At one point, you'll be flying a jet through the skies of South Africa or an urban city, dodging other enemy aircraft and lining up the perfect shot to take them down, while the next you'll be in a helicopter assisting ground forces with covering fire in an on-rails section before being put inside a huge ship controlling an AC-130 using night vision to defend positions.

Some may say it's disjointed and that the game has no real definitive tone and that, for the most part, would be completely true. But when it's all this fun, you can put it behind you and just accept the fact that whatever you'll be doing next will be very enjoyably. And for a game that is, at heart, a military jet simulator, it does the other parts very well and they don't feel out of place at all.

Whether long term series fans will enjoy these new sections depends really on how well you enjoy that type of thing when they're in other games. For example; like the on-rails helicopter scenes in Modern Warfare? You'll probably find fun in those levels in Assault Horizon. A fan of that AC-130 level? There's joy to be had in this one too.

But you'll never buy Ace Combat: Assault Horizon for any fact other than that it's a military air simulator. Purchase the game for that and you won't be disappointed at all; gameplay is fast, explosive, cinematic and, most of all, fun.  With camera angles that Stanley Kubrick would be proud of, Assault Horizon really throws you right into the middle of it all and doesn't let go until either the credits roll or your plane plummets to the ground.

Aircraft in Assault Horizon handle like a dream; doing barrel rolls and swooping up and down is easy to pull off and looks fantastic. At first, it can be a little difficult to master the controls of the jets and helicopters, but when you do, you'll be pulling off evasive manoeuvres and three-sixty degree spins in no time. When coupled with the games aerial visuals, Ace Combat can become quite immersive, especially when in first person mode.

However, the graphics are far from perfect. At a few thousand feet, the game is good-looking. The draw distance is very impressive and flying downwards at a ninety degree angle is fast and very furious. You really do feel like you're inside a fighter jet ploughing through the skies of Miami, Dubai and South African deserts. But close up things are very ugly. The ground is incredibly poor and consists of nothing but low texture images with multiple 3D blocks placed on top. From a distance, everything looks nice but it's a real shame that the same can't be said for the ground as it's a lot of fun to see how close you can get your jet to the floor without crashing.

But Assault Horizon's biggest achievement is in how cinematic it is. Flying close to an enemy jet allows you to enter Dogfight mode where you enter a sort of on-rails section where you line up your shots and fire everything you have upon it until it explodes. And when it is engulfed in a huge ball of fire, the camera zooms in real close so you can see all the destruction and mayhem in all its glory. The same goes for when something in the environment blows up; the camera shoots forward and enters slow motion, allowing you to see sights that would give Michael Bay a run for his money.

A clichéd war story and acceptable voice acting all add to the presentation of it. While the story isn't exactly believable, it's good enough to keep you enthralled and although you probably won't care about the characters or what's really going on, you might want to see it to its conclusion. But the star of the show is easily the soundtrack; it's very loud, very epic and extremely good. Combine that with a cinematic presentation that puts you right in the middle of the action and many edge of your seat moments with tense Dogfight scenes and you've got a recipe for adrenaline-fuelled adventures in the sky while being in the safety of your living room. It's pretty awesome.

Alongside the graphics, there is another slight problem in Assault Horizon: mission length. Some are just about right, whereas others go on and on and on until a point where you're completely bored of them. Although the levels are fun and shooting planes in mid-air will never get old, they drag on a little bit too much and then what was once addictive quickly becomes tedious. One good thing about the length is the game as a whole; it's actually surprisingly long. At about 12 hours, Assault Horizon is worth the purchasing price and when coupled with the multi-player, it's worth it a bit more.

So, should you spend your hard-earned cash on Ace Combat: Assault Horizon? In my opinion, yes. It has its problems but they're minor enough to put behind you and just enjoy the game for what it is. Having never played an Ace Combat game before, it's hard for me to judge it against the others but I imagine it will split fans a bit over its new directions, with the cinematic presentation taking a front position. But I can't see a reason why you should pass on Assault Horizon; it's a hell of a lot of fun and allows for people who would usually not pick up this type of game to have a go and for a world dominated by too-similar first person shooters, trying something new and having a lot of fun really is worth the asking price.