Get your missiles primed and get ready to fire, because this an honest, fair review of the newest Ace Combat offering from Namco: Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.
This newest Ace Combat stands out to me, simply because of the amount of variety the game offers. In past Combat games, you're only flying jet fighters around. However, in Assault Horizon, you can do much more. You can pilot an apache helicopter, use satellite imaging to shoot down enemies, shoot a high-powered machine gun mounted on a helicopter, or just fly dozens of different fighter planes to decimate your enemies. Past Ace Combat games have always featured terrific music, and this one is no slouch in that department. Beautiful orchestral sounds accompany rock guitars for an extremely diverse soundtrack. There is even a choir in the background at certain times, mostly when the game discusses, the main enemy, Markov. Also different in this game, there are no more fictional locations or planes. Everything is real to life in this game, and so are the plane names. The graphics have to be mentioned, and this game delivers in that department. I noticed that it took a long time to install this game onto my xbox 360 hard drive, and it turned out to be almost 8 gigabytes of space. When flying after enemies, debris falls all over the screen, blocking your view. There are so many little touches to this game visually, that is really brings a level of realism to the game. This is certainly the most realistic Ace Combat game yet. Cut scenes play out when you fire a missile for that final kill shot, and your enemy plane falls to pieces. Also, there are extremely interesting cut scenes involving the key characters in the game, most of which you can control, that really help to bring depth to the story. There are about 5 different multiplayer modes to play with, and it really helps to bring replay value to the game. The controls are also dead-on in this game. Namco went all out for this newest Ace Combat. Gameplay is what shines the brightest here. Piloting the planes is a breeze, and there's some new touches to the gameplay design. Now, when you get close to an enemy, a circle surround your target, and you can begin a dogfight mode with the plane, following the plane at close range, making the fighting much more exciting and easier to kill your enemy. Most reviewers of this said it makes the game too easy, but I disagree. It simply makes it more exhilarating and fun. You can also counter maneuver your enemy, when he is tailing you.
Namco has done a tremendous job at making the newest Ace Combat a much more realistic, exciting, and most of all fun game than past Ace Combat games, which is why I can't stop playing it. Check it out for yourself to see what I mean. Fox 2!!
Graphics: 9.8 out of 10
Sound and Music: 10 out of 10
Presentation: 7.1 out of 10
Game play: 9.8 out of 10
Overall: 9.5 out of 10
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