One Week Later: The Ace Combat Assault Horizon Review

Ok, so it's been a bit more than a week, but you get the idea. Last Tuesday, Ace Combat: Assault Horizon was released to the public, and it was good. Seriously.





Let's start with the big change: Previous AC installments have all fallen into the Arcade-Sim category. That is, while they had arcade elements (like carrying 100+ missiles and infinite machine gun ammo...), the actual aerodynamic behavior of the aircraft as well as the air to air combat was kept fairly realistic. This is not the case for AH, which makes the leap all the way to Arcade Flyer. Hardcore fans of the original games will (and are) going to cry bloody murder. People like me who play games for fun though, are going to have a lot of it.


So, let's break it down.


General Gameplay:
Project Aces goal in moving to the full arcade style was to make a sort of Call-of-Duty-in-the-sky sort of thing. Crazy as that may sound, it's worked. The gameplay is up close, personal, intense, and full of gratuitous aircraft destruction. Flying is less realistic, as your plane turns all on it's own when you move the stick, instead of requiring you to blend pitch and yaw manually as in a real aircraft. The option exists to have a more realistic control setup, but I've found the augmented controls make dog-fighting easiest.


Speaking of which, this is where the game truly shines, by introducing two new game mechanics: DFM (DogFight Mode) and ASM (Air Strike Mode). When you get close enough to an enemy player, circular cue on your HUD will let you know that you can enter DFM. Doing so sets your plane on a chase autopilot, which will relentlessly pursue the intended victim. This leaves you free to focus on controlling your aircrafts speed, and aiming you machine gun to chew them up. Getting close enough to the enemy will then activate the assault circle, which basically locks you missiles. If you fire a missile while the assault circle is red, a hit is almost guaranteed, and sometimes even awards you with a seamless quicktime event showing off how you opponents plane is disintegrating. Here is a vid:





If you're being chased though, don't fret. DFM has it's drawbacks. If your enemy gets too close trying to lock on, you'll be prompted to preform a counter maneuver. Success will result in you doing a barrel roll (insert Star Fox reference), Cobra, or other impressive aerial move that will turn that the tables on your chaser, making them the prey, and you the hunter locked on in DFM.  But wait! It doesn't end there. Not only can they counter maneuver you again if you get too close, but they counter your counter (though this is nearly impossible, as the option only exists for a millisecond after the counter maneuver begins). If they succeed in countering your counter, they'll be pumping led into you plane at point blank range. It's not a guaranteed kill, but it sure hurts. 

For killing things that don't fly, there is ASM. As in previous AC games, you can lock on and use your air to ground weapons whenever you can see a target. However, when ASM is available, you'll get a significant damage bonus. When an ASM route becomes available, a waypoint marker will appear on your HUD. You can then lock onto this waypoint like a normal target, and when you get close enough, you'll be prompted with a flashing circular cue (similar to DFM) and can begin your attack run. Your plane will generally follow the attack route, though you maintain  much more control this time than you will in DFM, leaving you free to aim your ground attack missiles and bombs at the helpless folks on the ground. Bombers can only bomb in ASM. Should you come under attack while in ASM, slamming the stick to the right or left will veer you off the path and return you to normal flying mode to face the threat. Here is a view from the bomb bay in ASM (no Japanese in the American version...)

There are six classes of aircraft available for you fly in AH. They are: Fighter, Multi-roll, Attack, Bomber, Helicopter, and Gunship. All are available at some point in the campaign, and all but the Gunship are available online. (Though Bombers are only available in the Capitol Conquest gametype). All the small aircraft have a machine gun, and carry basic homing missiles that can attack any air or land target. Fighters can be equipped with a variety of air to air special weapons and are generally the most agile. Attackers can use air to ground special weapons and are slow, but heavily armored. Multi-rolls can pick from a variety of each type of weapon, and also boast a variety of stats. Helicopters all have machine guns and rockets, and can pick from air to ground missiles, or anti air missiles. Bombers are big, and slow, but can take a pounding. They also carry tons of bombs, meaning that if your in the path of a bomber in ASM, you're dead. You don't actually fly the gunship, but act as the gunner, aiming and firing it's mini arsenal.


A lot of that probably sounds strange and complicated, especially if you've played other AC games, but believe me, it works.


Campaign:
The story of AH is written by a New York times best selling author, Jim DeFelice. The plot is on par with previous AC installments, though this is the first time that you actually follow your in-game character, instead of only other characters around you as in previous AC games. Basically, there are rebel Russians with a new super weapon called 'Trinity'. You're going to have to stop them. The campaign plays very satisfactory and offers a variety of air to air and air to ground combat using all the different types of aircraft in the game. Only a few aircraft have to be unlocked. Most of the huge variety offered are available from the start, though which type is available depends on the mission. (No picking bombers for air to air duty. Sad.) The intro and opening credits to this game are the best out of any game I've ever played. I'll let you figure out why. To avoid spoilers, I'll leave the rest alone. Suffice to say it was good.


Multiplayer:
As all good games do now, AH supports online multiplayer. I got the Xbox360 version, so I've spend a large amount of time on Live. The online multiplayer is balanced, despite being able to use the points you earn to unlock 'skills' which you can equip to enhance your aircrafts weapons and performance online. I thought for sure a couple days away would put me behind in skills and leave me at a disadvantage, however I've found myself doing just fine. The 'skills' help, but don't make up for actual playing skill. There is a basic matchmaking system to help you find matches to join, and it's worked well for me so far. You can customize you aircraft colors, as well as your callsign (though you have to unlock most of the callsigns.) There are only four gametypes, but when you consider that this is a flyer, that's actually all you need. I've played a hundred deathmatchs and I'm not bored yet.


Graphics:
They are beautiful. That is all there is to say. Even the ground and cities that you're flying over are carefully crafted from satellite imagery. Each city and location looks real. Available maps include Moscow, Washington DC, Paris, Dubai, and more. The aircraft are perfect, though they look a bit cheesy if you customize your colors to all bright primarys... But hey, that's up to you. In the end, they look real, right down to the thrust vectoring on the F-22, Su-35, and PAK-FA.


Expansion:
DLC is being made for this game. So far, preorders were rewarded with the right to download the F-4. Several other aircraft, including some of the most famous 'X-planes' from previous AC games are going to be released in the coming weeks. The next one up is the ASF-X Shinden II. It looks amazing. Extra maps are also being created, so that you can fly over famous locals like Tokyo and London, in addition to those already in the game. 


Here is a look at the ASF-X Shinden II. (Note that the wingtips and rudders change position based on your speed.)

Here is part of the new Tokyo Map. Pretty.

Music:
The soundtrack is amazing. Quite the mix of electronic, orchestra, and metal. It plays during multiplayer too. Something most games lack these days. Unfortunately, the soundtrack was only released in Europe with the special edition. Hopefully we'll see legitimate copies in the states soon though.


The Little Bit of Bad:
There are, of course, a few things that bother me. First, there are a few aircraft that face as enemies in the campaign, which you cannot unlock or access to fly. These include the Mig-25 fighter, and the Tu-160, and Tu-95 bombers. There is no reason to completely flesh out these aircraft and not make them available. Also, they went through a lot of trouble to make sure that the F-35B looked right... this includes all the doors for the VTOL system. Yet, despite having helicopter controls in the game, I cannot stop my F-35 and hover in mid-air. I don't care if it's suicide during a battle. I should be able to darn it! (Note, the ASF-X Shinden II looks like it may have a VTOL system as well, but since that mechanic isn't in the game, I guess we'll never know for sure.) The other thing is that some aircraft are modeled showing more weapons mounted on them then I actually can shoot. Example: the A-10 clearly has 8 AGMs mounted when you select that weapon, but you can only fire four before the have to 'regenerate.' I can understand only being able lock onto four targets at a time for the sake of gameplay, but I can see those extra four under my wings. Don't tell me they're not there to shoot!!! The F-35B is also shown with four LAGMs, but can only shoot two before you're 'out.' This just shouldn't be. Either let me shoot them, or don't make it look like I have them. /rant


Small flaws aside: Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is an amazing Arcade Flyer. Even if you're a fan of the previous games and are upset about the the move from sim style, you should still give it a chance. You might accidentally have crap-load of fun. I know I did, and still am.

Saturn V vs the Space Launch System

E3 2011: Day 2: Less Stuff then Day 1...

Not much new to report out of E3 today as far as I'm concerned. Modern Warfare 3 made an attempt to regain my interest today. For the first time in all of the hype, they showed me something new... and barely mentioned that it was new... Take a look at this preview:



Still just MW2 - Part 2, but we do get the XM25 25mm Grenade Launcher. It is a real gun, and it looks like it works in real life similar to what is shown in the game. However, it will take more than one new weapon setup to compete well with BF3. Observant viewers will also notice two other subtle changes: first you can (at least in some cases) set you're optic off center to use your iron sights. Second, they're calling the drones Reapers now, instead of Predators. While both are still in service with the Air Force, Reapers are much more common in combat strikes now, and are actually capable of carrying the amount of ordinance portrayed in the game.

In other much less interesting but amusing news: Both Sony and Nintendo announced new systems today. Sony (after apolagyzing for 20 minutes for the constant hackings...) introduced the Play Station Vita, the successor to the PSP.

Looks like a fancy PSP with a touch screen, and (finally) a second thumbstick. It will be available in a $250 WiFi model, and a $300 WiFi + 3G model... on AT&T... suck.

Nintendo's announcement was kinda only half of one. They showed off the Wii U, and new controller for the Wii's still under development replacement. However, since the new system isn't running yet it seems, they only showed off it's backwards compatibility with the current Wii system.

As you can see, it is a full mobile gaming system for a controller, including a large touch screen and full motion sensing tech. It also looks bulky, which will make motion gaming dicey at best... and the full touchscreen will make it expensive and drain batteries... I don't have a good feeling about this idea. Good thin I'm an X-Box user...

Oh, back to shooters, today the Battlefield team announced that despite initial reports, the amazing graphics in BF3 will not be dumbed down for the X-Box360 version. The only difference now between the two is that multiplayer won't be quite as huge on XBL (like 24 player games on XBL vs. 64 on PC.) That alleviates one of my few concerns about the game.

E3 2011: Day 1: The Aftermath

Well, another E3 expo has begun, and this one brought more information that I care about than any previous year. Today's interesting news updates included new previews for Ace Combat, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, and the Halo franchise.

Let's start with the new hawtness that is Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. The first true campaign trailer is provided for you below:



Now we finally get some clues about the campaign. You'll be playing as several different characters, each specializing in different types of aircraft including fighters (duh), Bombers, AC-130 Gunships, and Apache Attack Helicopters. You'll also spend at least one mission as a door gunner on a Blackhawk helicopter (which appears to end with you getting blown up...) The badguys this time around are insurgents who happen to be Russian and who happen to be as well armed as the Russian military. They are led by a man named Makarov, who happens to be an ace fighter pilot. He is nicknamed Akula for the shark mouth painted on the front of his Su-33 fighter. The insurgents have a new weapon called Trinity, and you have to do something about it, which means you have to rain death from above on anything that you see. Should be a good game. Ace Combat has a reputation for good story lines, so I have strong hopes for this one.

Next up, the lesser of the new shooters: CoD Modern Warfare 3.



Looks good. However, my fears expressed in my previous post is confirmed. If the game had any new features to offer, and demo at E3 would be the place to show them off. Instead, we see a game that looks awesome, but loses my interest because it's only as awesome as MW1 and MW2 were. Nothing new to offer except what I hope is the conclusion of the story arc. I'll play the game... next year when I can pick it up used for cheap or borrow it. Unless the multiplayer manages to blow me away, it doesn't look like a big winner.

Now, compare that to Battlefield 3's first demo, which focuses entirely on a new freature that Modern Warfare has always lacked: Vehicular Combat. In this case, lots of Tanks...



Looks pretty... as the trailer says, it looks like it will be a good day to blow stuff up. The new engine really allows you to do that too. Take a look another trailer to explain:



As you can see, in addition to just looking prettier, you can blow up anything. That alone makes me drool. I've never found true satisfaction when shooting a rocket at a wooden door leaves everyone behind that door unscratched... The only thing I see ruining this game so far would be a crappy multiplayer set up. Our info on that is as limited as MW3 though, so we'll just have to keep our ears peeled.

Last but not least: Two surprises from the Halo franchise. First, we're going to get a remake of Halo CE, officially called Halo Combat Evolved: Anniversary, this fall. Basically it is Halo CE rebuilt in the Halo Reach engine, meaning we get the same story and campaign, with pretty new HD graphics, assassinations, and full X-Box Live multiplayer support. The Trailer below also gives us a shot of some of the reskinned multiplayer maps: included one that can only be Hang'em High!!! My favorite map ever!!!



Unfortunately, let's face it, it's still just Halo CE. A fun game for sure, but I'm not sure I'm willing to fork out $60 for a game that I beat 10 years ago... and getting to replay Hang'em High isn't quite enough motivation. However, I haven't seen anything on pricing yet. So, it's possible that it will be considerably cheaper, which may sway me to purchase. Otherwise, I'll wait to pick one up used when the prices drop. {UPDATE} Halo Waypoint just reported that the launch price for Halo Anniversary will be $40. They also announced that it will include a new and unique firefight map and mode... my bet is you fight infinite waves of Flood in the Library. {\UPDATE}

The second Halo surprise also overshadowed Halo Anniversary a bit:



Master Chief lives... at least until he gets sucked into that Dyson Sphere... For those of you that beat Halo 3 on legendary, you'll realize that this trailer picks up moments after Halo 3 leaves off. It has oft been speculated that this Dyson Sphere is infact one of the Forerunner Shield Worlds. Specifically, many fans suspect this to be Onyx. If so, Chief's new adventure will like him back up with Dr. Halsey and a few surviving Spartan IIs and IIIs. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you need to read the Halo novels...) I'm inclined to wait before speculating... But then I did anyway.

Fist up: I doubt this is the Onyx Shield World. The novel describes Onyx as being entirely made up of interlinked Forerunner Sentinels. The Dyson Sphere portrayed in this trailer shows no such structure. I could be wrong though... The past Halo games have all changed or contradicted some details from the books, and in the end, the books are based on the games. As far as I'm concerned, if the game portrays something one way, and the books another, then the book is wrong. Beyond that, my biggest question is who chief will be fighting? The Covenant is broken, the Prophet Hierarchs dead, the Brutes scattered and without leadership, and the Arbiter his Elites enjoying a newborn friendship (well, a truce at least) with humanity. Let's not forget that you finally blew up the flood for good on the Arc. So, that seems to indicate that the Chief will have a whole new (probably more dangerous) enemy to fight in this new trilogy (Yes, it will be a trilogy according to the E3 press conference.).

Next up, a bit of gameplay speculation. The trailer shows Chief making use of some never-before-seen thrusters built into his Mjolnir Mk.VI armor. Since he hasn't stopped by a human outpost while he's been drifting aimlessly though space in Cryosleep, we can assume he's had these all along. My canonical explanation stems from the fact that the Mjolnir armor systems were intended to be just as deadly in zero-G environments as in normal gravity. Naturally this would necessitate at least a basic thruster system to assist in zero-G maneuvers. However, these thrusters are probably to small to give any benefit to a Spartan in normal or low-G environments, so the Chief hasn't had a reason to show them off before now (though this could explain how Spartans can turn around in mid-air with such physics-breaking ease).

Now, this may seem trivial, but it could be a big clue to a new gameplay feature. This could be a small porting of the Reach armor abilities to the classic Halo environment. While I doubt that the Chief will suddenly gain access to active camo, armor lock, drop-shields, or jet-packs, Sprint could easily be integrated into his gameplay (and, in fact, almost was in both Halo2 and Halo3, but was dropped for some reason both times.) But wait: it's possible that this mega-structure could house many low-G and zero-G environments for Chief to shoot his way out of. What good is Sprint going to do you in a Zeor-G fight where your feet aren't touching anything? The answer: thrusters. In a Zero-G fight, the sprint button would activate your thrusters instead, giving you a boost of speed in whichever direction you're pointing. Hey, I can dream can't I?

Weapons will also be different this time around. While Chief might be able to scavenge some human weaponry from the wreckage of the Forward Unto Dawn's aft section, he won't find a lot of ammo for his assault rifle laying around this place. He'll have to take the weapons of his fallen foes... whoever or whatever they turn out to be.

Now, it's obvious I'm excited... but I have my fears as well. Halo is my favorite shooter franchise of all time. While I'm glad to see Master and Cortana continue their adventures together, I'm also afraid that 343 Industries (which manages Halo now that Bungie has moved on to Activision) will simply whore out the franchise for all it is worth, bouncing from developer to developer, and creating massive hit-and-miss quality issues with the games. This is exactly what is happening with the Call of Duty franchise under Activision. They got lucky with the Modern Warfare series, but the fact is that CoD was almost dead beforehand as a result of this behavior. I fear my beloved Halo will suffer a similar fate. Time will tell, but this new trilogy will probably suck up the next 4-6 years of 343's focus, so there may be hope yet. It all hinges on Halo 4's success. If it is a good game, then the franchise will probably survive this next trilogy. If Halo 4 falters, then the entire trilogy is likely to fall right with it. Time will tell...

In other news, X-Box TV is due to be launched this fall. Details are thin, and no prices have been announced. The rumors indicate that a new level of subscription above Gold, known as Diamond, will be how one obtains this service. All we know is that local TV, many Cable networks, and Pay-per-view shows will be available streaming live via XBL. If the price is right, and the shows I want are available, it might give me the option to avoid paying for cable when I'm up at school. Price will be the big key. If it doesn't cost significantly less than a normal cable'satellite subscription then it won't be worth it. Again, we'll just have to wait and see on this one.

I'll post more tomorrow for E3 2011 Day 2 if they announce or show anything I care about.

More Shooters...

So, I  know that I'm a few days late on this one, but oh well. I've got a real life to live.

Anyway, as many gamers are probably aware, there are two new major shooters coming out this year, and both are trilogy enders. I'm of course, referring to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Battlefield 3. Both have been revealed over the past couple of weeks with new gameplay trailers. Take a look:





Did you watch them? Ok, now for my impressions.

Basically, preliminary predictions for me are like this: MW3 is going to get record sales thanks to the CoD franchises massive base of raging fanboys. However, in the long run, BF3 is going to be remembered as the superior game. Here's why I feel this way:

It all has to do with which is the most truly 'new' game. Let's take a look at that. If you watch the MW3 trailer, it looks an awful lot like... surprise... Modern Warfare 2 (which looked a lot like Modern Warfare 1...)! It's clearly the same engine, and the graphics look barely upgraded at all. We see a lot of scripted cutscenes, and we don't see any new gameplay features at all. The only glimpses of of vehicle combat all involve you running away from them... the exception being yet another boat chase, wherein you can't do much except dodge random chaos.

Now, let's look at the BF3 trailer. Admittedly, BF3 has given us a lot more footage to work with, but I think that shows just how confident they are in what they've created. First off, the graphics are amazing. They probably won't be as good on the Xbox360 version, but most PC players won't have $1000 gaming rigs either, so I'll bet the average graphics experience is going to be the same across all platforms. Either way, they're way better looking than MW3. Next, we see tons of new in-game features. You can drag injured comrades to safety so that they can return to help you later, the environments are almost totally destructible, you can switch between semi and fully automatic modes on your rifles, you can play through hand-to-hand combat (no more knifing people in the ankles or hands for instant kills like in MW... you might actually have to have skill to get a kill up close) , and of course, we see the return of player operated vehicle combat (including aircraft) to the Battlefield franchise. I love blowing things up with tanks. Yay!

So, does this mean that MW3 is going to suck? Not at all. I quite enjoyed both the previous MW games, though the multiplayer didn't impress me enough to actually buy the games. I just borrowed them from a roommate. If MW3 is as similar to its' predecessors as it looks, then it will be just as fun. I'm sure I'll borrow it and play it as well. And, if they fix the multiplayer to be less unbalance against new players, then I may just buy it eventually. However, I suspect that BF3 will just be a lot more fun from the get go, and over a longer time.

Of course, as I just implied, multiplayer could change my mind completely. Let's face it, a games legacy isn't in its campaign story, it's in how fun the game is to play over and over again. That job is almost always going to be done (or not done...) by the multiplayer options the game offers. As I mentioned above, the unbalanced design of the MW2 multiplayer turned me away after I beat the campaign. We don't have a lot details on either games multiplayer features yet, so the pendulum could still swing either way for which game is best. We won't have to wait too long though. Both games are due out this fall, and I'm sure that we'll see plenty of both games at E3 in a couple weeks.

And... UPDATE!

So, I'm just as bad at writing here as I am at writing in my journal. Of course, I only think to write as an outlet for  problems that I don't want to vent to other people. As a result, these blogs turn out to be mostly rants. If you check the dates on my posts though, you'll notice that most of my life is just fine... I just only post when angry. As a result, it would seem that the internet is going to remember me as a very upset person. Oh well.

Well, this is going to be a trend breaker. Things are ok right now. I mean, I've got concerns. Women are always a source of stress, but nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, my life seems to repeat the same dumb circumstances over and over again... so I think I'm getting desensitized to it all. However, classes are going well. Statics and Calc3 are both a lot easier the second time around. I should be just fine pushing forward.

Nothing else huge to report. I finally got around to playing and beating both Modern Warfare games. They were good, and I'm looking forward to a third one (theoretically coming out this year), but like most over-hyped things, they didn't live up to it. They were good, just not the greatest thing that I've ever played. Fortunately, I was borrowing them, so I didn't lose any money.

I also borrowed and beat Ace Combat 6 in prep for the release of Assault Horizon this fall. AC6 was way fun. If it had a more expansive multiplayer, I would definitely go pick it up for myself. Oh well, the new one comes out this fall, so I can wait until then. After classes get out in a few weeks, I'm going to go get HAWX2. I really enjoyed HAWX, but it lacked good multiplayer as well (an unfortunately common thread in flight combat games). However, I hear that HAWX2 features a survival mode, so even if the mutliplayer lacks again, I can still spend hours shooting down enemy AIs. That and the daily challenges for Halo Reach should keep me held over until Assault Horizon this fall.

Life sucks... and then we die.

So,... this week has been from Hell. I have no intention of avoiding a rant in this post, please move on if rants make you squeamish.

Anyway, I didn't really do anything fun for the weekend. I was busy studying for the 3 tests that I had this week... specifically for multivariable calc, since I got a poor grade on my first exam and was looking to make it up on this one. Unfortunately, it was not to be. My alarm malfunctioned Monday morning, and I slept through the exam. So, I didn't even get a chance to fail on my own. The universe did it for me. Now I'm guaranteed to fail the class, which will not only require me to retake it, but will delay my graduation by an entire semester as I cannot move on until I pass this class. 

As you can imagine, that left me pissed, but life didn't end there. I've also learned this week that my grandmother has what appears to be advanced bone cancer, which means that the trip we took to visit her this last summer was probably the last time that I'll ever get to see her. I mean, she is old, and every time that I get to see her, I kind of worry that it might be the last time, but to have it confirmed like this is really depressing. Especially given that they only found the cancer doing emergency surgery after she fell and broke her hip.

But wait! There's more! While I feel ok about he stats test that I took today, I have another test in my statics class tomorrow night... that's right, night. My instructor doesn't feel like we have enough time to take a 26 question multiple choice test during our hour and a half class time, so he makes us come back at night to take the test in two hours instead. That means that I have to miss the new episode of the Big Bang Theory, which in addition to being one of my favorite shows, also happens to be the only show that CBS doesn't let you watch online afterwords!

Now, to top it all off, I've been stressing through a mid-college crisis: that is, I'm terrified because I'm beginning to realize that I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I used to be really confident, I had it all planned out since middle school. I was going to be an engineer, get married, design the spacecraft that took people to Mars, and retire to huge house with my wife. Now there's not really a space program, I've been shot down for every date I've attempted for the last year, and no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to do well in or enjoy any of my classes. The problem is, I hate every other option that's been presented to me, so I feel stuck where I'm at... (Really stuck after the calc debacle).

Maybe this would all be easier if I had someone to talk to. Don't get me wrong, I have great friends, but I don't have any that I feel like I could talk about this... or let me rephrase that... I don't have any that I feel like would want to hear it... That and I don't want to taint any of my friendships by complaining too much. I have such a hard time making friends, and I really don't want the ones I have to dislike me being around... I'm probably just paranoid, but either way, it hasn't helped this week.

At this point, I'm just praying that the airsoft game this weekend isn't too cold or wet for me to blow off all my stress.