• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown |OT| Yo, buddy...still alive?

mcz117chief

Member
QY9k4mF.jpg

km13WjS.png

V36Z3eh.png

Ace Combat is a long running aerial combat game series featuring many modern combat aircraft, both fighters (designed for air-to-air duty) and attackers (air-to-ground). The game does not focus on realism to provide a more entertaining and high-octane action where enemies are purposefully given weak AI to provide the player with many easy targets to destroy (a bit like Dynasty Warriors but with planes), this is further illustrated by the fact that the player is given massive amount of ordnance (over 100 missiles and infinite number of rounds of machine gun ammo) with special weapons being able to engage multiple targets at the same time, blow up entire armies or shoot lasers across the entire map.

The game takes place in a fictional universe called Strangereal, where real aircraft, weapons and tech appears in a fictional world with many real countries having their doubles in this world (OSEA=USA, Belka=Germany, Yuktobania=Russia, Sapin=Spain, etc.). I have this map in huge res (10k by 5,5k) if anybody wants to read city names or something.

lQdOhng.jpg


The story of this game focuses on one of the continents called Usea (on the map above it is on the right) which previously appeared in Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere and Ace Combat 4: Distant Thunder/Shattered Skies.
6J7tDLD.jpg

G07KA4D.jpg

In Ace Combat games, you assume the role of a pilot who is generally male and doesn't speak. During missions, you can switch freely between first and third person camera view. During each mission, you are given clear instructions on what to do. Generally these missions are: eliminate all hostiles, escort allied ground forces, escort civilian or other unarmed planes, intercept bombers, escape an area, fly under the radar to destroy or photograph high-priority targets. Missions have a time limit, but these are generally very lenient (an example: a mission can be finished in 10 minutes yet you are given an 20 or more). After finishing a mission, the player is given credits in relation to how well s/he performed (ranks go from S, being the highest, to D). These credits can be used to buy new planes or upgrade the ones the player has.

The controls are very simple and adherence to realism is very limited. Planes perform at peak performance at all times regardless of damage (with the only exception being scripted events) and no amount of maneuvering can damage the player or the plane. Also, pilot cannot be hit. Unrealistic maneuvers are a staple of the franchise. Crashing the plane into another one or into ground usually results in an instant death, unless the player activates a rookie mode which helps the player prevent collisions.

Enemies in Ace Combat games are completely brain-dead, much like in Dynasty Warriors. They don't evade, rarely shoot and serve as targets for the player to destroy by dozens. Occasionally a boss plane will appear, which doesn't necessarily have more HP but switches between three AI routines:

  • Aggressive: in this stance the boss will go straight for you (or at least in your general direction) shooting as many weapons as it can
  • Evasive: when you fire a weapon at the boss it will try (to the best of its ability) dodge the shot. Some bosses are almost completely invincible in this mode as they perform ridiculous maneuvers even for Ace Combat games (like Strigon team in Ace Combat 6 or Akula in Assault Horizon) like accelerating from almost zero to supersonic speeds in a second, doing 180° on a dime while going supersonic, etc.
  • Passive: this routine kicks in randomly, sometimes it can take minutes, sometimes after a few seconds. In this stance the enemy plane levels and flies straight at a very moderate speed allowing you to close in and take it down. It will not evade or counter-attack but the duration of this stance is random (can be a few seconds only, mostly it is longer).
Disclaimer: not saying it will 100% be like this in Ace Combat 7 but it has been like this from at least Ace Combat 2 all the way to Infinity with not a single Ace Combat game deviating from this system that I have played.

Every Ace Combat game also has a few fictional/prototype planes that the player encounters and usually is allowed to fly himself later in the game or through NG+. Some of the planes are unlocked naturally as the player progresses through the game, others are by completing the game on certain difficulty, completing a very specific task or shooting down specific enemy planes hidden throughout the game.

CWPvLXT.jpg


The most common weapons featured in Ace Combat games are missiles, guns and special weapons.

Missiles: basic weapons that the player is given an ample supply of to use (usually over a 100). They have very poor tracking and low damage. The player needs to engage the enemy head on or be directly behind it to hit it. Most enemies take 2 or more missiles to take down (helicopters or small ground vehicles generally need only 1).

Guns: machine guns mounted on your plane. Most of the guns in the game are identical but a few are more powerful, for example the Avenger canon on A-10 Thunderbolt II. Aiming and hitting with guns requires a fair bit of practice but the advantage is that they can be used against enemies flying at virtually any angle, provided they fly straight.

Special weapons: these weapons have quite a limited amount of shots compared to standard missiles but they are also significantly better. Depending on the plane they can be for example for fighters: ultra-long range missiles, missiles with better tracking, missiles able to target multiple enemies (like 4 or 6); for attackers it is usually bombs (guided and unguided), long range anti-ground/ship missiles, that sort of thing. A new addition to Ace Combat 7 are laser gun pods, which fire short laser burst like in Star Wars (looks meh but maybe it will be fun).

FiKPDAe.jpg


There are also other special weapons unique to individual aircraft like machine gun pods, laser cannons, super rockets that can target a huge amount of enemies, rail guns, etc.

jp8RJXI.png


ykUtt9Z.jpg


DEVELOPER: Project Aces
PUBLISHER: Bandai Namco
PLATFORM: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
GAME SIZE: 53.78GB on PS4 and 35.62GB on Xbox
GENRE: arcade air action; lite-simulator
MULTIPLAYER: YES (free-for-all and team deathmatch)
SPECIAL GIFTS: PS4 version comes with a full version of Ace Combat 5: Squadron Leader and Xbox One has Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (both fantastic games); both games also come with aircraft skins and some other do-dads.
PS4 VR COMPATIBLE: YES (there is a separate campaign only for VR)
PRICE: about average for a new game with the usual sites offering slight discounts

PC Minimum and Recommended Requirements (from Forbes):

PC RELEASE IS ON THE 1ST OF FEBRUARY

Minimum System Requirements:
CPU: Intel Core Intel Core i3-7100, or equivalent
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Legacy GPU: GeForce GTX 750 Ti, or equivalent)
RAM: 4GB
HDD: 60GB free space

Recommended System Requirements:
CPU: Intel Core i5-7500, or equivalent
GPU: GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, or equivalent, or higher
RAM: 8GB

Have a nice dance with the angels now and enjoy the game :)
 
Last edited:

Naked Lunch

Member
Hard to believe, but since 2007's Ace Combat 6, it took 12 years for the next proper entry. The main series just went dormant. I dare say there hasnt been a single good jet game released in that span either. Jet fanatics were stuck flying in the Battlefield series to get their fix. Ace Combat Infinity was a nice excursion, but I always looked at it like a half-baked side project - being an online game, the servers for it were turned off years ago. Ace Combat Assault Horizon was a watered down insult to the series.

We never recieved any HD collections of the Ace Combat's past entries in the HD era either, which is one of gaming's biggest crimes. Jack up the difficulty - and Ace Combat 4, 5, 6, and Zero are some of the best skill based videogames ever created. Ace Combat games are infinitly replayable with all of the jet and weapon options.

It took far too long, but Im glad the series is back with a proper entry with AC7. I'll be taking to the Unknown Skies day one. Still hoping this finally opens the window for HD remakes of the past greats...
 
In the home stretch. Almost release time! A little disappointed I'll be taking my maiden voyage without the flight sticks as they still haven't sent out my pre order. Damn gamestop. Ah well. Should still be a blast.
 

Airbus Jr

Litigate my emotions, daddy!
Is this game already out now?

I ve seen lots of people streaming walktrhough on youtube

And how do you access Ace Combat 5?
 
Is this game already out now?

I ve seen lots of people streaming walktrhough on youtube

And how do you access Ace Combat 5?
Some got early. I think Japan has already released. 2 1/2 hours left for me.
You will get sent a code for 5, whenever they get sent out. Not sure of timeframes on that, though. I haven't gotten my code for ac6 yet and have had pre ordered for at least 2 months now.
 

ToadMan

Member
My AC7 downloaded and with it I’ve also got 5 already downloaded as a separate app....

This is PS4 Euro store - so it’s squad leader for me but it’s already there.
 

Fnord

Member
Can't wait to inject this into my brain through PSVR. Amazon has trusted delivery to the USPS, so tracking is basically useless. And I haven't had great luck with them, but here's hoping I'll be playing tomorrow evening.
 

Airbus Jr

Litigate my emotions, daddy!
Some got early. I think Japan has already released. 2 1/2 hours left for me.
You will get sent a code for 5, whenever they get sent out. Not sure of timeframes on that, though. I haven't gotten my code for ac6 yet and have had pre ordered for at least 2 months now.

Thanks

Hope you like it

Unfortunately I won't be getting this game anytime soon though

Still have crap tons of game on my backlog

Currently still working on Mafia III
 

CatCouch

Member
Awesome OT! I really needed a refresher before jumping in to AC7. It's been years since I played an AC game. I have played about half of these since AC2 on the PSone~
 

ToadMan

Member
Well it’s classic Ace Combat - I don’t know if I like the ice mechanic though.

In fact the clouds in general feel a bit weird because they put giant rain drops on the canopy .... clouds aren’t like that - there might be a fine mist on the canopy but not those big rain drops I’d say. And then dark clouds cause ice - also a bit weird because they’re at low altitude in a place where the temperature doesn’t seem to be that low (I haven’t found an actual temperature indication yet).

I mean I know it’s not a sim, but that bit seems a bit needless so far. I guess it’s an extra gameplay feature they went for so let’s see - maybe there’s a multiplayer strategy that can feed into.

I will say though the graphics are nice. I haven’t tried VR but this game should shine with that.

So far on normal difficulty (and expert controls), the enemy fighters haven’t been total pushovers. They are at least evading to make getting a lock a bit trickier.
 

A.Romero

Member
Amazon is late with my pre-order so I'll have to wait until Tuesday... I was looking forward to playing this weekend...
 

Airbus Jr

Litigate my emotions, daddy!
Ign gave it 7 ? And yet call of duty supposed to get 9 from them every year? Feck that I'm getting game

Also is that place dying or what? Only 7 comments on Ace Combat 7 review so far..is there is a massive exodus from ign where's everybody goes?
 
Last edited:

Brainstormed

Neo Member
Any flight stick recommendations from those that have played with one? I'm wondering how they improve the experience, if at all.
 

mcz117chief

Member
Ace Combat Infinity was a nice excursion, but I always looked at it like a half-baked side project - being an online game, the servers for it were turned off years ago. Ace Combat Assault Horizon was a watered down insult to the series.

Infinity was amazing. I have spent around 500 hours on that game. There was so much content than even after 500 hours I barely got 1/4 done, there was always something to do in that game. The campaign was very good and it is a huge shame it never got finished, we never found out who really is the Butterfly Master.

As for Assault Horizon. Love it and still play it. It has a lot of stuff that other Ace Combat games don't have and I really enjoy the flow of the game. It is like surfing. Once you get the hang of it, all the pieces fall into place and it is exceptionally fun and rewarding (it is also the hardest game in the series by far). You should play it again and give it a proper chance.
 
Last edited:

Caayn

Member
Whoo, I'm excited. This'll be my second Ace Combat game, only played 6 so far which I really enjoyed (incl. the online part). Still remember how I got an end-game plane early by getting a skin for it:messenger_grinning_sweat:
Not One X enhanced? SAD.

Looks like it'll be PC for me.
Wasn't it announced to have X and Pro enhancements at one point in the past? Maybe it's just not ready yet?

At least the Pro and X should turn in better performance.
 
Last edited:

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I wrote the review for Eurogamer for this one! First time doing a review. :-D

Not One X enhanced? SAD.

Looks like it'll be PC for me.
It is Xbox X enhanced for sure. Just not to the degree you might hope for.
 
Last edited:
Karak at ACG seemed to love it & rated it very much a Buy. The PSVR sounds amazing...I might have to move this to the top of my wishlist!
 

Ovek

7Member7
Sony should have paid for a full VR mode for this game. To say it is a missed chance is an understatement.

I don't understand why you can't play all the game in VR, but instead you get "special" VR missions. Supposed they had to tailor the missions for a VR frame rate and it was the easier option.
 
I don't understand why you can't play all the game in VR, but instead you get "special" VR missions. Supposed they had to tailor the missions for a VR frame rate and it was the easier option.

VR is not a mod, if done properly. You have to design the gameplay with that in mind, as you also mention the fps has to be rocksteady, with no drops, all that without taking massive graphic hits. The game has been delayed a few times so it was not easy on the development side, considering that it's the same price for every version I'm fine with the 2 hour VR content and I put the blame on Sony this time as they should have funded the full compatibility to get another must-have in their exclusives game library.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I don't understand why you can't play all the game in VR, but instead you get "special" VR missions. Supposed they had to tailor the missions for a VR frame rate and it was the easier option.
I think that’s right. I’m not sure the base PS4 could handle the full campaign in VR at full frame-rate either. Which would be an issue.
 
Played the first 3 missions. Enjoyable for sure.

However I feel like the game doesn’t do a good job in telling you how things work. It didn’t tell me about using flares until mission 3.

And I don’t it has yet to tell me hitting triangle changes target. Maybe I missed that tho.

Still, I like it. I’ll try the PSVR this weekend

D dark10x i just read your review. Very well done. Set the bar high with your first review.

Here is the review GAF https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...view-a-stellar-return-for-the-skybound-series
 
Last edited:

Airbus Jr

Litigate my emotions, daddy!
I don't understand why you can't play all the game in VR, but instead you get "special" VR missions. Supposed they had to tailor the missions for a VR frame rate and it was the easier option.

You can't play all the mission in VR?

Only selected few mission?
 

DonF

Member
I remember playing the hell out of Ace combat 3 on the original PlayStation. And just now I googled about the story, cause I played the (pirated, I'm sorry, I was young) JP version and never knew that the international released was a heavily cut version. Weird.

So people playing, hows the story on this one?
 

Inviusx

Member
I'm a little bit bummed out about the lack of VR in campaign mode, I was under the impression Namco were positioning this title as a killer app for PSVR.
 

JohannCK

Member
Just cleared it (Japan got it a day earlier).

Well, it's certainly still Ace Combat. There is some total bullshit in here. The bosses were tame compared to some of the stuff they make you do this time.


VR is not a mod, if done properly. You have to design the gameplay with that in mind, as you also mention the fps has to be rocksteady, with no drops, all that without taking massive graphic hits. The game has been delayed a few times so it was not easy on the development side, considering that it's the same price for every version I'm fine with the 2 hour VR content and I put the blame on Sony this time as they should have funded the full compatibility to get another must-have in their exclusives game library.

It's probably not very fair to compare but Cygames (a company known primarily for making phone gacha) somehow managed to convert all of ZOE2 to VR, and that's a game that didn't even originally have a first-person view to begin with.
 
Digital Foundry has made a technical analysis (cant post the link right now) which explains indirectly why the game is not fully in VR. Fps are extremely unstable on base consoles and the PS4 Pro can barely keep 60 fps , meaning that the game would have to be massively downgraded to lock 60 fps which is the very minimum for VR.

That's the toll of having VR on an underpowered machine like a PS4. We will start getting AAA VR with PS5.
 

Airbus Jr

Litigate my emotions, daddy!
Some people already finished the game

Final Mission ( dont watch if you dont like spoiler)

 

Airbus Jr

Litigate my emotions, daddy!
I liked it (on PC, don't know about PSVR) but graphically is way below what AC seems to be offering.

Is there any more interesting flight combat game on PC ?

Would like to know more of those

All my life Ace Combat is all i ever play

Hope Ubisoft steps up and make another HAWX game
 
Last edited:

Caayn

Member
Anyone got a chance to play this game with a HOTAS set-up on console?
 
Last edited:

Isa

Member
I've enjoyed my time so far in the several missions I played last night, and am itching to get back into it. Just the sort of diversion I've been needing for a while now. I like the mix of story and then mission set-up. I have it on the X, and looks good. Not spectacular but its fine. I just wish there was a dedicated capture button like PS has cause having to bring up the home button then y is kind of a chore. Maybe I can assign one of the paddles on my Elite controller to do that for me?

Nice OT, I think the Dynasty Warriors comparison is apt here. I think the A.I. is perhaps a little more evasive on normal difficulty, but maybe I'm just a scrub.
 

mekes

Member
I wrote the review for Eurogamer for this one! First time doing a review. :-D


It is Xbox X enhanced for sure. Just not to the degree you might hope for.

I really enjoyed your review, I've just purchased and I'm downloading the game after reading it. Hope to see more in the future.

Will share some first impressions in a little bit
 

Caayn

Member
Does anybody knows if 6 and 5 are sold in sepate, or just given as pre-order bonuses?
6 seems to be a digital copy of the 360 version, just through the normal BC program. So any physical copy should work. 5 doesn't seem to exist on the PSN store, maybe it'll be sold separately in the future.

You'll probably be able to purchase the bonus codes from folks off of ebay and the like.
 
Last edited:

McCheese

Member
Dived straight into the VR mode.

It captures the feeling of flight. flying up past the clouds for the first time and seeing the sun, coasting low to the sea and feeling the speed, and of course spinning for my boy slippy.. but after these few fleeting moments, that's pretty much it. It lacks the spectacle and set pieces of the single player so it's just a few waves of enemies above a barren ocean.

One thing I will say, considering it's only on PSVR and only 3 missions - it has some very high production values, the menu/interface animation is very swish and it has mission voice acting, and a few other modes (free flight etc) thrown in.
 
Last edited:

Fnord

Member
Zoe2 vr is awful

Well... maybe not "awful," but certainly not something that would have been acceptable for a new, AAA release. That it runs in VR at all is a bit of an accomplishment. But it's in no way a fair comparison for AC7-VR.
 

ToadMan

Member
Do you land on runways and aircraft carriers like the previous games? Thanks

Yes you can Manually land on both carriers and runways - but it’s skippable. The game teleports you to final approach by the way - it’s not seemless flight from the mission (at least as far as I’ve seen so far).
 
Top Bottom