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It would be really hard to say anything about Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation without first mentioning how stunning the game looks. I’ve always been a “Graphics Over Gameplay” type person, but holy… Ace Combat 6 looks absolutely incredible! Jets are crafted with the same meticulous attention to detail that cars are in most racing games. You’ll see plumes of exhaust bellow from the backs of planes and even the inhale/ exhale of the engines when you throttle up and down. Around 20 real-life jets will be available, including the F-22 Raptor, A-10 Warthog and F-15 Strike Eagle.
Cityscapes – something that is usually just a flat mess of textures in most flying games – are the most realistic I’ve every seen in a flight game. Environments are huge and present a nice sense of scale. You’ll even run into touches like cloud cover that you, or enemy jets, can hide in.
Ace Combat 6 places you in the role of a pilot as you fly real-life aircraft while protecting your home, the city of Gracemeria. The game opens when the King’s Bridge is taken out by an invading army. With the bridge gone, the island city is essentially trapped, leaving you and your squadron as its only defense. The initial defense goes well until the enemy unveils a new weapon, causing you to flee your hometown to regroup.
The demo featured the opening attack on the city and shows off the game’s open mission structure. While in the air, you are free to fly anywhere in the combat zone; when you reach certain zones, orders will come in to complete some sort of task. For example, my initial orders were to take out a few fighters who were in the area, but when I got close to a set of ships, I was told to take those out. Rather than give a set of parameters for completion, this mission was judged solely on how much damage I did to the invading force before moving on to another story sequence and new set of orders.
Though Ace Combat 6 has the look of a sim, its feel is more of a hybrid of sim and arcade styles. Controls are really easy to pick up and it won’t take long to learn your way around the controller. I haven’t played an Ace Combat game since the first PS2 one and was able to get a hang of things with little problem. The most jarring aspect is when using the bumpers to aim your plane’s nose – other than that it is easy. You have your standard machine guns, though you can also hold down a button to lock on to all available targets and, with another press, send a hail of guided missiles towards them. They won’t always hit, so there is a bit of timing and strategy involved, but it is still a fun experience.
One of the new additions to the series is the ability to order around allies during missions. You can tell forces to hit certain targets or have them provide cover. Allies aren’t always available and you need to build up a meter first to use them. However, once the option is available, all you need to do is target something and use the D-pad to give them orders.
Though the game is completely playable with the controller, hardcore fans may want to indulge themselves and pick up the Ace Combat 6 flight stick that will ship alongside the game. The controller features a stick and throttle that are separated to suit the needs of your particular gaming position.
If the visuals don’t grab your attention, the flight stick or gameplay surely will. Flight games are becoming a rarity on consoles, making Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation the game to watch for armchair pilots. |
