[CKid]

Just tried the demo and I have mixed feelings about it. It plays just like that play-through video posted here earlier. When going into the close range combat camera, half the time you are lead into a scripted fly-by of some building or structure. It gets a little boring and annoying as enemy fighters are invincible until you fly-by said building or structure. (Take the Mig flying into the billboard for example.) When a enemy is engaging you from the behind, it can get a little hairy, but for the most part you are unchallenged as most enemies don't even know you are around and easy picking. I guess it is on a easy difficulty. As for the Apache mission, I wish the chase camera was moved further back so it is easier to see around. The flight controls are okay considering the controller that you have to use.

[Pred the Penguin]

Does it have the advanced controls option like the previous games?

[Swifty]

Yeah, it pretty much plays like previous Ace Combats and that includes the pitch/roll control configuration. It's the same Ace Combat you know and love but with way better dialogue and voice acting.

That is until you're forced to use Dogfight Mode on TGT_LEADs which are basically "aces" with near invincible aircraft. They can pretty much only be destroyed by pressing RB and LB which engages the fighter in a scripted set piece set along the Miami skyline. It was cool the first time and looked visually gorgeous but it really felt like a cheap thrill. It feels like DFM is basically a "Press A to win" button that sets your craft into auto pilot while replacing the super hardened veteran ace inside the cockpit of your enemy fighter with scripted AI from Starfox. It's pretty much what I expected the first time I saw and commented on it.

And BTW, for those expecting at least Battlefield 2's flight model in the helo portions of Ace Combat, you're out of luck. There pretty much is no collective or cyclic. The left stick moves the chopper constricted to the XY-plane while you can adjust your elevation with the Ascend and Descend buttons.

I'll probably buy this when it hits the bargain bin.

[Pred the Penguin]

That's sad... I'll stick with Ace Combat 6 for the time being then.

[Commander Zane]

AC6 really should be ported to PS3. It's nothing but idiotic that it would only be released on a platform that it was never before released on. Not that I have either of the two consoles but I wouldn't get a 360 just to play AC6 if I played the AC games past the fourth.

[Mobius]

I wouldn't get a 360 just to play AC6

I did, pushed by my AC "devotion". The XBox isn't bad at all. I got both HAWX games, FFXIII, Halo Wars, Halo 3, a game about LotR and other interesting stuff. There's another flight sim I want to buy, though I don't remember its name very well (it's something like "Over G" anyway). Though the PS3 performs better, I don't regret buying the 360 just to play AC6.

I'm getting AC:AH on october 13th... but heh, depends on my plans to spend 2-3 months in New York. I don't think I'll be taking the 360 with me to the US.

[Pred the Penguin]

I only want to play Ace Combat because I'm getting tired of watching my uncle and his kids play HAWX, which is a little too much on the arcadey side for me.
I have been playing Apache Air Assault and I really like helicopter combat, but it seems I'll be better off with Battlefield 3 than AC for my heli needs.

[Mobius]

Excuse me, sir, but... what makes you think HAWX is more arcadey than AC?

[Commander Zane]

Everything in HAWX can do Pugachev's Cobra. Everything.
An F-4 Phantom, should not be able to to a Cobra. Or a Kulbit for that matter.

[Mobius]

Sure but in many ACs you can take down a ridiculously high number of enemies with a single volley. This hardly happens in HAWX, where sometimes you have to fight hard for every kill. Not to mention the fact that missiles are harder to evade in HAWX than in any AC except AC1, ACX, and, to some extent, AC3 and AC4.

[Pred the Penguin]

Excuse me, sir, but... what makes you think HAWX is more arcadey than AC?

Well... then it's not arcade-y enough? What I really have issues with is the flight model of HAWX, not that I know if it's actually different.
Just to clarify, I've only ever played AC6.

[MR_T3D]

If HAWX dropped the camera shift into assists off, added black/redouts, and made "assists off" more dangerous to use, then I'd be all over it.

But alas, they don't.


Still, saw MP trailer for AC:AH, DAT CUSTOM COLOURING!

[Pred the Penguin]

Ok, I've tried a little bit more of HAWX... I still have to call out the flight model. It's weird...

[deathfun]

I'm going to stick with CFS3. Ace Combat didn't cut it for me

[IceFire]

Ok, I've tried a little bit more of HAWX... I still have to call out the flight model. It's weird...

That's how I felt about flying both the HAWX and HAWX 2 demos. The flight model is ...weird. It's like the aircraft have no mass. Although Ace Combat 6 was definitely an arcade style game and not a simulation... the feeling of flight and the feeling that you're flying a pretty heafty hunk of metal through the skies with missiles attached is much more there. Not exactly sure what makes the difference but in feel it is huge.

I'm hoping that Assault Horizon still has that feel from the other games.

[Pred the Penguin]

That's the exact problem I have... But it sounds like the new Ace has taken a cinematic route akin to many other modern games.

[deathfun]

That's actually what kinda bugged me about Assault Horizon; the forced cinematic moments. I mean, they're cool and all *the first time*, but what makes them off putting is the fact that they are just that, forced cinematics.

I'm supposed to be dogfighting, not playing an on rails shooter

[StarSlayer]

I picked it up popped it in for a couple minutes before I rage quit due to the inability to ****ing roll, the first couple minutes could be pretty much can be surmised by me hollering "The Bastard is down there, let me Immelmann after him you goddamn POS!" at the television.   It was only the intro mission so I'll probably try it again later to see if the control scheme can be changed on later missions but if not then I'm more disappointed then I can express coherently.   I've the sneaking suspicion that the whole experience has been dumbed down to the point it probably couldn't remember to breathe if it where a living organism.

[Cobra]

Um. It's in options, under controls.

Jesus christ why do people rage about things when the solution's right there in front of them? I played the demo, checked the options screen FIRST to see if there was a 'sim' type control scheme and found it in like 5 seconds because I'd seen people complain about the control scheme. "ohh wtf the control scheme is suck it's obviously not under game options or anything"

Man, I'm in a bad mood today. On a brighter note I'm going to pick up my reserved copy today. I actually liked the premise and gameplay, though the DFM got old after the first couple of playthroughs.

[Pred the Penguin]

The previous ACs averted that kinda situation by asking what kind of control scheme you wanted on the get-go.