Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

Can you smell it? The rich aroma of jet fuel, cordite and the flesh of those who dare to stand against Democracy. Now picture our hero staring distantly out towards the horizon, closed fists on his hips. His square and manly jaw quivering majestically as a banner with the tag line, “Make Metal Bleed” is unveiled behind him. Generic metal tunes thunder gloriously in the background as fireworks explode, lighting up the night. This is the mental image that played itself in my mind as I opened up the Ace Combat: Assault Horizon game case. A few hours later, with my aviator sunglasses foggy from perspiration, I mumbled to myself "Who wrote this? This could have been an Iron Eagle sequel. Someone call Louis Gossett, Jr."

It turns out the story was written by New York Times best-selling author, Jim DeFelice. DeFelice delivers a fairly cohesive story, although it shamelessly follows your typical Hollywood popcorn-blockbuster fare. He weaves a narrative around multiple protagonists, but Lieutenant Colonel William Bishop, the leader of Warwolf fighter squadron is without a doubt the main character, and that's not only because his angst filled dream serves as a tutorial mission.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon begins in East Africa, where an Allied force (under the banner of the UN) battle shockingly, well-funded rebel insurgents. They are so well-funded that they can throw wave after wave of highly expensive aircraft and military hardware at the allies. The allied force, called 108th Task Force, consists of NATO and Russian personnel, but from the suspicious demeanour of one of the Russian generals, it's pretty clear from the onset that a Russian faction is bankrolling the terrorists and that something evil is brewing. It's all a little silly, and DeFelice isn't covering new ground, but it sets the stage for some of the most frantic gameplay (in an arcade flight simulator) ever.

Where previous Ace Combat games forced you to play more strategically by choosing your targets carefully and launching missiles at them from a "safe" distance, the developers, Project Aces, decided to launch a pre-emptive strike on the rulebook by introducing what they call the "new close-range assault" system. It allows for strafe bombing and the exhilarating Dog Fight Mode (DFM). DFM is a feature that aims to make battles more intense by throwing you straight into the action. You have to be in the right position to enable it - preferably in hot pursuit of an enemy - but once enabled it runs on-rails, like the flight simulator Tom Cruise used in Top Gun. You still have to keep the enemy in your sights as the enemy zips and dives around in front of your eyes, but when you finally manage to lock on you'll blow them to smithereens; the camera will sometimes pan out or zoom in or even follow your missile to show a slowmo killcam of exploding plane and debris. If you fly through the exploding debris, your cockpit window will be temporarily covered with oily gunk. You can disengage a DFM pursuit at any time, and sometimes you have to since other enemy pilots will still be targeting you. At later stages in the game, some enemy pilots (especially boss characters) can counter or even reverse your attempts during a dog fight, and it can become interesting game of cat and mouse.

The game missions are varied, and for the first time ever, helicopters are featured in an Ace Combat game. And it doesn't stop there. Assault Horizon also features a mission involving carpet bombing enemy strongholds, and two or three missions where you're tasked with firing a M134 minigun (mounted within a Blackhawk helicopter). There's also one really brilliant mission where you have to protect a stranded airman as a gunner in a gunship, switching strategically between a 25mm gatling gun, a 40mm auto cannon and a 120mm mortar. These alternative missions provide for entertaining excursions outside of the usual fighter jet missions.

Real life locales are featured in the game, with cities like Moscow, Dubai and others perfectly represented through the use of actual satellite imagery. It's really cool to spot a landmark while you fly over the cities, however, during low altitude dog fights and strafing runs, the ugly truth is revealed. Once you get closer to the ground things look really ugly. Everything is flat and badly pixelated. It's not just the maps but even the character models used in cut-scenes. They're poorly animated, and dare I say it, terribly dated. For a game that has so many stunningly recreated aircraft (both real and fictional), it's a real shame that the developers would drop the ball on the presentation.

While the single-player campaign is painfully short (and can be easily completed over the course of a lazy Saturday), the meat of the game is undeniably its online multiplayer. It may come as a huge surprise but Assault Horizon is actually a very good multiplayer game (if you can look past the ugly menus and clunky lobby system). The irony however is that it's not marketed as such. Assault Horizon ships with a decent number of multiplayer modes, which include Death Match, Domination and Capital Conquest. All three modes are a pleasure to play, with Death Match being my favourite. It's a free-for-all explosion filled slaughter-fest, where you not only gain experience points for kills, but also for STAYING ALIVE. Domination is a team based mode where you have to capture and hold specific objectives (bases). Capital Conquest is a slight variation on Domination, but the aim here is to destroy the enemy's HQ. All the modes make excellent use of the DFM feature, and with a little bit of practice (and armed with flares), online battles can become incredibly intense. The game also features co-op missions. These are definitely the cherry on the cake. The co-op missions are virtually identical to their single-player campaign counterparts, however, you have to complete the corresponding single-player missions first before you can unlock them. It's a sneaky incentive to keep you ploughing through the single-player game. I should also mention that all the multiplayer modes allow for limited aircraft customisation, so yes, you can paint your aircraft blood red, and loudly scream into your headset “The Red Baron lives”.

Stalwart Ace Combat veterans may feel dismayed that much of the strategic elements of the previous games have been discarded. You're no longer required to keep tabs on your wingman, or even to be mindful of your flight control system, instead the game aims for instant thrills, almost taking a page from first-person shooters like Modern Warfare 2. It's clear that Project Aces are trying to capture more mainstream appeal, and although I'm glad I don't have to land my aircraft after every mission (as is required by other more dedicated and hardcore flight simulators), I can't help but feel a little saddened by its absence. Regardless, Assault Horizon is a promising departure for Project Aces from previous Ace Combat games. It might be a gamble that pays off, but it's certainly going to leave the Ace Combat veterans a little edgy.

While its full potential is never reached due to poor presentation and a short single-player campaign, the multiplayer modes are a blast, and the new close-range assault system - which succeeds in adding that extra dose of tension - is seamlessly integrated in both multiplayer and single-player modes, helping to deliver an enjoyable arcade combat flight simulator.

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