Yet another game review from da' Cat-bird, Gryphon. Today it will be Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation for the 360.
SYNOPSIS
Like all games in the AC series, the plot revolves around a faceless hero who is thrust into an air war by varied governmental and political factors, normally involving one's country being attacked or invaded. In this case, it is the later. You are Talisman, leader of Garuda flight which consists of yourself and your wingman, Shamrock (notice a pattern here yet?) Your first mission is an intercept and defend sortie as unidentified aircraft have attacked and are bombing the capital city of Gracemeria. Eventually this same unknown enemy overwelms and forces your allies to retreat and surrender the capital to them, but not without the promise that Gracemeria will be liberated soon.
THE GOOD
Ok, this shall be a very long section, because there is so much that is wonderful with this game.
First off, I'll start with the graphics. Aircraft textures and details are wonderful and nearly fooled me a few times on whether it was Real or Memorex (kids, ask your parents about that line, a bit before your time). Terrain features are highly detail and from the air look like you are really flying at 20,000 feet, though not so much when you are hugging the deck at 400 feet. City scapes are breath taking in the level of realism and fine detail of the buildings, something that they've never been able to capture in previous games. Probably the most awe inspired feature for me is that in the midst of a dogfight contrails for aircraft, missiles and even clouds will clog up the sky to give that sense of realism that had been lacking in previous titles as well. In fact with all the missile trails from the furball (chaotic air combat melee) in the first mission alone is makes navigating and fighting a tricky business. Also new to the franchise is that enemy aircraft are much more detailed than in previous games, probably due to the 360's greater graphics processor. Gone now are the days of the blocky tanks, the low res MiG's and the microscopic gun boats. Perhaps even more amazing is the increased detail inside the aircraft. Instruments accurately reflect flight characteristic and orientation. On a humorous side note, you can now actually see the knees of the pilot beneath the instruments; a rather nice bit of attention to detail.
New to the game is the ability to take High G turns by pressing both the Air Brakes and the throttle, however this does run the risk of stalling out and falling from the sky. Also new to this version is that aircraft are no longer limited to carrying only 4 special weapons on the pylons at a time. Now Aircraft like the A-10 Thunderbolt II are capable of carrying and firing 6 Maverick missiles at ground targets, or F-15 Eagles can launch a full salvo of 6 AMMRAM missiles at approaching bombers. Standard sidewinder missile loads have also been dramatically increased from previous games. for example, the starting plane, the F-16C Fighting Falcon, has a total missile payload of 99 Sidewinders (must be kept in hammer space or something.) While other aircraft can carry from 130 to 260 missiles in one mission. This is supported by the radar support feature, which gives your guided munitions greater accuracy against enemy planes and vehicles, but on the same note the enemy has the same ability, so those planes and vehicles have a high priority.
Thankfully they also brought back the resupply line that was painfully missed in AC5, but also added a new feature where if any enemy airfield is captured by the ground troops you can actually land your plane there, resupply and rearm, then sortie out again to continue the fight. There is one catch though, since you must lower your gear and reduce speed to land, you become a target for any enemy fighter looking for a quick kill, so best to police your skies before daring to land.
Flight Physics have also been greatly improved and it is now possible to accurately perform a barrel roll and a weaving scissors. When your aircraft stalls or is hit by an enemy weapon the flight controls will lose responsiveness and in the case of the stall, you will literally fall out of the sky. Eventually, I want to see if it is possible to perform the cobra maneuver in this game, but that's for another time.
Voice acting is very well done, however the storyline doesn't follow you or your Wingman directly. Rather the storyline follows 7 people whose lives were effected by the war; including the wife of a missing fighter pilot, an enemy officer who was wounded in the opening days of the war, an allied tanker crew, the daughter of the pilot's wife who was separated from her in the opening minutes of the war, and several others. Most importantly, the story isn't preaching, but showing the trials and hardships that these people have gone through in order to survive the war.
Probably the most welcome addition to the game is the online multiplayer gametypes possible to play on live. This includes a team slayer game type, a free-for-all, a form of odd ball where one play on each team is the radar support craft, a Co-op game type, and one game type that has each team attempting to destroy the other side's ground targets.
THE BAD
Sadly, there are a few things wrong with the game, but don't get me wrong, the good out weigh the bad.
Firstly, sometimes the voice sync in the cut scenes are sometimes off. It's a little thing, but one that has always irked me a little.
Aircraft selection is painfully smaller than in previous games. At last count for me, there were only 15 planes to choose from, as opposed to 35+ ones from Ace combats 4, 5 and Zero. No longer included are the Ace Combat standards of the Su-35, the X-02 Wyvern, the F-4 Phantom, or the Mig-21. In fact many of the Aircraft that we had grown to love from previous titles are missing. I don't know if it's because of licensing or some other reason but it really hurts that they didn't even say good-bye *sniff*
Also, if you are looking for a highly accurate flight simulator, this isn't it. As previously mentioned, some planes carry hundreds of missiles (as opposed to Hittles? Cookie for whoever gets the joke). While it does make it easier to carry out a mission without going to re-arm every 2 minutes it does take away from the realism to see weapons respawn on the pylons.
Lastly, 4 of the color schemes available for the planes are obtainable ONLY from the Live Marketplace, for 200 points each. That's just wrong, seriously....
THE UGLY
In this case, it's just the people you may meet on the live multiplayer game types. Other than that this is a T rated game and everything is rather family friendly.
COMING NEXT MONTH....
Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect
