Developed by the Project Aces team, Ace Combat Assault Horizon intensifies the franchise, escalating combat to the next level with aircraft that are literally torn apart, spewing oil and debris across the sky. Players will engage in combat across the globe, dodging skyscrapers and turning their enemies into fiery supersonic debris in both single player and online multiplayer. Never before has combat been so fast and in-your-face.
Features
- Dramatic realistic storyline – Written by New York Times Best Seller and military author Jim DeFelice, players will experience an engaging war drama spanning real-world locations across the globe
- Entirely new aircrafts to pilot – Experience split-second maneuvering and positioning, pinpoint targeting, hovering attacks and other gameplay diversity through the introduction of the Attack Helicopter, Door Gunner and more
- Revolutionary Close-Range Assault system – Delivering high-speed acrobatics, dizzying one-on-one encounters, satisfying visceral low-altitude and high-flying death from above
- ACE COMBAT online reinvented – Take to the skies and engage hostile forces in a variety of modes
E3 Impressions:
So this screenshot above looks like a nice cinematic but in reality that is how the gameplay works as the planes go through “Steel Carnage” and you literally tear them apart. Shoot the tip off the wing it blows off and the enemy loses some control with fire and smoke bellowing behind them. Here’s another:
Those are pieces of airplane that you probably don’t want to be flying through but seconds before you took that plane out in a dogfight mode that you enter by getting close enough behind them while targeting. There are different views of the game available but when you get to exploding aircraft time they clear everything out of your way so you can see the majesty of their graphic destruction system. It is absolutely awe inspiring the first couple times you see it then you start talking loudly at the game as you shred your enemies who are trespassing on American soil. Ok, I gave away just a touch of storyline, a storyline which is both great and exciting I might add, but it isn’t too hard to notice that some of the buildings and cities you fly over look pretty darn familiar if you watch any gameplay video. The plane handleing takes a little getting used to, the poor rep who watched me was almost jumping out his skin with how close I would get to dogfight mode before, at the last second, I was zigging when I needed to zag and missing the lock of Steel Carnage. After taking down a few and having some fun I handed the stick over to him and had him show me how it was done. I think it was therapeutic for him, as battle video games can be. Soon he had the skies ablaze and he was in the zone. After getting out of it he showed me another one of the most exciting additions to the game. Attack helicopters.
I play plenty of first person shooters that give you access to helicopters and so I was a much quicker learner on this fly through and I was taking out enemy SAM sites in no time. The detail you see above is the same detail maintained throughout the game and made for a far more realistic and gritty environment with the smoke and explosions having such great resolution. The only time anything becomes a bit grainy or out of focus is when you zoom in on a long distance target to give it a strafe with guns or missiles. Once again when I’d had some play I turned it over to my rep (sorry man I truly wish I had caught your name) and he showed me how it was done. He was such an expert with the game and controls that he could stay in zoomed in cam shot so I could see the details of the guys jumping out of the backs of trucks, the patterns on their shirts and the looks on their face as they fire or run for their lives. This game wasn’t just addictive to me, my rep was so into showing me details in the game and I was so into seeing them that I was late to my next appointment because we both lost complete track of time.
Final Thoughts:
I think it says a lot about a game when the game play representative was into the game as much as I was, antsy to get me into dogfights and just as happy to get his hands on it and play through. With the variety of view options available, the amazing graphics and all the air weapons at your disposal all driven by a powerful storyline this game proves to be addictive on the demo and I just can’t wait to get my hands on the full game. If you doubt me just watch the representatives in videos at the booth, they play the game between guests and on breaks because even they can’t get enough of it.
