Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
For: Playstation 3 and Xbox 360
From: Namco Bandai
Rating: R16 (alcohol reference, blood, language, mild suggestive themes, violence)
It has had a huge overhaul since its last outing. Playing it, you feel like you're in a blockbuster movie - a mix of Top Gun and Black Hawk Down with a splash of Modern Warfare and Ghost Recon thrown in.
This time round there's a mix of gameplay, not just fighter combat.
You get to fly jets and Apache helicopters and be the gunner during helicopter missions. The different missions and storyline gel really well.
The story follows three characters from different squads.
The Russians are holding the world to ransom with a weapon of mass destruction and they aren't afraid to use it. You must use your skills to bring them to justice.
Ace Combat is more of an arcade shooter than a simulator - it goes for action rather than making sure you're flying the jet correctly.
New to the game is dogfight mode for fighter-jet missions, but it's only available when you get close to an enemy jet.
The Apache missions have their moments - some good and some bad. The bad being that the camera angles and mini map can be deceptive.
Ace Combat online co-op is only available for missions you've completed solo first, which I thought was a tad on the stupid side, but I managed to complete a few missions, though none well.
I can see co-op mission being awesome when everyone is talking like a real squadron, but I was let down by a bunch of mutes, so there was no help when I needed it.
A neat feature that you can play around with is customising the paint job for the jets. I gave my F16 a makeover so it looked like Starscream from the Transformers movies.
Another cool feature is "save replay": when you make an awesome kill, simply pause the game, select save replay and then you can re-live the moment at your leisure.
I loved the campaign - one of the best action stories in a game for a while - and recommend this game as a weekend blast.
There is limited replay value (you can fly the different jets you have unlocked during the campaign) but the dogfight mode is outstanding.
This game puts you in the thick of the action.
Do you want to go to the danger zone? I know I do!
