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A childish scribble of a military plane will show you that it doesn’t take much to make a jet fighter burdened with a huge payload of missiles look pretty damn cool. There is just something iconic and slightly intimidating about vehicles like the F-22 Raptor and MiG 31 Foxhound that can even be communicated with a simple silhouette. Their names alone sound like they could mug you down a back alley and make you feel grateful for it.
So it really doesn’t matter just how utterly amazing Ace Combat 6 is already looking; it’s just a very nice way of making this exhilarating series of games just that one bit better. The visuals really do hit you the first time you see them in motion too. The glint of the sun’s rays on your plane’s fuselage; the photorealistic wear and tear beneath your wings; the rich, fluffy plume of vapour you leave in your wake; every moment of you first experience of Ace Combat 6 is quite literally jaw-dropping.
Like your initial experience of Gran Turismo, or the moment you took in one of those Final Fantasy VII cut-scenes for the first time, Ace Combat 6 is one of those games when you really think ‘the next generation is here, and it’s never going to look better’. Of course it will all look much, much better in years to come, but for now we can enjoy what is a most splendid audio-visual treat.
Ace Combat has always succeeded in creating a wonderful game world where, up in the deep blue, lost in the carnage of war, you feel in a strangely serene and peaceful place, and it looks like Namco has done it again. As you play the plane’s radio coughs and splutters as voices clamour for attention. The sky fills with vast, intertwining tangles of vapour that drape the heavens like long strands of cotton wool. Explosions and smoke hang lazily as your HUD flickers with numbers and targeting reticules, and somehow it is beautiful.
And far below the theatre of the gods, the landscapes and horizons of Earth look unbelievable. Each mountain you pass over is photo referenced from real-world locations, and then placed next to other peaks from other parts of the planet, making each level something of a ‘best-of’ compilation of the most striking of summits.
The aircraft too are based meticulously on their real-world counterparts made by companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which was apparently a massive challenge as the artists worked around the military security that protects certain details of each plane. The effort was well worthwhile though, as the 15 official planes, which are to be joined by ‘several’ imaginary ones, look immaculate.
However, while Ace Combat has come on thousands of air miles in terms of its looks, the gameplay appears to have remained largely the same. This fate often befalls many series that have already finally tuned their gameplay, and are bound by strict genre criteria. How you view refinement over revolution will seriously affect your opinion here, but if you have even the vaguest inclination towards moving fast and shooting things, Ace Combat 6 will likely treat you very kindly.
Currently the HUD and menu interface remain largely unchanged, as does the plane select and upgrade system, and the slight emphasis on air-to-air combat over air-to-ground seems to have been kept in place. As for new tricks, the only one evident so far is a high-G turn, applied using the brake and throttle together to make unfeasibly tight turns at intense speed. Optional midair refuelling has been added, and although you cannot command them, your ally ground forces will provide support as long as you keep them breathing.
Do not be mistaken either, as this is no flight-sim, but rather an explicit arcade flying game. The physics are in no way fantastical, and the themes and techniques are based on reality, but it still looks set to continue Ace Combat’s tradition of making an intuitive and simple control system let you feel like you are a highly qualified pilot. In the dog fights you will spin and loop, pulling off elaborate evasive manoeuvres that land you right behind your former pursuer, and there’s little doubt you’ll feel a grin creep across your face as it happens.
The 15 main missions, each being set on a game map around 100km square, apparently provide around 15 – 20 hours of gameplay, and some reasonably generous expansions to the multiplayer extend that longevity greatly. Online and with friends at home, you can now play a classic deathmatch in the form of Battle Royal, work together in a team game or a co-op mission, or indulge in a mixture of missions in the new Siege mode.
If flying games are not for you then Ace Combat 6 can do little to win you round, but if you’re an aviation enthusiast or just get excited by the plane taking off when you go on holiday, this is certainly one to watch as its November release approaches.
