This is such a weird game to make. It seems they took the engine of Assault Horizon, and the “story” of Ace Combat 2. The ironic part is, Ace Combat 2 didn’t have much story to begin with. Yeah, your first mission is to down some bombers. But almost every Ace Combat game starts with such a mission. Story in early Ace Combat 1 and 2 where, like in porn, just an excuse for some action.
With that said, it looks and plays amazingly. This is probably the most impressive game I’ve seen on 3DS. I’d even say that it looks better or at least on par with PS2 installments. And the first game that actually uses the second thumbstick of New 3DS, and the ZL/ZR buttons.
In terms of mechanics, this is more of Assault Horizon than Ace Combat 2, since you get to pick your load out. Moreover, something I haven’t seen in any other Ace Combat yet is ability to customize parts of your plane, in an RPG like fashion.
And there are also defensive and offensive maneuvers. Once a bar fills up, you can either magically place yourself behind enemy or magically evade the next missile. To counter that, missiles are harder to evade regularly.
Also, they added checkpoints, something I don’t remember in other Ace Combat games. But at least you don’t have to replay 10 minutes.
