Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberaion

Developer: Bandai Namco Games
Publisher: Bandai Namco Games
Genre: Arcade / Flight simulator
Release Date: October 23, 2007
Platform: XBox 360

Reviewer: Dan

Back when I was still rocking out with my blazing fast Pentium II 266mHz beast of a PC running Windows 95, I loved anything and everything with Jane's Combat Simulations on the cover. Back in the day, these were the standard for combat flight simulators. Everything about the games they made were realistic, right down to the nearly impossible (to the untrained, that is) carrier landings. This was also around the same time I very frequently rented games for my old, grey friend, the PS1. During one such rental, I gave Air Combat a try since I was so in to flight sims. While I was at first a bit turned off by the semi-lack of realisim, the completely unrealistic number of targets and generally high level of fun I had playing the game made me fall in love with the series.

The love for the Air/Ace Combat games was actually the main reason I got a 360 (stop laughing). When I first heard that Ace Combat 6 was leaving the Sony consoles for greener cases, I knew right then I had to eventually get a 360 just to play this game (just like I will eventually buy a Wii to play Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles). After playing a few of the missions, not only did it fail to dissapoint me, it also failed to completely blow me away. The Ace Combat series is a lot like Madden NFL Football or Gran Turismo. The graphics take huge jumps forward between consoles, but the core of the game (even the controls) stay the same.

I hate to say it, but even the story seems a bit "recycled" for the series. It reminds me a bit too much of the story from Ace Combat 4. A surprise attack by an aggressive neighboring country pushes your military to the edges of its borders, only to find the stregth, speed, and cunning to fight your way out of your corner, all the while becoming a piloting legend among your peers and enemies. The fake names and fake places have changed, but the main plot of this one just doesn't grab my attention like Ace Combat 5, which probably has some of the best character development for a non-RPG or single- player FPS in any game I've played. I actually got depressed when my wingman was shot down. In this one, I tried, but I don't even care that the lady is struggling to find her daughter again. For all I know, it could be a great story, it just has the execution of the original Resident Evil (Mmmm...Jill Sandwich).

One thing that sort of bugs me about this game is the AI. On one side, there's your enemy which can vary in skill about as much as Hitler and Stalin varied politically. A lot of your targets aren't very smart and make just a token effort to shoot you down. Other enemies are as if Maverick and Iceman are pulling 4g negative dives right above you. At first, I usually play thes games on normal at first because I'm not machocistic, and I usually can make it all the way though without too much difficulty, but there was one mission with a swarm of the angry decendants of Eddie Rickenbacker after me. I had to drop the difficulty down to easy and even then it took me 4 tries to beat the level. These problems are compounded by the fact that the AI in your allies can seem only slightly better than the aliens in Galaga.

I realize that this is an older game at this point, but there still are enough people online to get into a game to shoot at (and mostly miss) other people from around the world. I've yet to explore all 4 modes of multiplayer, but if you're one who cares about their Gamerscore, you better make sure your XBox Live membership is up to date. A good portion of the Achievements for this game are online based, which can be kind of hard to get considering how hard at times it is to shoot down other players. The single player Achievements are simple enough to get, with a lot of them coming from just completing the mission.

With the drawbacks in the storyline and somewhat suspect AI, this game really makes up for it in its beauty both in visuals and sound. While I haven't been awed by the music yet (I still haven't beat the game because a little-known title called Grand Theft Auto VI came out recenty), the sound effects are top notch and a real treat if you have a surround sound system. The visuals look stunning in their 1080p glory. The timing and detail of the two combined are just great. Distant explosions take a moment to hear. Bullet strikes sound like someone dropped a bucket of marbles on the roof of your car. My favorite effect is when you shoot down an enemy plane, first seeing all of the individual debris then hearing little metal bits hit your plane if you fly too close to it. I also have to give props to whoever wrote the scripts for the radio chatter you hear during a mission. At least that part of the story is done really well.

Final Verdict

It's really not a perfect game, and at times can be frustrating, but the audio and visual greatness, as well as the gameplay of Ace Combat 6 more than make up for its relatively few shortcomings. I know a lot of people may think that it's a weak reason to want to own a 360, but I thought highly enough of the series to buy the console at some point (you hear that, Wii? Not yet, but your time will come). While it didn't wow me as much as the 5th installment of the series did, it did not dissapoint. 8 out of 10.

Ace Combat 6 Trailer