Ace Combat Assault Horizon - Xbox 360
East Africa, 2015. In an attempt to stop the bloody uprising that is shaking the entire continent, local governments have decided to resolve the issue by relying to the combined forces of the United Nations and NATO allies. The base of the Task Force Africa hosts a large multinational military force that includes a UN contingent led by Air Force General Pierre La Pointe French, Russian forces more diverse support apparently related to some leading figure within the rebels.
Lieutenant Colonel William Bishop of the USAF and Captain Jose "Guts" Gutierrez, his wingman and longtime friend, guide instead of the Task Force made ??up of 108 attack helicopters, a squadron of bombers and fighter squadron led Warwolf just the same Bishop.
Given the gravity of the situation, the intent of the UN is of course to take advantage of the massive war machine of the alliance to enforce the cease-fire as quickly and painlessly as possible, this idea which will be soon much more complicated than the expected to be completed.
Shortly after his arrival in Africa, a group of helicopters to hunt for guerrillas in the jungle is in fact surrounded by a blinding flash of light and shot down by a terrifying shock wave, thus confirming the rumor that the rebels would be in possession of a new kind of super-weapon (named Trinity) capable of melting even the structures of high-strength armor.
Meanwhile, as the survivors of the task force preparing for a last-ditch attack against the rebels, the battle goes beyond the boundaries of Africa, reaching the shores of most of the countries involved in this dispute. This, in brief, the doomsday scenario around which develops Assault Horizon, the last episode of the famous flight simulator home Namco Bandai Ace Combat.
The evolution of the species
Developed by the team responsible for both of the last episode appeared on Xbox 360 and the other chapters more or less recently appeared on the shore platforms Sony (PSP and PS2 all), Assault Horizon has the merit to revive a genre like that of simulators purely arcade-style flight, including Ace Combat has always been the most ardent supporter.
Despite the introduction of some interesting variations on the theme, first of all the choice of using a background narrative finally more relevant to the reality, the game of Ace Project team has the advantage of relying on a towel simple and effective, based on this occasion whether to follow the evolution of events subsequent disaster Africa, through the mode most representative in terms of the single player game, or Campaign.
Abandoned as the classic oriental impromptu plots of the previous chapters in favor of a background cut very cinematic, the player is in fact given the opportunity to influence the outcome of the conflict in the first person, through involvement in over eighteen missions of pure adrenaline, to be taken on board aircraft disparate (selectable from time to time by a grid managed entirely by the CPU in terms of both range that weapons) within a time limit set by the system, over the skies of all the nations involved in the conflict.
As usual, each mission will range from the "simple" killing the enemies until you reach goals primary and secondary (stock, peacekeeping, support for ground troops) preparatory to the plot itself, this choice more than congenial to introduce what is also the main novelty offered by the game.
Given the complexity and breadth of the missions and the need to operate in areas far more varied than usual, the player is in fact required to assume the role of all actors "involved", and consequently participate in operations very different from the usual "fly and destroy." In short, contrary to what happened in the past, Ace Combat Assault Horizon will then be possible to venture onto all the "secondary" activities directly related to the evolution of the conflict itself, a choice which will give way to cover both roles altogether marginal (technical involved in the bombing, soldier commissioned to provide covering fire to ground troops through the use of Gatling gun), especially that of the pilot gunships.
With hunting Ace Combat is always the same, or almost
While Assault Horizon aims to excel in their kind of reference, it is equally true that in terms of flight model signed the title Namco Bandai does nothing more than slavishly follow the footsteps of the episode already seen on the Xbox 360, relying on a 'setting altogether credible, valuable both as casual user from the most experienced, but still very devoted all'arcade.
Despite the ability to inhibit some servomechanisms Members of the stability control of the aircraft and the presence of a control system capable of enhancing the qualities of those which are able to perform evolutions high rate of difficulties such tight turns, stalls defensive, loops and evasive action worthy of the best top gunner, the system set up by the development team guarantees a very high margin of error and suitable for those who do not consider abundant ammunition and resistance against abnormal one penalty too great to pay.
Assuming this well explains the decision to introduce an option as far-fetched as spectacular as the Dogfighting, by itself able to increase dramatically the quality of every single game.
Particularly suitable vs. aircraft more agile and fast and can be activated at any time (as long as you engage the enemy at a distance sufficient for enabling its functionality) by pressing simultaneously the two major bumper, this mode allows you to essentially create a true and its firefight distance approximates, in which the power and precision of the machine gun will be able to finally make the difference. In this situation, the CPU is busy dealing in complete autonomy movements in the plane of the location of the game, the player is in fact required "simply" use the left analog stick and buttons deputies to the management of post burners to keep within range hunting the opponent time to download all the destructive force of the machine guns on the unfortunate victim of the moment, knowing that with the prolongation of this situation, will also increase the chance of being intercepted by other enemy fighters on the screen and to suffer the classic passages "from hunter to prey."
On board an Apache will, however, another matter entirely
Considered one of the most important new features of the game along with the above-mentioned mode Dogfighting, the presence gunships has the advantage of greatly renewed the series in terms of gameplay. With the opportunity to take part in all the operations that will be required to support ground troops will be in essence can switch between the classic battles syncopated, typical of the series, a combat system much more static and reasoned, based of course on the different capacity both in terms of maneuverability at low speed and firepower of the notorious Apache attack helicopters of the category. Of course, in these conditions, the approach to battle must necessarily be adapted to the particular characteristics of the available means, yes able to excel in the clashes on the ground and in the process of search and destroy targets, but not so effective when it comes to avoiding the enemy attack or worse still hold to frequent mortar to which you will be forced to undergo in the course of the campaign.
technically speaking
From the technical point of view Ace Combat Assault Horizon confirmation of the fact good impressions already emerged in the preview. The development team was in fact able to improve the game in every aspect intervening not only in terms of content, but also on more technical. The number of vehicles in the game stand out, in fact, and quality of the textures for the attention to detail, and its large number of distributed particle effects (particularly gratifying effect dirt on the screen as a result of a successful hit mode Dogfighting ) and backdrops finally rise to the occasion, contribute to further immerse the player into the wonderful atmosphere typical of the series.
Coming to the less pleased, as a reminder of the excessive "stage presence" of Apache when used with the classic three-quarter view (to the point of making it virtually impossible for the frontal attack to some of the objectives of land shown on the map), while the Instead, we must mention is the excellent work done in localization (all strictly in Italian) that especially the strength of the engine behind the game, never below 30 FPS canons.
And in multiplayer?
Chapter deserves undoubtedly multiplayer, usable up to sixteen players through the connection to the Xbox Live service. In this specific case, the development team has tried to offer a multiplayer segment as complete and flexible as possible, providing that the player has the opportunity to access the classic Quickplay that create personalized rooms within which you can set the level of difficulty, aid and weapons available for each vehicle in the game. In both cases, it is still possible to access a series of sections that make the happiness of all the fans of the series and that will give way to pass from classic option-all mode Deadly Clash, the equally usual team deathmatch the Domination mode, up to the more interesting options Mission Cooperative Conquest and especially in the capital, where it will be necessary to coordinate air and ground troops (read also need to use helicopters and planes) for the sole purpose of destroying the headquarters of the opposing team.
After four years of silence, Namco Bandai returns to blast over the skies of Microsoft and its Xbox 360, with a title certainly lives up to brand Ace Combat. The product churned out by Project Ace proves once again incredibly addictive, but mostly just as capable of providing a gaming system incredibly varied and not too obvious. A title that surely will delight all fans of the series, and in particular those who will want and how to grapple with the many online mode included in the game.
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