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[glaurung]

Unfortunately no. You have to use DFM for Target_Lead enemies. And some ground targets can't be locked on outside of ASM. So yes you have to their on rails scheme for specific events. But that doesn't mean you can't play most of the game like the previous Ace Combat ones.

This is one of the stupid design choices that I lamented in my previous posts.

The TGT_LEAD planes cannot be shot down without it. This kind of makes sense, since they have infinite flares and can dodge your pretty much indefinitely.

Where it does not make sense:

1. Open sea carrier shooting mission. You get shot down when you try to approach the vessels without DFM guidance. When you use the guidance, you somehow become invisible to the enemy guns. Blech.
2. The final mission.
   Spoiler

   You basically have to keep DFM on at all times and fly through these scripted events. And only after that can you start damaging the target's craft. Which sucks ass.

 

[Noisepurge]

Finished!

I was a little worried with the new "realistic" take on Ace Combat but this was a great game and shit was intense!

However the scripted events sometimes were really annoying as enemy planes got invincibility and endless flares And there was some pretty blatant enemy spawning right before you in the later missions.

 

[Yuterald]

OMG the 4th mission on Ace difficulty is a nightmare. I'm playing through the campaign on Ace so I don't have access to armor skills or any other bonuses. So horrible. On rails levels and checkpoints that keep your current health status DO NOT mix. I had to rage quit right at the end. Those fucking RPG ground guys are like ants and you never see their rockets coming. It's just dumb enemy memorization and shit luck. Such garbage.

 

[Heshinsi]

I am not liking the design choices they went with this game. Not being able to unlock and buy planes and special weapons, the shitty music, going away from the fictional world setting (I liked them ok), the non jet fighter segments, the randomly popping up enemies. Cut scenes are for sure better than the wooden ones they had in AC6, but as of now, I really like AC6's gameplay sections a helluva lot more.

 

[Tizoc]

Unfortunately no. You have to use DFM for Target_Lead enemies. And some ground targets can't be locked on outside of ASM. So yes you have to their on rails scheme for specific events. But that doesn't mean you can't play most of the game like the previous Ace Combat ones.

Ah I see, will try out the AC controls later and see how it plays.
IMO the game should've had 2 modes; the current one where you use DFM to take out TGT_LEAD, and the classic mode which is less 'rail shooter'-ish.

Again, I've never played AC games before, so sorry if my post seems silly ^_^;

 

[Risk Breaker]

Is my game bugged or something?

Because you know, I fly around like an spasmatic midget trying to dodge those red circles of death like the game told me in the (annoying) tutorial and it doesn't work, the missiles (and gunfire) hit me anyway. So I'm forced to use that shitty counter-maneuver QTE in which the game does everything for me automatically, and not even that really works.

I'm on Blue on Blue btw. I really wanted to like this game, but man...

 

[glaurung]

I cannot over emphasize how fucked up the DLC prices are. £5 for one plane? Fuck this.

 

[SapientWolf]

Is my game bugged or something?

Because you know, I fly around like an spasmatic midget trying to dodge those red circles of death like the game told me in the (annoying) tutorial and it doesn't work, the missiles (and gunfire) hit me anyway. So I'm forced to use that shitty counter-maneuver QTE in which the game does everything for me automatically, and not even that really works.

I'm on Blue on Blue btw. I really wanted to like this game, but man...

Which mission/difficulty level?

nvm Mission 5. Yeah, it wants you to use DFM.

 

[Jubbly]

$4.99 for two Tekken skins, hell yea!

TEKKEN™ has muscled its way into the ACE COMBAT™ universe in spectacular style for the third installment of ACE COMBAT ASSAULT HORIZON downloadable content. Available November 15 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the pack contains two fearsome new skins for the Su-35 Flanker-E aircraft. The distinctive skins feature two legendary characters from the TEKKEN game series, Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima.

While ace pilots everywhere are waiting to download this incredible new DLC, you can give your readers their first glimpse by sharing the details below and downloading the screenshots using the FTP information provided.

The DLC available November 15 includes:

Aircraft Skins

Su-35 "Tekken" Collaboration Aircraft (Kazuya and Jin)

Description: 400 MS Points/$4.99

The successor to the Su-27, the Su-35 Flanker-E is a master aircraft that boasts menacing turning performance. A "Flanker" series aircraft possessing top class air battle fighting ability and equipped with an independent, two-dimensional thrust deflection nozzle. The NATO codename for it is "Flanker-E." This aircraft can handle battles not only over short distances, but long distances as well.

The raging flames of a champion from the King of Iron Fist Tournament are emblazoned on this aircraft. It has been tuned for maneuverability and speed, making it deadly for close-range combat..

 

[-Deadpool-]

Finished the campaign last night and overall I have to say I'm impressed.

Really wanted a good modern air combat game, and this gen, the only real competition has been in HAWX and HAWX 2. Some of the missions in ACAH even felt similar to the stuff you saw in HAWX

Spoiler

like chasing ICBMs around for example

, but the fact that the action is so close and in-your-face makes ACAH a lot more memorable.

I quite enjoyed the attack helicopter missions, stealth bomber missions

Spoiler

Flying the B-2 for that mission was just out-of-this-world good, can't stress how awesome that was, especially having posters of the B-2 on my wall as a kid, flying it and doing bombing runs, dumping flares when you're tracked etc.. Was all sooooogood.gif

, and the AC-130 missions were an enjoyable reprieve from the jet stuff too.

Only real complaint was the final battle

Spoiler

against Akula - that was some serious bullshit. Must have landed somewhere between 6-8 missiles on him, plus a whole heap of chaingun fire - and the whole time he's going strong, even after smoking away, no signs of slowing or anything - and darting around the sky like a bloody UFO was ridiculous too

which kind of left a bad taste in my mouth..

There were so many highlights though

Spoiler

B-2 mission as I said above, mission 4 in the Spooky was cool (if a little "COD'ish"), chasing the ICBM down was great and flying around the hurricane.

All very memorable. The combat sequences were great, sometimes having two or three AI on your tail then doing the R2+L2 barrel roll to counter-attack stuff, all felt very cinematic.

Will probably get a bit more out of this one, hopefully some co-op, I'll try some online and such. Most fun with an air combat game I've had with this gen though.

 

[Y2Kev]

Where the F are the subtitles? Um hello this is not ACE COMBAT unless AWACS is constantly on the top of the screen

YAY they are in the menu!! Just not in the in-game menu.

 

[Dark Octave]

I'm at stage 6 or 7. WTF happened to the music??

The first stage/trailer music was so powerful (like most of the tracks from AC6) but past the opening credits, it just becomes generic.

 

[Y2Kev]

This game is really fun but the music is terrible. Where's the like....fun, high energy stuff from AC1-6?

 

[Laughing Banana]

Just bought this.

My first impression is that the graphics have been improved way, way more, which is impressive. I mean, AC6 was and still is a looker and this game is even more beautiful.

...However I must say I really miss the silent protagonist persona from the previous Ace Combat series. I don't know... I feel like an incredible badass myself every time the enemies/characters saying "HOLY SHIT BLAZE!" or "HOLY SHIT DEMON LORD!".... this time, I'm not feeling it.

Also, I am now on the first helicopter mission and I hate it already :\ Wish they could just stuck with jet fighters throughout the game :\

 

[SpaceBridge]

What happened to the demo on PSN?

 

[Y2Kev]

Except for warwolf 2, everyone looks so old in this game.

 

[Y2Kev]

I beat it. That was certainly enjoyable. The DFM stuff kinda fades away until the last few missions. If you take too long, you start to see scripts repeat and it gets a little lame. And the music isn't as good as I wanted. And a lot of the specialty missions from the past AC games are gone (like navigating certain courses or protecting certain aircraft), but I mean, the game's certainly not...bad. I liked having a talky main character.

 

[Seth Balmore]

I liked having a talky main character.

But he was so boring.

 

[Y2Kev]

But he was so boring.

What was so boring about him? I thought he seemed pretty normal. They didn't really develop any of the nightmare stuff though.

 

[Seth Balmore]

What was so boring about him? I thought he seemed pretty normal. They didn't really develop any of the nightmare stuff though.

Precisely. By no means it's a bad thing that he's a normal guy, it's just that, to me, he came off as a rather uninteresting protagonist by the end since they never bothered developing his character much.

I was expecting a bit more significance to his nightmares aside, well, having a bad time after dreaming of his own death. The final cutscenes infer that the nightmares meant he was somewhat insecure about his skills as a pilot (that's what I understood anyway) but he managed to conquer those fears in the end and that's about it.

Seeing as this was the first Ace Combat with a non-silent protagonist with an actual face and name, I guess I was expecting a bit more effort in the character development department.

EDIT: Uhh, should I spoiler that?

 

[Dark Octave]

But he was so boring.

Still more exciting than mute.

 

[BlackGoku03]

I finished the game.

I thought it was decent. It is close enough to be called Ace Combat but it was definately different. Good different? Not sure. i'm just glad that after 4 fucking years of the PS3 being out, Namco released Ace Combat for it.

What took them so long dammit?

The last mission was a little cheap to me, but satisfying. Haven't played online yet. Bout to do that now.


My biggest gripe about the game? The cut-scene camera... and all the cut scenes in general. I hated the way the camera would switch between first person and third person on a whim. They did it too often. The cut scenes were boring and shot poorly. The story was ok, could have been better, but it was serviceable. The music was nothing to speak of, which is odd for an Ace Combat game.

Still a good experience and I'm glad they made it. I hope for more in the future.

 

[hayejin]

BOMBA?

It's 24 dollars on Amazon already

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042GW7BI?ie=UTF8&linkCode=as2&camp=48649&creative=095OAB8MR-24-GPL920AM-J4&linkCode=as2&camp=714-0O112-4X85B&tag=null-set_location-20-set_counter_var-false-mode_html_var-20&linkCode=as2&camp=129701-2179-4X8-5&tag=videogames063a-20&creativeASIN=B0042GW7BI

 

[Dark Octave]

I finished the game.

I thought it was decent. It is close enough to be called Ace Combat but it was definately different. Good different? Not sure. i'm just glad that after 4 fucking years of the PS3 being out, Namco released Ace Combat for it.

What took them so long dammit?

The last mission was a little cheap to me, but satisfying. Haven't played online yet. Bout to do that now.


My biggest gripe about the game? The cut-scene camera... and all the cut scenes in general. I hated the way the camera would switch between first person and third person on a whim. They did it too often. The cut scenes were boring and shot poorly. The story was ok, could have been better, but it was serviceable. The music was nothing to speak of, which is odd for an Ace Combat game.

Still a good experience and I'm glad they made it. I hope for more in the future.

When the camera switches to show something going on and makes you miss your current ground target. That was the worst gameplay design I could think of. Second was unlimited flairs on enemies. They shouldn't have used that as a way for force DRM or whatever it's called. It would have been easier to swallow that they are just so damn good that they have the skill to avoid missiles unless at point blank range.

 

[Mobius 1]

I am going to buy this game just because I discovered you can win Mobius 01 callsign and inginia for multiplayer.

Because Mobius 01 was the fucking man.

 

[thetrin]

I'm on mission 10 (I think), where you're assaulting an aircraft carrier, and I seriously don't know what to do.

I'm dying at random times to things I cannot see. I am being as diligent as I can possibly be, yet invisible assailants continue to destroy me at random times.

What in god's name am I supposed to do in this mission to get these fucking wizards to stop killing me at their whim? Every mission up until now has been awesome, but FUCK ground-to-air units. They are apparently the ruiner of worlds. They seem to take my jet out even when they cannot possibly have any range or accuracy on me.

What the fuck do I do?! How is a tiny aircraft carrier destroying an entire squadron of fighters?!

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

I'm on mission 10 (I think), where you're assaulting an aircraft carrier, and I seriously don't know what to do.

I'm dying at random times to things I cannot see. I am being as diligent as I can possibly be, yet invisible assailants continue to destroy me at random times.

What in god's name am I supposed to do in this mission to get these fucking wizards to stop killing me at their whim?

You have to use the ASM to disable the guns I believe. Pretty sure I died a few times on that mission as well.

 

[thetrin]

You have to use the ASM to disable the guns I believe. Pretty sure I died a few times on that mission as well.

Well yes, that seems pretty damn obvious.

The problem is that I have like, a bazillion missiles that I cannot shake, from planes that do not exist. I don't know how I'm avoiding 5 missiles when there are no SAMs or planes currently active, yet the game decides they do.


These missiles are The One, apparently, as I cannot even decelerate and turn in any direction to fucking shake them. When I can, suddenly I get magically blown out of the sky with no warning, whether I'm in ASM or not.

This mission is infuriating because the difficulty level just skyrocketed after the last one. The last few have been exhilarating, but this particular level is just a mystery to me. I die, and have no idea why.

Do I just need to use ASM in rapid succession before anything can aim a gun at me? Am I just being too slow?

EDIT: nevermind. The key is to just blow shit up as fast as possible.

 

[thetrin]

I hate to say it, but there's a point in the campaign where you need to have a level of luck. The minute shit goes down, you have like, 5 missiles on you, and for some reason, counter-maneuver's require that a symbol show up that should show up way earlier than it does. I feel like half the time I have the two arrows right over each other, but nothing is happening. Then, of course, I stall, and fall out of the air. It's a little frustrating that I'm constantly trying to start a counter-maneuver, and then stall because countering requires that you slow down and turn. A great idea, and awesome when it works, but I spend half the time babying my plane so much that I rarely get the chance to act on it. I would be nice if there was some sort of safeguard in place to prevent stalling.

I stall so much more in this game than any other flight game I've ever played. And that includes Falcon 3 and 4.

I feel like the game is way too chaotic at times. I don't think I should be shaking off 5 missiles from minute 1 when I technically have normal difficult active. Really? You think I should be avoiding 5 different missiles as soon as this mission starts? And that everyone that is in DFM with me is a fucking savant? Not to mention that the minute things go sour, I have 3 different jets entering DFM with me. Yep, this is awesome. Thanks game.

 

[Hi2u]

So I just started playing the game today. I've had it since launch but with all the other games out this took a backseat till now. I've played all the AC games to the end from no. 4 onwards. How is this one?

I've just beat the two intro missions. Seems nice and dramatic. I really love the soundtrack to these games too. Hope this one is just as good.

 

[thetrin]

So I just started playing the game today. I've had it since launch but with all the other games out this took a backseat till now. I've played all the AC games to the end from no. 4 onwards. How is this one?

I've just beat the two intro missions. Seems nice and dramatic. I really live the soundtrack to these games too. Hope this one is just as good.

I actually like the game quite a bit, and like the ASM/DFM systems. I'm sure I'm in the minority, though.

 

[Dark Octave]

I actually like the game quite a bit, and like the ASM/DFM systems. I'm sure I'm in the minority, though.

I liked them. It was a nice departure from the standard system. If the next AC uses it or goes back to the old system, or something else new, would be fine with me.

I wished they would come out with story based DLC instead of just jets with anime characters painted on them. An unlockable overpowered super fast futuristic fighter jet to play around with after finishing the story would have been nice as well.

 

[Pie and Beans]

I ended up really liking this game. Contrary to a lot, I really liked the OST, and stuff like the Moscow mission just felt really empowering and great.

Surprise of the year was making fun of the atypical plot before a really cool in-game sequence silenced me and my drinking buddies and all agreed was awesome:

Spoiler

Shooting the canopy off wingman's jet so he could eject.

Simplistic canned stuff, but well voice-acted, dramatic and ultimately made me reflect on the game a lot more positively than I may have beforehand.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

I ended up really liking this game. Contrary to a lot, I really liked the OST, and stuff like the Moscow mission just felt really empowering and great.

Surprise of the year was making fun of the atypical plot before a really cool in-game sequence silenced me and my drinking buddies and all agreed was awesome:

Spoiler

Shooting the canopy off wingman's jet so he could eject.

Simplistic canned stuff, but well voice-acted, dramatic and ultimately made me reflect on the game a lot more positively than I may have beforehand.

It's different than the past games but I still enjoyed it.

I think this might be my favourite track in the game, plays during the first level, Dogfight

 

[Kevtones]

Anyone feel like selling this (360)? Will buy at a decent price.

 

[BruiserBear]

This game is rage inducing and few games do that to me.

The mission design is SO rigid that you can just tell this game was made by a Japanese development team. Punitive gameplay at its worst.

I usually have a vague idea of what is going on, but the game has a secret list of exactly what you are supposed to do, and exactly how you're supposed to do it. If you deviate from that list you fail the mission. It's infuriating.

Mission 9 in particular has taken this to new heights and it has me considering just quitting it, even though I've gotten this far despite the game's terrible design.

 

[Cudder]

This game is rage inducing and few games do that to me.

The mission design is SO rigid that you can just tell this game was made by a Japanese development team. Punitive gameplay at its worst.

I usually have a vague idea of what is going on, but the game has a secret list of exactly what you are supposed to do, and exactly how you're supposed to do it. If you deviate from that list you fail the mission. It's infuriating.

Mission 9 in particular has taken this to new heights and it has me considering just quitting it, even though I've gotten this far despite the game's terrible design.

Damn, sucks to hear. How different is the structure from previous Ace Combat's, if at all? I bought this on Boxing Day to save for a rainy day.

 

[Dark Octave]

I ended up really liking this game. Contrary to a lot, I really liked the OST, and stuff like the Moscow mission just felt really empowering and great.

Surprise of the year was making fun of the atypical plot before a really cool in-game sequence silenced me and my drinking buddies and all agreed was awesome:

Spoiler

Shooting the canopy off wingman's jet so he could eject.

Simplistic canned stuff, but well voice-acted, dramatic and ultimately made me reflect on the game a lot more positively than I may have beforehand.

I didn't like the soundtrack as much as AC6. It was mostly generic, CoD sounding stuff but I think my favorite track besides the first stage is White Devil. 1:30 to 2:00 sounds really cool. Had me flying aimless for a few seconds.

 

[Pie and Beans]

A lot is just filler, but tracks like White Devil, Hurricane, and Infiltrator more than made up for the rest and are some of my faves of the franchise (Zero you are eternal win)

 

[BruiserBear]

Damn, sucks to hear. How different is the structure from previous Ace Combat's, if at all? I bought this on Boxing Day to save for a rainy day.

It's structure is quite similar to the previous games, but the timing for completing objectives can be very unforgiving sometimes.

In other words, it's a very trial and error sort of game. It also makes a terrible attempt at telling a modern military story, and the cut scenes look bad.

If the objectives were just a bit more clear, and the window to complete said objectives was wider, the game might be pretty good. It's a shame.

 

[Icelight]

Finally got around to playing this game.

Man, did I ever misjudge it from the demo (which I thought was bad enough to make me hold off on buying the game). It was much, much better than I expected.

Yeah, some things were handled badly, like TGT_LEADs being scripted as badly as chase missions in GTA4, the story was complete trash, there's not much variety in the jet missions, and the helicopter missions aren't anywhere near as fun...but there's just something about the game that was thrilling and exciting.

For regular encounters DFM worked surprisingly well, and wasn't the instant kill button I thought it would be. (and it works really well in multiplayer, wow!) The jet missions, despite their lack of variety, were really fun to play through, and the regenerating health worked out okay since it takes so long to recover and you're pretty fragile.

To me, Ace Combat 6 is still the 'true' "next-gen" evolution of the series (bigger, faster than the previous games), but this game surprised the hell out of me.

 

[MechaX]

Picked up the game for $20 off of Amazon.

I would have to say that I'm really trying pretty hard to like the game. And when it works, it really manages to be pretty fun. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of undesirable stuff that have been going on so far.

I would say that the way a lot of the missions drag on is a pretty big offender. Yeah, I remember AC6 got pretty stupid in some stages and it had worse checkpoints to boot. But I feel as if AC4/5/Zero made the missions short enough to the point where they never really outstay their welcome. Perhaps this is something that is more of a problem earlier in the game. But this is especially a problem in the non-jet missions. The Chopper and the AC-130 missions were just boring as hell.

Second, so far, DFM has caused me more frustration than anything else. At one point, DFM ended abruptly after taking care of an enemy fighter, leaving me with little time to react from slamming my plane into the side of a canyon wall. The need to do the counter maneuvers are pretty irritating, especially since I have seen these missiles do absurd turns. Moreover, I can tell that DFM was definitely not made with the Classic controls in mind; counter maneuvers won't even work all of the time unless your plane is level, and enemy planes do turns way quicker than you can turn your plane to follow them.

Also, the game seems to take pride in just blatantly spawning enemy planes out of thin air.

The music has kind of been a mixed bag. With the non-jet missions, the soundtrack might as well not even be there. There have been a few good tunes so far, but nothing on the level as any other AC game so far.

Hopefully the game can turn things around, but when considering that I have been hearing that the DFM stuff only gets worse from here, I don't have much hope.

 

[gkryhewy]

Having trouble with DFM in the first hairball mission against lots of lead/ace pilots (I assume there will be more). I'm an AC vet, and I'm getting killed. I don't understand what I'm supposed to do when an enemy has engaged DFM and is nailing me from behind. It tells me to slow down and level off, but that just gets me killed faster. Any suggestions?

 

[-Deadpool-]

Having trouble with DFM in the first hairball mission against lots of lead/ace pilots (I assume there will be more). I'm an AC vet, and I'm getting killed. I don't understand what I'm supposed to do when an enemy has engaged DFM and is nailing me from behind. It tells me to slow down and level off, but that just gets me killed faster. Any suggestions?

Might be going too slow already? AI planes tend to stay glued to your tail if you're easy to follow. Try speeding up, pull a couple sharp banks left/right before levelling off. Then you should get the prompt (L2/R2 or Xbox equivalent) to roll back in behind the AI plane.

You have a pretty narrow window for the counter move sometimes.

 

[gkryhewy]

Might be going too slow already? AI planes tend to stay glued to your tail if you're easy to follow. Try speeding up, pull a couple sharp banks left/right before levelling off. Then you should get the prompt (L2/R2 or Xbox equivalent) to roll back in behind the AI plane.

You have a pretty narrow window for the counter move sometimes.

Thanks. I don't think speed is the problem; I'll try again tonight.

 

[cj_iwakura]

I know what you're thinking. It's not as good as Zero, 4, or even 5.

But fear not.

Namco Bandai have come to deliver us DLC that will save us all.

Behold!

http://andriasang.com/con09s/ace_combat_x_idolmaster/

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Thinking of rebuying this, anyone still playing multiplayer?

 

[ambientmystic]

Sorry to necro the thread, but the so called enhanced PC version with better resolution support (lol) just came out today on Steam for Europe amongst other places:-

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon on Steam

Definitely gonna be going balls deep into this game alongside Strike Suit Zero!

 

[The Elite]

Sorry to necro the thread, but the so called enhanced PC version with better resolution support (lol) just came out today on Steam for Europe amongst other places:-

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon on Steam

Definitely gonna be going balls deep into this game alongside Strike Suit Zero!

How is the online in this? I'm tempted to grab it at some point.

 

[Swifty]

Is there TrackIR support for this game?