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46 of 50 found the following review helpful:
Excellent game.Nov 05, 2007
By C. Taylor Awesome game. Sick graphics (that means very good). Excellent controls using the standard controller. The tutorial is fun and effective. The campaign mode is engaging and well done. Lots of replayability. Most of all it's FUN!
The main things I look for in a console game are: Can I pick this game up in a short time and start having fun? Yes. Does it have an engaging campaign mode that draws you in and gives you reasons to continue? Yes. Are the graphics decent? Yes. Is the game frustrating for any reason, i.e. poor control layout, lack of save game at the right times, can't do what you would logically expect to do. No.
It's clear to me that a lot of thought went into this game. Flying, which you do most of the time, is very intuitive. The planes react smoothly and you don't find yourself overreacting much (which is common in many other racing/flight games). The cut scenes are superb. The animation is high quality and the voice acting is good. The plot is obviously contrived on the old East vs West theme (Estovakia complete with eastern European accents vs. Emmeria, i.e. America complete with the lost family. But these days what else are you going to do for modern conventional warfare? It's still engaging if not highly plausible.
Compared to many of the other games out there for the Xbox360, this games offers a lot. I didn't want a RPG like Oblivion (don't have the time for it). I didn't want another lame sports game (I have the Wii for that). I didn't want -another- spaced out zombie mutated freak monsters invading the earth and save the world game (saving that for Mass Effect when it comes out). For me this game hits the spot. Plus, it's well engineered and stable.
I checked out a couple other less flattering reviews and I think they are from people who just aren't into the genre. Personally, I don't see this as a flight sim where you have to fully understand how to fly a real plane and you have to have the skill to do it. I see it as more as a game that lets you have fun flying planes and draws you into an engaging, meaningful story. And, the missions are just the right size for me. It's a great game for a casual gamer who maybe can only play for 30-60 minutes. It's also fun for anyone who wants to play longer, obviously.
To sum up... This is a very good game that you should have lots of fun with. If the thought of flying combat planes appeals to you in any way, and you enjoy being involved in a large plot, this game is for you.
27 of 28 found the following review helpful:
Amazing Visuals, as usualNov 13, 2007
By Amozarte In typical Ace Combat fashion, this title continues to push the envelop of visual realism in flight simulators.
If you have enjoyed previous Ace Combat games you will not be disappointed by Fires of Liberation. If you haven't ever played an Ace Combat this one is certainly a great place to enter the series.
While gameplay is solid as usual and missions vary in style and objective, one can't help but focus on the absolutely stunning visuals.
Ace Combat has always been known for great realism in its aircraft, but in this iteration the developer really put the focus on making the landscapes come to life. I have yet to play a console flight sim that provides such an immersive experience as Ace Combat.
On the other hand, (also typical of the series) the story is a cheesy mess of melodramatic fluff. You'd be better off skipping each cutscene and focusing on the gameplay.
My only real complaint is that level difficulty is inconsistent. One mission will be moderately easy followed immediately by one that is near impossible. Then you're back to easy again. I believe this is due to the fact that Wingman support is utterly useless, which makes any level with a lot of enemy planes that much more challenging.
In one particularly frustrating mission your comrades continually chime in over the radio to let you know that one or more of a dozen enemy fighters has a missile lock on you but they neither attempt to take out your pursuers (cover command) nor attack the target objective (attack my target command) whilst you shake the bogies off your six. There may be "friendly" planes occupying the sky with you but for all intents and purposes they are just spectators. As a side note, the lack of worth of your wingman is evidenced by an achievement you can earn for his taking out a mere ten enemy targets by your command, meanwhile you might eliminate 40-50 targets in a single level.
In the end, Ace Combat 6 is good for 8 or 10 hours of single player fun, not to mention multiplayer action.
31 of 34 found the following review helpful:
Some Old Some NewOct 29, 2007
By Douglas S. Stowe
"BigDinNY"
So, the ACE series finally comes to the next generation. It has been a long wait, that in my opinion was worth it.
My favorite part of the whole game so far ( I am still playing it) is the abality to call for either Allied Attacks or Allied Cover. As in the past it would always be up to you to take out everthing either land, sea, or air. Now you actually get help. And they actually take out stuff or cover you if you are getting fired at.
The planes are the same as all of the other Ace Combat games, graphically they are sharper but nothing new. I will say that your planes are now more equiped with a huge payload of special weapons and regular missles, not the case in the old games. If you run out of ammo you can go back to the base and restock up, which was not the case in AC5. I am glad they brought that one back.
Missions are alot better than before, here you actually get to fight for longer than five minutes, I would say on average the missions last anywhere from 20-30 minutes, I am only on mission 10 so I dont know how many missions the game has.
Graphics are much imporved from the old series. When your plane gets hit by a bullet for example a little amber will be burning where you got hit for a moment, then it smolders out. Explosions are awesome, and the terrain looks pretty real.
As a fan of the series I am very happy, and I can see for me, this game will have a good replay value to it.
Story line, what can I say it's Ace Combat they have never been known for a great storyline, they could have done alot more with this, I thought they would seeing how it's next gen and all.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
You will be dancing with the Angels in this gameMar 04, 2008
By Michael Corona
"Nemesis Legion"
GOOD: - A good mix or simulation style and arcade fun. - Photo Realistic aircraft with planes that actually show damage when shot at. - Nice mission variety (although for some players, some missions can be pretty dull and other to over the top). - Decent music and voice work. - Good mix online gameplay with versus mode (up to 8 players in either battle royal or team mode) and even a co-op mission mode.
BAD: - Might play too much like arcade or to simulation type game for some people. - Story can be bland and can also be pretty confusing to some due to the fact that it focuses in on secondary characters that play no actual role game but they live in the world in which the game takes place.
IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE: - Plays very much like the past few Ace Combat games on Sony's PS2 - Takes place in a fictional world similar to our own (but not like ours in many ways) but with the same aircraft as our own world. So the while you might recognize planes like the F-14 "Tomcat" (the same jet from the movie Top Gun) you won't recognize any of the peoples or places in this game. - Game is broken up into missions (about 15 levels) in which you follow objectives and earn points to unlock new aircraft, during most of the missions you will have a few objectives (like helping the tank squad or taking down long range missiles) after doing a few optional objectives you mostly have to engage in a mandatory objective like taking down a enemy ace pilot or enemy base. - After doing a few of these optional objectives you get an option to call all the ground/air units you have helped out from earlier in the mission to destroy enemy/enemies that you select. - Certain missions are much easier with certain aircraft, example slow ground based missions' call for the A-10 "Warthog" and fast air-to-air missions call for the Y-F22 "Raptor", but you can still use any jet fighter you want on any level (so you never feel pigeon-holed using a jet you don't want). - You have to unlock then buy (with money/points you earn in game during missions) almost all the aircraft you can use in the game. Also note that all planes come with a few different paint jobs and different types of secondary missiles/weapons that you can buy as well. - All planes come with a primary two shot standard missile. You also even get to select a secondary type of missiles/weapon that can really help out in certain missions like a multi-lock-on missiles for air targets and even a cluster bomb for ground based targets, later on one jet can even have twin rail guns as your secondary weapon.
GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO: - Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War (PS2) - Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions (360)
ADDITIONAL NOTES: - All the fighter aircraft in this game are replica of real life fighter aircraft (there is only one made-up fighter aircraft is the CFA-44 "Nosferatu" which is the last plane to be unlocked). - There is plenty of online downloadable content for this game, form lot of new unique colors for your fighter aircraft (these newer paint jobs even give the jets different abilities) to new stages for verse modes, and even a few new missions for co-op mode.
32 of 43 found the following review helpful:
Not ACE COMBAT 4Nov 17, 2007
By William Smith Ace Combat 4 in my opinion was the best game of all the Ace Combat series. It had a (mostly) great story, terrific graphics, amazing music and the gameplay flowed together to give the player a movie-like experience. Awesome.
Not so much for Ace Combat 6. The graphics overall are spectacular, naturally, and flying around on a big screen TV in high def is seriously fun stuff. Unfortunately that's about all it has going for it. With a near-incomprehensible storyline with uninteresting characters, gameplay that is at times too easy and then almost impossible, and wingmen that are just plain useless, it's a chore to push through the entire game.
The Good:
* Visuals. Awesome!
The Bad
* Terrible story - like, really bad. Awful bad. Two or three cinematics in and I was completely lost, and didn't really care to back up and figure it out. The dialogue is over-the-top cheesy and tries way too hard to sound patriotic or remorseful. * Missions - Too long and too expansive. Fighter pilots in reality work in teams, but not here. Where in reality a wingman would get enemies off your back, and other squadrons would accomplish mission tasks, the pilots in the air here (especially your over-chatty wingman) are just plain useless. I know the developers wanted to make a "massive, multi-layered combat environment", but such environments usually have more than one aircraft feverishly running and gunning. * Unkillable A.I. - The "Strigon" squadron is as easy to kill as shooting at gnats with arrows. But the good news, don't even try and they'll be miraculously defeated anyway... * Danger alerts - Oh my good lord, these are so annoying!!! Yes, I know there's yet another missile chasing me that I'm just going to out-run anyway, quit the beeping! Quit the announcements! If my wingman isn't going to help out back there, just shut up. * Music - doesn't matter to some, but it's a personal pet peeve of mine when the music sucks. Ace Combat 4 for some reason had an amazing score put to it, but not this one.
Even with the bad though, just playing a high-def, arcade-style flight sim with unlimited missiles on a big TV is worth the included garbage.
based on 71 reviews
( 71 customer reviews )
