ACE COMBAT 6 hands-on impressions

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Day 5: An exclusive hands-on report
Words: Brett Elston


After spending the better part of a week describing bits of what makes
Ace Combat 6 such an exciting prospect, we feel it's time to share our
initial impressions of the almost-complete version Namco provided.
This build was about 60% done and needed a little tweaking in the
sound and framerate departments, but we're confident the Ace team will
have these issues tucked away before the game ships - no other game in
the series has gone to stores chuggy or choppy, so we don't expect
that to start with Fires of Liberation.

By now you know all about the Dynamic Operation and Allied Support
systems, but we're here to tell you how they affect gameplay. Right
from the start you're bombarded with bogies, both air and ground. Some
kind of skirmish has broken out in a seaside city, and your squadron
has to go in and keep the peace. As you and your crew fly in for
support, separate forces will clash on the ground, each with their own
goals and roles in the battle. So, the moment we saw the "Mission
Start" screen, waves of anti-aircraft flak and missiles came blasting
from the city. The sheer amount of missile trails alone was enough to
make us stop and take notice.

A quick glance around the area with the right analog stick revealed a
sickeningly detailed environment, with tufts of clouds floating
through the sky and countless vapor trails littering the battlefield.
For the first time, it really does seem like there's a war going on,
not just an assortment of enemies taking potshots.




This first level threw three Operations our way - so, upon entering
the battle, we had three separate scraps to consider. Do we take out a
cache of weapons that's supplying the enemy frontline, knock out their
HQ or gun down a set of choppers that are raising hell with our
landing strip? The order we complete them in can affect the overall
outcome, so it's not a throwaway decision (that landing strip might
come in handy later, after all).

Just to get a lay of the land, we opted to go for the cache. This is
the point where we couldn't believe how many targets there were on the
screen. It seemed like there were more things shooting at us in this
one level then five average levels of previous Ace games. With all
these bogies flashing on the radar, it was pretty damn easy to lose
our place. Luckily, the developers thought of this - you can cycle the
radar through each Operation's targets, so your desired objectives can
stay in site while everything else fades into the background.


But even then we had a hard time taking care of all the targets. There
were just so damn many it felt like we were flying forever, battling a
seemingly endless supply of bogies. The Allied Support System is
designed to alleviate this stress, enabling you to rally troops, ships
and planes towards one targeted area, wiping out anything in sight.
You have to fill a gauge by bagging enemies before you can use this
measure, but given the ample supply of targets, it wasn't too
difficult to accomplish.

The next mission we tried featured the A-10 soaring over a frozen,
hilly wasteland. The setting sun and snow capped areas look super hot
on the 360, so graphics whores will really eat it up. It was during
this mission we were told only a set number of Operations must be
fulfilled to complete the mission, so it's not like you have to
utterly annihilate the enemy to proceed. However, with secret jets so
prolific in the series, don't be surprised if you can get some extra
goodies by doing so.



Before our session ended, the developers showed us one more area of
the game - going up against one of Ace 6's superweapons. If you played
the first game or last year's Ace Combat Zero, you'll know what it was
we saw - a sun-blocking flying fortress that towers over everything
else in the sky. Even better, a group of Batwing-looking jets were
escorting the behemoth, plus something that looked like a flying
aircraft carrier (think SHIELD Helicarrier).


There's still no footage of Fires of Liberation to be had, but we'll
have a look at it before anyone else, so please, keep your eyes peeled
for more on the 360's highest-flying jet-sim. Until then, why not take
a look at the image viewer and enjoy the rest of our brand-new,
exclusive screenshots.