Finishing my ace combat retrospective with ace combat 7.
A solid bu disappointing game.
-Graphics
Game look really nice and runs well on my ancient hardware.Plenty of little details in cockpit view(icing on the glass,buttons and electronic actually working).
So pretty much best graphics of the series,which is a given considering how new it is.
-STORY
It is a worse 5 in terms of story.
Well complete and utter failure.Now,this game had troubled development and that would explain most of the problems,but the final plot is still amazingly bad.The game tries to tackle multiple themes like drones,war,reliance eon technology in a modern society,yet doesn't deliver anything of value in any of those discussions.
The plot feels like somebody had a original draft,chopped it in small pieces,glued it together,but forgot most of the pieces.
The beginning is your typical ace combat plot of another nation invading with a sudden ending. This is probably where the biggest cuts were considering everything moves way too quick without any major plot progress.
The second part of the game is you flying with a new squad.This one feels the most fleshed out,but it doesn't move the plot quick enough and the over reliance on specific character gimmicks gets old fast.
The third part is you getting a new squadron that i a combination of the first and second. This is where the game mostly moves the plot and starts discussing its majors themes,but it too late.Most of the stuff mentioned would make amazing missions and interesting plot points,but there just isn't an time left and it is over pretty quickly.
5 did it better and i mean much better.Even 3 has some sort of coherency compared to this.
Writing for your wing men are nothing special,in fact it is made worse because you switch wing men so much.You only have 1-2 characters that are with you for most of the game,everybody else just appears later.
Again,done better in 5,much better.
Oh and special mention for one of the most obnoxious AWACS operators ever.One is obsessed with food and the other one with solitary,that is their entire personality.
-Quality of the mission briefing screen
Pretty damn nice.It has a futuristic feel that fits with it being the most modern ace combat game.
-Mission variety and gameplay
4,5,x,hell even zero did it beater.
Now this doesn't mean that this is a bad campaign in terms of variety.It is just that there are multiple annoyances that all build up to annoy you instead of letting you have fun. These annoyances are:
-Obnoxious timer that doesn't let you go wild
-Drones appearing in most missions ,and they are boring to fight.
-Weather effects just annoying you instead of being anything more.
Most missions have variety(you have score based,stealth,laser bombing,boss,identifying foe missions,protect,etc) and they even build upon some older ace combat design(low altitude valley mission where you have to dodge search lights fees like mission impossible and is awesome)
Bu it mostly feels like most of these missions are here because it is the ace combat norm,and not because the designer actually wanted it.
Could have been the troubled development ,but who knows?
The game also gives you a couple of vr missions for anybody interested.
The other major focus is multiplayer.It is badly balanced but it is the quickest way to earn money,which is somewhat annoying.
Aces are back but,they made the appear only after doing a specif things in a mission.This is annoying and you probably won't even see half of them without using a guide.I have no idea why they did this? Ace combat 4 did it better b hiding them on the map without doing any major things.
Medals have received no change and there is plenty of them.
-Planes
Oh boy,so much sukhoi planes. Plane variety has taken a big hit.There is too much variations on planes that don't need it.I mean how many su-34 and f-15 variation do you even need?Ace combat 5 did it better with the family tree.
Customization wise,the game has the most customization so far.You get to choose multiple parts,skins,emblems,second weapon.
Also the game introduces the aircraft and parts tree and it used to unlock new stuff.It gives a somewhat rpg like progression tree.
But i don't like it. Everything is way too expensive and you can't sell stuff.Coupled with you being forced to spend money on stuff you don't want to unlock the stuff you actually want,it just becomes a huge grind.
I think that most if not all previous ace combat games did it better.
--Difficulty
Mostly the same stuff from 5.Enemy ai is nowhere close to belkan ai. This is for both normal and ace planes.Thy dodge(pretty successfully if you aren't aiming properly),try to hit you with their guns(and fail most of the times) and generally annoy you with missiles.In fact you will probably hear the missiles alert for 2/3 of any mission.
The drone ai is a little better then average enemy ai,but once you figure it out the never actually improve and you have to fight them a lot.
Bosses are no real threat and rely on the insane amount of drones shooting missiles at you to actually kill you.
So,not bad,but nothing special.
-Unique stuff and extra content
Typical ace combat stuff.But having the music player as dlc is a insult.
-Overall verdict
Ace combat fans should play this game,after all we waited for this for 10 years.But it still is disappointing,it could have been great if they just played it less safe and improved the core formula more.
