The Ace Combat series has been kicking around for the last couple of decades, but I only really got into the games with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. The game was a fun introduction to the series, especially for someone starved of arcade flight combat games since the days of X-Wing. The one criticism I had was the “Dog Fighting Mode” mechanic that made the game a bit of an on-rails shooter, albeit initiation of the mode was at the players prompting. Thankfully the mode has been dropped for this game, number seven in the main series, and it is all the better for it.

The game has that “Same but Different” feel as it once again takes place on Strangereal, a name that is a bit too cute and too on-the-nose for an almost Earth-like planet bar a couple of minor differences. All the planes, even the calendar is the same as the real world’s, just the politics and the continents and countries are different. In this installment, a surprise attack by the country of Erusea on Osea kicks off a desperate battle of survival for your faceless, voiceless and blank slate character known only by his callsign Trigger. In fact, the story features another character far more prominently, someone I thought would be my avatar. Avril Mead is the focal point of the cutscenes and gets far more development than your hero-turned-wrongfully-convicted anti-hero which is an odd choice.



Not that this really matters as the story is the typical anime-style story that is nigh incomprehensible. No doubt the fact that I haven’t played any of the previous six games in the main series plays a part in that lack of comprehension, but even so the story tends to be opaque while jumping between Trigger, Avril and other characters from the Erusean side. The story serves as an interlude between the twenty missions, the true heart of the game.

And what a heart it is, you are thrust into the skies tasked with facing off against hordes of enemy pilots and drones. In many ways this reminds me of a shooting game’s Horde Mode, as Ace Combat 7 throws waves of enemies at you and the occasional boss. Mechanically, the game balances light simulation elements with the more visceral and immediate arcade mechanics. With two options of control scheme, Standard and Expert, allowing you to balance fun against increased control.

Mechanically, the game balances light simulation elements with the more visceral and immediate arcade mechanics.

Even so, Ace combat 7 is more of an arcade shooter, not Afterburner arcade, but not a game that requires you to understand wind speed, direction and current as well as how various control surfaces interact with the real world and physics. The one new mechanic added, that is a nod to the real world, is the addition of cloud cover. You can hide in the clouds from missiles and enemies as can they but stay in there too long and you risk “icing up” (remember that scene from Iron Man?) and stalling. All of these mechanics combine for one heckuva time as you fly around the skies blasting your foes to so much scrap metal.



Breaking the fun, though, is the frustrating checkpoint system. For whatever reason the saves are few and far between and breaks in the mission where you think it would be logical for the game to save, do not exist. On my first mission with Trigger after his conviction, I was first tasked with harassing enemy fighters with zero weapons. When we passed that point, the game saved and weapons were enabled tasking me with shooting down some bombers, while avoiding what seemed like hundreds of enemy fighter planes.

Once I shot down the last bomber, I was tasked with dogfighting and shooting down the fighters, but I had already exhausted my flares and with missiles criss-crossing the sky, and I could not avoid them all and was shot down. Thinking I would check point back to after splashing the bombers, I was surprised to find that I was taken back to just after I had completed the first part, being the harassment of enemy planes without weapons. Once I restarted the mission and chose a different plane, thing ran smoother, meaning that the wrong plane highlighted this flaw and could’ve been avoided by better choices.



The planes in the game afford you the opportunity to play out all your Top Gun fantasies. From the first plane, The F16 Fighting Falcon to various Migs, Mirages and other famous planes, you will not have any trouble finding planes that you know and love and will have a blast with in the air. The planes are unlocked, in most cases, by you spending MRP – in game currency – to buy the planes. Don’t worry, there are no micro-transactions, MRP is earned in-game via completing missions and meeting certain goals (minimum time, no damage, etc.) to increase your rank. You can also earn MRP in multi-player missions which are fun, but not a must play to get the full experience. It’s there to extend the game time and grind for MRP.

Each plane that you buy unlocks new paths on the tech tree for upgrades, and new special weapons which in turn open new paths to newer planes and upgrades. This light upgrade path mechanic is not at all complicated and easy enough to navigate without getting lost and confused. It increases your sense of control and agency but is just a way to give you a small sense of progression as you unlock better planes.

Each plane that you buy unlocks new paths on the tech tree for upgrades, and new special weapons which in turn open new paths to newer planes and upgrades.

In addition to the single player and multi-player modes, the PS4 version of Ace Combat 7 has the timed exclusive VR missions. I haven’t had a chance to play those yet but will do so in the coming weeks. Once I get a good handle on that mode, I will update this review.



Graphically the game looks good, but honestly for most of it I was concentrating on the sky and avoiding the enemies. The cloud detail is amazing, but I did not get enough of a look at ground details and even other plane details as I sped far overhead and at insane speeds.

Ace Combat 7 was worth the wait and is a fun time waster. This is a game for anyone who wasted their allowance in the old arcades on Afterburner. Anyone expecting a true combat flight sim will be disappointed as this is not that type of game, but for everyone else wanting to feel like Maverick taking on the unnamed bad guys in Top Gun, this is the game to play. Just don’t expect a coherent or even interesting story.