Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation

Paul carries a torch for Namco's latest

It's probably worth noting right from the off that I don't like Top Gun, its particular brand of jingoistic gung-ho heroism has always jarred with my tastes. Although I'd managed to avoid watching it until relatively recently I find it hard to believe the cliché ridden plot was any less hackneyed twenty odd years ago although the vapid style over substance that oozes from every frame does seem a perfect eulogy for the decade that birthed yuppie culture. I mention these anti-Top Gun sentiments for two reasons, firstly almost every other review of Ace Combat 6 will no doubt be full of 'amusing' Top Gun references so I feel it only fair to apologise for the lack of them in this one, and secondly because my feelings about the Ace Combat series used to be similar to my feelings about all things Top Gun. For the less observant the important words there are 'used to'.

I've never been a huge fan of planet-based flight sims anyway, preferring the groundless freedom offered by games like Wing Commander or Tie Fighter, and Ace Combat always seemed like the Top Gun of flight sims, all arcade flash bang gimmicks with little depth. However, I'd seen the trailers for Ace Combat 6, the first in the series to grace the current generation of consoles, and had been impressed almost in spite of myself, so I greeted the arrival of a review copy with a certain amount of cynical excitement and the challenge "Come on then Ace Combat 6, convince me I've been wrong". So it promptly did.

Quite simply, it's all amazingly fun. The years of fine tuning Namco have done to their flight model has resulted in a beautifully smooth and satisfying in-cockpit experience. It never claims to be ultra realistic, PC flight sim fans will no doubt baulk at the lack of all the details they're used to, instead it strips the experience down to its basics and maximises the fun as a result. Speed is controlled by the triggers; the bumpers allow you to yaw while your left stick dictates your flight path. In case even that seems complicated there's a novice control setting as well but I'd urge you to not bother with it, the regular setting is not hard to get to grips with even if you've never spent time with a flight sim before and you're rewarded with a far more involving experience.

The game is split into a series of ever more complex missions, often with multiple objectives ranging from taking out inbound bombers to destroying enemy ground forces. It's a very liner experience; fail a mission and its game over, which could seem a little outdated in this day and age but it's rare that you'll not want to jump right back in and try again if you do screw up, so it never feels like you're hitting a brick wall. Before each mission you're given a choice of planes and allowed to kit them out with whatever weapons you see fit. All planes control in the same way but each has their own strengths and weaknesses on the battlefield, meaning that missions can often be changed quite dramatically by your choice of plane. Your wingman will also plaintively ask you to help him pick his setup too which I guess can be handy if you're planning on getting him to do a particular job, but it does make you wonder why, as a grown man with years of training behind him, he can't do this himself.

Once you're in the air everything is wonderfully easy to follow, target and weapons information is displayed clearly via your onscreen HUD and the scalable map can be a god send. The constant radio chatter also does a fantastic job of making you feel like you're involved in a wider conflict. In fact the radio is actually far more important than it may first appear, keeping an ear pealed in the midst of combat can alert you to escalating situations happening off your radar giving you time to break off and help before the mission is failed. The planes handle perfectly, allowing you to feel like the great pilot you know you could have been in real life given half a chance. There's a definite thrill to be had swooping down through the clouds onto the tail of an enemy, acquiring a missile lock and unleashing hell.

On later missions things can get scarily hectic as objectives pile up and the skies fill with enemies but it rarely feels like things have become unfair thanks largely to the various back-ups you can call on. Most notable of these is your wingman who you can order to offer support or attack a particular enemy target. Used correctly he's worth his weight in gold, a worthy ally rather than a useless AI drone. Also, if you build up enough kills, you can call on other allied forces to help you out. This can be spectacular as every friendly jet in the area flies to your side and uses their combined fire power to take out nuisance targets. You're also able to equip one special weapon for each mission; these can vary from the ability to launch rockets from your tail to being able to take out multiple targets at once. These come in very handy when you're under pressure and bringing the right one with you on each mission can be the difference between success and failure.

Anyone who's seen any of the trailers for Ace Combat 6 can testify that it looks the business. Explosions, clouds, smoke trails, they all look more realistic than ever before, while the planes themselves are suitably impressive. The ground environments you'll be flying over also deserve praise, mountains, cities and the sea all look amazing as you fly over them. As you'd expect once you get down close they lose a little of their detail but you rarely have time to slow down and get picky about things. The impressive draw distance also helps the illusion of reality as does the super smooth frame rate.

Ace Combat 6 is set in a fictional world where the peace loving Emmerian good guys have been invaded by their neighbours Estovakia (boo hiss). It doesn't take an in-depth grasp of international history to see the none too subtle cold war overtones present in the plot but to give the game credit the Estovakians are never portrayed as the two dimensional bad guys you may be expecting.

Between missions you're 'treated' to cut scenes showing how the on-going war is affecting the people on the ground. The characters followed and their stories have little or no link to your nameless pilot or impact on your job. Instead one would assume they're designed to ground your heroics with a more personal view of the horrors of war. They succeed to a point, all are presented with a suitable amount of gravitas and the sombre air could even pull at the heart strings if it wasn't for the painfully bad voice over work and the fact that the on screen characters mouths are clearly moving to the original Japanese thereby providing an effect not dissimilar to watching a badly dubbed movie. Your story, the story of the war and your place in it, is thankfully much better handled with all you need to know conveyed through the briefings and midair radio chatter. It's a far more subtle and immersive way of moving events forward and since the cut scenes don't directly relate to you it's not long before you wish they'd just not bothered.

It's probably fair to say Ace Combat 6 isn't the longest game in history, or even the longest Ace Combat game come to that, but what's there is more than good enough to stop you noticing especially since the later missions in particular hold up to repeated plays, experimenting with different planes and tactics. The game's lifespan is also greatly enhanced thanks to the excellent online options available. From the all out war of the free-for-all modes to the great team battles with support for up to 16 players per side, the action proves to be even more exciting when playing against friends.

For series fans there's probably less of a sense of wonder to be found in a game that sounds fairly similar to earlier offerings in terms of structure, however the spectacular graphical improvements offered by the new generation of hardware means that even grizzled veterans will be ohh'ing and ahh'ing for the first few hours at least. Also, if you're already a fan then I'm preaching to the converted to an extent and all you're interested in is checking they've not dropped the ball horribly since last time. Rest assured they haven't, go purchase.

For the rest of you who may have sidestepped the series up to now or are new to it completely, it's probably fairly obvious by now that I'm a convert. There's something genuinely thrilling about Ace Combat's high speed dog-fighting that grabs you by your throat and refuses to let go. It's unashamedly arcadey, it doesn't last all that long and the between mission cut scenes are a bit of a pointless distraction, but once you're in the air there's few games that provide as intense a feeling of exhilaration. For that alone you should give it a go, it's a better way to spend a few hours than watching Top Gun for a start.

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By Paul Newcombe