Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Is A Big Dumb Action Game...

I think you missed the fact that Assault Horizon's DFM mechanic is forced. The targets are invincible out of DFM & you're forced to initiate the on-rails section to take them down. That's the biggest drawback everyone complained back in the day.

Wish they bring back the paint system from this one. The variety of colors you can paint your plane was insane. Also the inclusion of the Love Live liveries for the PC release is hilarious.

Ya know? This wasn’t a game I was put off by when I played it. I remember seeing the slogan for it where they used a very action eccentric “Make metal bleed”, and… I made a lot of metal bleed 😆. I’d love to see another game like this. Not saying that I want the features that brought this game down to come back for another title, but adding helicopters and bombers and other air based technology like this would be pretty cool. I always hoped they’d add those kinds of vehicles into Ace Combat at some point, and when they did it in Assault Horizon, it felt fresh and unique and that pushed me to play the game so many times over. If Project Aces made another game like this, or oppositely, made a game that takes place during a “World War 2” setting with older prop planes, I’d probably spend months wasting my free time on it, lol

Okay, I legit put this game off, but, frankly, this looks like a lot of just dumb fun, and I'm totally okay with that! And that Dog Fight mode totally looks like a response to Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

I'm so glad you mentioned the soundtrack, especially "White Devil". I still listen to it occasionally to this day, along with soundtracks from other games in the series.

First time I did a barrel roll on demand in a helicopter. #physics/10

I think the problem with DFM, or at least in my case, is that you completely loose control of the plane, and I found myself crashing several times and dying constantly because the AI is horrible at flying the plane, and I couldn't compensate for its shortcomings when it comes to maneuvering (especially on narrow, tight spaces like cranes or buildings). Also, the enemy which is supposed to remain within the circle somehow flies all over the place except inside of the circle, so you don't even get to do anything. Or it might have been just me and my spastics, but I remember the system was a complete nightmare, and forced myself into consciously avoiding it at all times.

Questionable gameplay design choices aside, Assault Horizon, in my opinion, genuinely has one of the best soundtracks as a whole. While the previous games had standout tracks that are almost universally loved by the playerbase, they also had a lot of very forgettable tracks as well; Assault Horizon is pretty much the only entry in the series that I can load up a playlist of the OST and listen to the essentially the ENTIRE THING without getting bored.

I actually want Apaches to make a comback, but as a vehicle you can use on a number of missions with the ability to select different attack helicopters and special weapons. So you start with a Hind A, but can purchase a Hind D, Cobra, Apache, ETC. They would Excel at air to ground as well as slow moving planes and flying fortresses while being much less effective against Jets.

Bishop is the best argument the series ever made for playing as a mute psychopath.

Man if only AC infinity was still with us after this one.

While the campaign was wack, l did really enjoy the multiplayer’s Base game mode. In most AC games, its only Air-to-Air combat so there’s no reason to use A-10s, Su-34s and SuMo-25s unless you really wanted to challenge yourself. It lead to about a third of the game’s roster of planes being useless in multiplayer. With the multiplayer Base game mode, A-10s can carpet bomb an enemy base while a friendly F-22 needs to escort him. Or fly an F-18 or F-15 as multirole planes to switch between Air and Ground targets. It adds a cool layer of teamwork and strategy. Also flying the bombers in multiplayer is super high risk high reward and both stressful and exciting

I'm disappointed you never included the song "Dogfight" in your music section. Such a missed opportunity to show the blend of music.

The biggest problem with Assault Horizon as a whole is it was such a stupid direction to take the series in, it nearly killed it entirely. Its easy to say, "oh its just a fun little action game," NOW, after AC7 has come and revived the series from the grave that AH left it in

small spoiler for ac7, dunno if you've played it hearing you talk about it, it feels weird seeing how they took some stuff from assault horizon, the black sheep of the series, and applied then to ace combat 7, which is one of the series' best games, namely the flares and fighting under ridiculous weather conditions, and maybe the ridiculous amount of missiles they throw at you, except in 7 you don't have regenerating health lmao

Call this game Assault Horizon and drop the Ace Combat, and I think this game would’ve been way less harshly remembered. There’s some good mechanics worth polishing, like DFM. Overused in this game, but could be a good tool to make Ace encounters more cinematic and unique in future titles

This was actually my first AC game, and I was blown away to see such graphics on the PS3 at the time. The intense, scripted dogfights at near ground-level were definitely the best moments of the game. I'd say that this is the least replayable game of the franchise, since after you experience the main story there's not much else to do and just feels repetitive. But hey, it was the game that introduced me to the franchise! So I guessa change of pace is nice once in a while.

I love just how violent this game is. It's like playing Brutal DooM, or Doom Eternal, but with fighter jets and oil and scrap metal in the place of blood and guts. Along with that, I love the ragdoll physics enemy aircraft have when you shoot them down 😂, just falling or spinning and twisting in.. ragdoll-like ways honestly 🤣. I REALLY hope they bring back those elements at least. This game made my early teenage hood. I never knew such a beauty, and wish for some similar. Overall, I'm glad you had fun 😊 (6.8 OUT OF 10, YOU MONSTER!!!!!😡)

Ahh I remember the DFM the bane of my existence the number of times I crashed into the ground or in a building is far more then I have been shoot or crashed in Electrosphear(AC3),Unsung War,Zero and Shattered Sky and I had at least 2000h on each game my frustration led me to abandon DFM completely on maximum difficulty I resorted to use the basic AC strategies along side my fav one fir this series the counter-manuver instant lock on and fire during the CM there's a brief period almost a second during CM that the missile makes a instant lock on not needing to waste time getting a full circle by firing both missiles they are guaranteed to hit it was either I shoot it at first try or abandon the DFM if I miss or hit the enemy but not terminating it. *note the CM I'm referring too isn't countermeasures but counter-manuver

I honestly loved this game. Part of it was because I was forced to because as a longtime fan of the series who permanently switched to PC and away from consoles because I couldn't afford both, this was the only way I could get my AC fix for a long while. Still, I learned to love it for what it is and not hate for what the fandom wishes it was. It helps that I'm also a longtime fan of CoD and regularly go back to the original Modern Warfare trilogy for kicks. Honestly, my one real complaint about this game is the fact that the mc is a named character and not the usual silent, faceless protagonist like the rest of the series. Bishop is an ok character on his own, but give me that self-insert, escapism fantasy over him any day.