Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

 PC
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 211 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 138 out of 211
  2. Mixed: 36 out of 211
  3. Negative: 37 out of 211

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  1. azgoodaz
    Aug 9, 2019
    7
    My favorite Ace Combat games were 'Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies' to 'Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War' back on PlayStation 2. Finally, an Ace Combat worth playing was released on PC.

    Skies Unknown has 20 missions in total and it can be completed in a total Steam playtime of 13.4 hours, that's with me failing missions a few times. Cut-scenes are immersive with amazing detail, something    My favorite Ace Combat games were 'Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies' to 'Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War' back on PlayStation 2. Finally, an Ace Combat worth playing was released on PC.

    Skies Unknown has 20 missions in total and it can be completed in a total Steam playtime of 13.4 hours, that's with me failing missions a few times. Cut-scenes are immersive with amazing detail, something that I would love to see Ace Combat 4 and 5 have, maybe get remastered for PC? And not just the cut-scenes the game engine detail of the jet fighters and small details like rain or the jet stream from clouds. Also the soundtrack is pretty amazing as well.

    Somehow, that dog jpeg picture is still in one of the cut-scenes and it's horrible. Even though it's a tribute to 'developer’s departed pet' it takes away from the cut-scene. Why couldn't they just animate the dog? Instead they just put 2 different pictures of 2 different dogs. Even though I love dogs, horrible way to not disengage the audience.

    Really the only major flaw of this game is that is has no Steam Workshop support so you can't customize your own jet fighters. You have to some tricky modding in order to import specific textures you want.

    If you played Ace Combat 4 or 5 and didn't touch the series since then like me or even never played an Ace Combat game for the life of you, you can't pass this one up. Ace Combat is a fun arcade flight simulator that can be played with an Xbox One controller (which I did). I do wish though we could choose if our character could have talked. Kinda awkward having our Squadron speak to themselves awkwardly.

    Note; the flight controls is best played on 'Expert' to control the fighter jets easier.    … Expand
  2. philzlz
    Apr 17, 2019
    7
    Ace Combat 7 was the only game i had to UNDERCLOCK my GPU for in years of PC gaming. That being said once i figured out how to stop the constant freezing it was a fun game for a few hours. I did not follow the older games so the story was kind of confusing in the beginning. Graphics were nice, especially the plane models and some missions more fun than others.

    One of the best points for    Ace Combat 7 was the only game i had to UNDERCLOCK my GPU for in years of PC gaming. That being said once i figured out how to stop the constant freezing it was a fun game for a few hours. I did not follow the older games so the story was kind of confusing in the beginning. Graphics were nice, especially the plane models and some missions more fun than others.

    One of the best points for me were the incredible soundtrack and good video sequences between missions. While it is is quickly forgotten you can enjoy it for a few days.    … Expand
  3. jonnieb57
    Feb 5, 2019
    5
    This is easy for me. If what I have been reading is true - no Track IR and no Flight Joystick support, then this game is definitely not for me or any others who like to PC fly and do it realistically. That is really a shame, since the graphics look good enough for me.
  4. Aeryx
    Dec 15, 2020
    6
    Ace Combat 7 is really dumb but addicting. As somebody who played Air Combat, Ace Combat 2 and Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, I find this game to be severely lacking in story, quality writing and realism. Overall, it feels like a regression.

    To start, the plot is absolutely dumb and the characters are wearing plot armor until it's their turn to die. I didn't expect this game to be a    Ace Combat 7 is really dumb but addicting. As somebody who played Air Combat, Ace Combat 2 and Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, I find this game to be severely lacking in story, quality writing and realism. Overall, it feels like a regression.

    To start, the plot is absolutely dumb and the characters are wearing plot armor until it's their turn to die. I didn't expect this game to be a flight simulator, but they should have not thrown everything out the window. Mihaly is a total ripoff of Old Snake, but much worse. The rubberbanding enemy AI is absolutely terrible and ignores aircraft physics when convenient. Your teammates are a joke window dressing and I've seen my teammates hit an enemy plane with 8 missiles and the enemy fighter just went on as if nothing happened. Trigger, the player character is a poorly executed and awkward silent protagonist. Your teammates in the story, will do nothing but kiss your @ss and compliment, nag and scream at you all of the time: "Trigger you have an incoming missile!"; "Trigger the enemy has you locked on!"; "Trigger, you have taken a direct hit!"; "Trigger has fired a missile!"; "Trigger has destroyed the enemy!" and so on. You can't play this game for at least 2 minutes without some teammate or enemy screaming poorly-written drama in the radio. It's just absolutely irritating. Ace Combat 3 had a far better writing and story than this, with choices that mattered and affected the ending.

    My main problem with the aircraft is that they all have set special weapons and you can only choose 1 of 3 to take on a mission. They should have made it so that you could choose any special weapon you wanted for any aircraft or an aircraft group, at the very least. Since I have a preference for the most effective special weapons only, I will always fly only the aircraft that have the ones I need and totally ignore the other aircraft, which is a shame, since some of them are really cool and fun to fly.

    The multiplayer is where the game should shine, but it is full of players who are spamming EMLs and QAAMs. That's just bad design that forces you to do the same if you are to survive. Also, why are there 'Multiplayer-only' aircraft parts? Will the campaign AI, who cheats all the time, complain about it in single player?

    For controls, use an XBOX controller as it gives a better experience than keyboard. This game does not support many flight simulator HOTAS joysticks, so check for compatibility prior to buying the game or just use a controller.

    The graphics are okay. Not great. There are absolutely no damage decals on your aircraft and there are none on anything, even on the environment. Your bombs and missiles will hit the ground and not leave a scratch. Total Air War, back in 1998, had very good aircraft and environment damage decals. Buildings and houses get destroyed if you hit them, dams burst and cause flooding if you bomb them, even if they are non-targets. 22 years later, we have greatly regressed. That's just lazy game design. Don't even get me started on your standard missiles having only a 2-kilometer range. That's just stupid, when real equivalent missiles have a 120km or 200km range. Would it have killed the developers to extend it to 6 kilometers? In an era of rail guns, laser weapons and 5th generation advanced stealth fighters, we still use Korean war era missiles with their 2km range? Do the developers think we are this dumb?

    Overall, Ace Combat 7 is an arcade game that tries very hard to be addicting and mediocre and, it succeeds. But if you wanted an addicting mediocre game, why do it on PC when there are tons of mobile games that accomplish this? You need to turn your brain off to enjoy Ace Combat 7, otherwise, it becomes a confusing mess and a disappointment.    … Expand
  5. Dco326
    Jan 8, 2021
    7
    Borbe su bile okej ali u globalu prica mi je bila jako smaracka i smaralo me da gledam cutscene
  6. ziyddwh
    Mar 14, 2023
    6
    Interesting story, but repetitive gameplay. All I heard is warning, missile, and pull-up: I can't even hear the story.
  7. PasiMetaAho
    Feb 5, 2023
    7
    Time limit? SCORE LIMIT? In a war scenario???????? WTF!!!!!
    "Oh you didn't kill bin laden in five minutes???? Get executed!!!!!!!!
  8. Young_Fawn
    Jun 21, 2023
    5
    Ace Combat 7: Opinion Unknown, 5/10

    So this was the first Ace Combat game I've ever played so I feel like I might be a bit softer on my criticism but this is one of those times where I wish Steam had a "Mixed" button. Although I've opted to click 'Recommend' because clicking 'Not Recommend' implies I really disliked it, which isn't the case. I'll start off with what I disliked about    Ace Combat 7: Opinion Unknown, 5/10

    So this was the first Ace Combat game I've ever played so I feel like I might be a bit softer on my criticism but this is one of those times where I wish Steam had a "Mixed" button. Although I've opted to click 'Recommend' because clicking 'Not Recommend' implies I really disliked it, which isn't the case.

    I'll start off with what I disliked about the game and bare in mind, this is coming from someone who has never played a flight game like this before in their life.

    A lot of the missions felt very samey, fly here, destroy ground targets, destroy aircraft, yeah that is the crux of the game but for me there weren't enough dynamic changes or enough mechanics in the game as you progress to make you feel like you're getting any better at it. Truth be told I didn't feel like my skill improved that much from mission 1 to mission 20.

    The story is lacklustre, probably one of the few games where the gameplay totally trumps the story, you don't really play it for the narrative but more for flying the planes and shooting stuff down and trying to accomplish your mission.

    "Score Based Missions" and "Defence Missions" were the missions that I was most frustrated with, getting fifteen minutes to tally up X amounts of points and if you fail, it's back to the 15 minute timer, 0 score. Or when you're defending something in a mission it can feel a bit overwhelming like there's a lot to do. I got through it in the end but there were times where I was just sitting at my computer like. "Aw come on, man."

    As for what I liked about the game, let's be honest, flying military spec fighter planes is pretty awesome, you do get a lot of moments where you're making some radical high G turn and you just barely lock on to a target, fire your missiles and 'boom' they go down. I'd be lying if I said that didn't feel good.

    The missions that don't seem to be "Filler" as in the Defence and Score based missions mentioned previously, are very good. The ones where you have a clear objective to take down X or have like an actual specialised task to do, if the whole game was made up of that, I think it would be much better. There are quite a few of these which is pretty neat when you get one.

    The aircraft choices and talent tree is pretty nice, being able to pick which kind of aircraft suits you and what parts and special weapon you'd like equipped, I felt this added a degree of personality from yourself into the game, deciding how you want to proceed with the job. Are we going Anti-Air? Anti-Ground? Mix? Entirely up to you.

    The OST is also really good, it goes great with the smooth flying and also gets very intense during some of the more combat heavy missions where things are hectic, it really adds to a cinematic experience of the game.

    Overall, for me the game is a 5/10. I know some people are die hard fans of the franchise and I'm not trying to take anything from them, I believe that if you're into this franchise heavily then it's amazing. For me however, even just by taking a look at my own games list, you can tell this isn't something I'd often pick up and it isn't really my style of game. I'm glad I played it, don't get me wrong, but I doubt I'd play through this again and furthermore, I'd need to see how I'd feel at the time if they decide to release an Ace Combat 8. But, y'know, I saw the campaign through to the end and didn't absolutely hate it, nor did I love it, for me it's just a game I tried, finished and will likely forget about.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

65
#65 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019
74
#74 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 11, 2019
    70
    The newest Ace Combat is a good game overall and may be the prettiest and best sounding in the series but nearly all of the rest of its features are a step – or a few of them – back. [12/2019, p.56]
  2. Worth Playing
    Apr 11, 2019
    85
    The content is plentiful, replayability remains high, and the presentation easily makes Ace Combat 7 one of the better arcade-style flight games on the PC. It has been a long time coming, but action flight fans and those who love the series won't be disappointed by Ace Combat 7.
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  3. The Overpowered Noobs
    Feb 27, 2019
    70
    A great Ace Combat title that follows its past formula too closely, giving you the great flight simulator you expect and no more.
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