Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

 PlayStation 3
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 28
  3. Negative: 2 out of 28
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  1. The A.V. Club
    Oct 16, 2011
    42
    No amount of plot twists, or variation in the type of plane flown, can mitigate Assault Horizon's inherent boredom.
  2. 1UP
    Oct 11, 2011
    33
    Really the only thing Ace Combat has to offer that its predecessors don't is a couple of new flight modes and real world locations. This would be enough to recommend the game to die-hard fans, but the camera cut aways make the game a worse experience than its predecessors. If you want a good Ace Combat experience, you should play an earlier game in the series.

Awards & Rankings

83
#83 Best PS3 Game of 2011
52
#52 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2011
19
#19 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2011

User Reviews

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User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 101 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 53 out of 101
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 101
  3. Negative: 22 out of 101
  1. Excedion
    Nov 4, 2011
    2
    First of all this is not an Ace Combat game. This should be immediately inherent if you even look at the box never mind play the game.First of all this is not an Ace Combat game. This should be immediately inherent if you even look at the box never mind play the game. Everything that made the Ace Combat games great, ridiculous plot lines, over the top characters, and best of all giant enemy super-weapons that looked as if they were designed by a sci-fi writer on LSD, all of it is absent from this game. Namco Bandai have apparently observed that "Oh stories about the american army killing terrorists and rebels are doing well, lets get rid of our whole fictional world and just plant this game in a Modern Warfare setting because maybe people who buy those games will buy ours then even though dedicated fans will probably hate what we've turned the series into. Oh well." Ok maybe assault horizon isn't the first Ace Combat game to do it but lets be honest not that many people played joint assault.
    Ending the rant this game is nothing but a quick-time event version of H.A.W.X. with slightly more realism (slightly). The gunship missions are ok but the door gunner missions are just a standard vehicle section from any FPS and there is only one bomber mission and one AC-130 mission in the whole game though undoubtedly if youve ever played a Modern Warfare game you've seen all the depth AC-130 mission has to offer.
    Online play is alright but its pretty obvious that this game was tailored more towards the multi-player side than anything else leaving the campaign pretty stale and boring. The new "Dogfight Mode" takes all the challenge out of the game as it offers to fly the plane for you while you chase and enemy with a little circle for a few minutes and activating DFM at all can result in your plane regularly defying the laws of physics.

    To sum it up this game was built for people who've never played ace combat before and believe gaming began with Call of Duty. Baby's First Flying game would be the best phrase to describe it. This piece of cash-in garbage doesn't deserve to have Ace Combat in its title. Feel free to buy it if you are quite happy to pay £40 to watch shiny explosions and pretty landscapes with no game play or coherent story.    … Full Review »
  2. Bellicose
    Nov 16, 2011
    2
    I would hesitate to call this an Ace Combat game. Not just because it's bad and I would prefer to divorce its identity from the franchise,I would hesitate to call this an Ace Combat game. Not just because it's bad and I would prefer to divorce its identity from the franchise, but because it really is nothing like any of the other Ace Combat games.

    Do you enjoy flight games? Well, this isn't one of those. Oh sure, it has airplanes, but you don't actually do much direct controlling of them. The majority of the game is played in "Dogfight Mode" which is not as exciting as it sounds. In "DFM", the system takes over most of the flying for you, leaving you to -- well, marketing would say "focus on the fight", but in reality it's "focus on just holding down the guns and pressing the missile button when prompted to". Oh, didn't we mention? The game features quicktime events prominently.

    Nevermind the bland gameplay, the story is terrible. It leaves the wonderful Strangereal world behind in favour of...this subpar, generic, straight-up-meh experience.

    There is NOTHING of Ace Combat here. But even if it didn't share the name, even if it were a game striking out on its own for the first time, there's just nothing to like here. The highpoint of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War truly is behind us.

    This game is an ungodly morass of incompetence.    … Full Review »
  3. SG-17
    Oct 12, 2011
    10
    While it can take some time for veterans of the series to adapt to the new "Dogfight Mode" the game overall has the stuff to take a place withWhile it can take some time for veterans of the series to adapt to the new "Dogfight Mode" the game overall has the stuff to take a place with the other great Ace Combats like Shattered Skies, The Unsung War, and The Belkan War. Now, yes the switch from the fictional universe of Strangereal to our very own Earth is a bit disappointing the story that is told is as wild and imaginative as any told in Strangereal. Mechanically the game is solid as a rock. The flight mechanics on planes are smooth and responsive and Dogfight Mode is surprisingly fun and useful. Things can get sticky when using an attack helicopter, but you don't use one often enough to get angry with it. The graphics are amazing. The planes look sleek and realistic and jaggies are far and few in between. Surprisingly the ground doesn't look like a low resolution composite image anymore, it actually looks realistic. The game has large amounts of replayability when it comes to 3 player co-op and 8v8 competitive multiplayer. Capital Conquest is a base defense game that requires a large amount of teamwork to win at. Overall while the game may have a few quirks, it is still the best Ace Combat game since The Belkan War… Full Review »
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