Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 407 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 312 out of 407
  2. Mixed: 40 out of 407
  3. Negative: 55 out of 407
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  1. tomvs123
    Feb 10, 2020
    3
    As a 90's combat flight simulator veteran, and as someone who knows how real military missions work, I am disappointed with this one.

    The story and 20 missions basically promote jet fighters and air power, while ignoring just about everything else that goes into conflicts. The story doesn't even try to hide this. It outright tells you that your jet fighters are the only way to win    As a 90's combat flight simulator veteran, and as someone who knows how real military missions work, I am disappointed with this one.

    The story and 20 missions basically promote jet fighters and air power, while ignoring just about everything else that goes into conflicts. The story doesn't even try to hide this. It outright tells you that your jet fighters are the only way to win battles.

    The story isn't very good. It has a few meaningful scenes here and there, but they're strung together by nonsense. It's also mostly told from your opponents' side, and not your own, which makes things slightly confusing. About half way though, I got tired of the nonsense and started skipping story scenes.

    If you're familiar with military operations, you'll probably find the missions here to be silly at best. Instead of focusing on what you need to do to complete missions, they go into an incredible amount of unnecessary backstory. I eventually started skipping the mission briefings, just to get to the the one-sentence objective at the end, such as "destroy all targets" or "get enough points within the time limit." Yeah, points. They didn't even try to disguise this as something more realistic, such as "Kill X forces within Y time before Z happens."

    And I must point out the dumbest part of the story/missions. At one point, you're convicted of a crime, so you're sent to a penal colony with other pilots. And what do you do to atone for your crimes? Fly missions for them. Yep, they give multi-million dollar planes to criminals to fly and expect them to do their missions. How absurd!

    As for the gameplay, it's obvious that the game was made to be cool and not accurate. The planes simply don't handle like real planes. You also get unlimited bullets, rockets, and fuel. An interesting thing to note is that your enemies also have unlimited missiles, but you have less than 10 countermeasure flares/chaff. Well, since they work 100% of the time, I suppose they had to create a limit.

    Your radar and HUD have serious flaws. There's no radar depth indicator, so you have to rely on a big green arrow in the middle of the screen that tells you where your target is. Worried about the other 10 planes trying to take you down? Well, too bad, you only get depth data on one target. As for the HUD, if you're pointed at a light background, such as the daylight sky, it's simply unreadable.

    To add difficulty, enemy planes are simply unrealistic (even more than your plane). Late in the game, you'll frequently encounter planes and drones that seemingly reverse direction instantly. They'll also take upwards of six missile hits to take down. Well I suppose that makes sense since it takes at least three to take your plane down.

    During my first mission, I was disappointed that I didn't get to take off or land. You're just automatically in the air. Later on, you get to do optional take off, landing, and in-flight refueling sequences. And they're bad from a flight sim standpoint. Taking off consists of holding down the accelerator button until the game decides to take you off the ground and pull up your landing gear. Landing consists of following the landing lines and hitting the runway nose-gear-first below a certain speed or you'll instantly explode. These sections were so unrealistic and no fun that I just skipped them later. This is a shame since taking off and landing are some of the best parts of realistic flight simulators.

    Bombing is a joke in this game. Actually, bombs don't really exist. Everything is missile-based and you're expected to fly directly at ground targets to get a lock-on before you can release your "bombs," which are just guided missiles that can't target air targets. This is a pain in missions with lots of ground targets. You'll be flying at the ground, trying to get your target and release your bombs before hitting the ground. Do that 30 more times without crashing to complete the mission.

    The plane models are pretty good, but there's not a lot and they're mainly focused on modern jet fighters. By going through the story missions, I was able to purchase more than half of the planes, all the way up to the top-of-the line F-35. After you complete the game, you also get the opportunity to purchase a sci-fi plane. The only way to earn more money to purchase all planes is to replay the same story missions. I was hoping for some post-game standard missions, without all of the nonsensical story baggage, but that unfortunately isn't here.

    The game would have worked better with a sci-fi setting. With real planes and the attempt at a real military story, all of the silliness just doesn't fit. Though if you have no idea how militaries work, how planes actually fly, or how many missiles a jet fighter can actually carry, then you'll probably be fine with it. Just don't go in expecting a realistic story or flight simulator, or you'll be disappointed.    … Expand
  2. Dwideshrude1
    Feb 12, 2020
    0
    This is one of the most unfunctional games I have ever played. You cant lock on to the enemies that you want ro lock on to. THE LOCK ON IS RNG BASED. THE. LOCK ON. IS. RNG. Unplayable.
  3. JerrKell
    Sep 24, 2020
    2
    Definitely not a simulator, just an arcade game with good graphics but a cheap (and I keep it polite) HUD where they just forgot the visibility, which leads to confusion in the middle of a mission/combat in cloudy situation (for an air combat game, can hardly be worse fail...).
    If you get it cheap on retail/preowned, still a good game, but surely not a game changer - free games on PC (DCS    Definitely not a simulator, just an arcade game with good graphics but a cheap (and I keep it polite) HUD where they just forgot the visibility, which leads to confusion in the middle of a mission/combat in cloudy situation (for an air combat game, can hardly be worse fail...).
    If you get it cheap on retail/preowned, still a good game, but surely not a game changer - free games on PC (DCS World for example) will give you far more fun for way less money.
    Anyway, funny to play here and there when really want to use an HOTAS (else the game has no interest at Ll...).    … Expand
  4. Rand0mHero
    Feb 4, 2020
    1
    Once you get used to the stunning visuals you notice the game really doesn't have that much else to offer. They forgot every good tweak from AC:Infinity, made the missions more boring than than those of AC:Assault Horizon, unimaginative story. 3 VR missions is a joke! And going Battle Royal in pvp just because Fortnite is a hit speaks of desperation. Menu is a mess and aircraft managementOnce you get used to the stunning visuals you notice the game really doesn't have that much else to offer. They forgot every good tweak from AC:Infinity, made the missions more boring than than those of AC:Assault Horizon, unimaginative story. 3 VR missions is a joke! And going Battle Royal in pvp just because Fortnite is a hit speaks of desperation. Menu is a mess and aircraft management is not fun or pleasent… Expand
  5. gazmoden
    Mar 30, 2020
    0
    this game is terrible, I expected something at least like ace combat 1 2 or 3 but this is a joke. the story line is ridiculous if thats what you call it... just some woman with serious daddy issues and she's not even your character. lots of stupid unrealistic mission and speech that doesnt even make sense. extremely slow at progressing through objectives, cinematics leave you free flyingthis game is terrible, I expected something at least like ace combat 1 2 or 3 but this is a joke. the story line is ridiculous if thats what you call it... just some woman with serious daddy issues and she's not even your character. lots of stupid unrealistic mission and speech that doesnt even make sense. extremely slow at progressing through objectives, cinematics leave you free flying and let you crash. there's more things wrong with it but I'd be here all week naming them. not one part of this game works, the upgrading system makes you buy a tree of planes and **** you dont want nor you can use on all air crafts even if they are in same category ie a fighter or multirole. the majority of missions are ground targets and air to ground weapons are useless, I give up writing more, just a completely useless game, I'm glad it was free from xbox live… Expand
  6. Superslider
    May 10, 2020
    3
    How on earth does this tedious game have such good reviews?

    Missions are samey, last too long and if you die near the end of a long boring mission guess what - yep, start again - what is this the 90s?

    Constant missile alerts - irritating and not fun at all. Felt like a chore to play so sold it.
  7. maximazi
    May 9, 2021
    0
    Had to skip all the cut scenes. Seems this story was written and directed by 15 year olds. 20 missions. the rest are on dlc.
  8. FoxJoy
    Jun 27, 2020
    3
    Whole levels of the game is copy-past from previous games, storyline is ridiculous
  9. Svartruun
    Mar 17, 2021
    3
    Eigentlich ein gutes Game. Das Problem liegt hier in der frustrierenden Unfairness der KI. Egal in welcher Mission man ist, die Gegner feuern ihre Raketen nur auf den Spieler. Das geht soweit, daß man im 5-Sekunden-Takt beschossen wird. Natürlich sind dann Zielanflüge oder auch nur die Ausrichtung unmöglich. Und da die Missionen ein Zeitlimit haben, werden diese unnötig erschwert. DerEigentlich ein gutes Game. Das Problem liegt hier in der frustrierenden Unfairness der KI. Egal in welcher Mission man ist, die Gegner feuern ihre Raketen nur auf den Spieler. Das geht soweit, daß man im 5-Sekunden-Takt beschossen wird. Natürlich sind dann Zielanflüge oder auch nur die Ausrichtung unmöglich. Und da die Missionen ein Zeitlimit haben, werden diese unnötig erschwert. Der Spielspaß bleibt dabei gewaltig auf der Strecke. Aufgrund dessen sind hier leider nicht mehr als drei Punkte drin.… Expand
  10. Stefanobed
    Mar 15, 2021
    3
    Again the same Simulator , mission boring and nothing of "news" , mission at time are real worse.bad game
  11. NoKoolaid4Me
    Apr 8, 2021
    0
    I can see why so many people love this game but my god it has problems, not even touching on the story that just kind of happens around you without really making sense. I played the original back when I was a kid, and was looking forward to some arcade-y action. This game kept the PS1 control imprecision and terrible Godzilla forced perspective (is that aircraft carrier far away or is itI can see why so many people love this game but my god it has problems, not even touching on the story that just kind of happens around you without really making sense. I played the original back when I was a kid, and was looking forward to some arcade-y action. This game kept the PS1 control imprecision and terrible Godzilla forced perspective (is that aircraft carrier far away or is it twice the size of my plane and I'm about to smack into it?) while throwing exponentially more targets at you and tossing your plane around with a bunch of kart-racer level weather effects. There's gold here, and when you run a mission well you feel like a demigod, but it's all buried under layers of inexplicably bad design decisions and a control scheme that hasn't changed since analog sticks were introduced.

    Easily the worst part of this game is the lock on feature. You have to manually cycle targets all using one button, and the computer has no preference between selecting a craft on your nose within weapons range or a lone antiair gun on the far horizon. The most effective antiair defence the enemy has is burying the targets you're actually trying to shoot at in other low-priority targets that you then have to mash triangle to try and select all while performing evasive maneuvers and such. There have been numerous times I've had perfect lines on targets then either didn't get around to targeting them in time or mashed past. There is no previous target button, and the d-pad is left unmapped. Even then, you can fiddle with the controls a bit but I found myself struggling to work all the controls effectively and keep a grip on my controller, and I have pretty big hands. This would be a non-issue with the ability to remap the controls better/use the right stick for something other than free look, but that's not a thing for some reason. Neither is it a thing to be able to use the plane's external camera and have an attitude indicator displayed, meaning that if you appreciate being able to see more than what feels like a sixty degree cone in front of your plane and you fly into a cloud/sandstorm/stormfront and lose visibility, you have to switch cameras to check your plane's orientation, which means pulling your thumb off the guns/targeting. You also launch flares with L3+R3, something I had to check online to figure out (I also learned about PSMs and the lock-on zoom here, because the game refuses to tell you about any of this stuff) which if you accidentally don't depress L3 down enough because you're constantly maneuvering, it just changes your camera.

    So the controls are archaic and very poorly explained, which makes the crushed perspective a hundred times worse. The ground texture looks like low res aerial photographs. This alongside the miniaturized model enemies caused me to repeatedly plow into the ground thinking I had space to maneuver until the moment before I smash into it. It should also be noted that the jets don't really perform like jets. They have a normal (uncharacteristically slow and wide) turning radius, but you can feather the accelerator to initiate a """High-G turn""" which is basically just an air drift. This encourages a weird style of flight where you're constantly accelerating so you can pump the brakes and turn faster, instead of just slowing down and being able to consistently perform hard turns. While it simplifies piloting somewhat and reduces on having to learn maneuvers (which the game is completely unwilling to teach you), it also encourages you to fly sloppily and perform maneuvers that transition fantastically into slamming into the ground at speed. Clean flight doesn't really matter though as many levels have weather hazards that 1) only apply to your plane and 2) feel like kart racer obstacles added to make your life harder. There's "high winds" that instantly accelerate your plane sideways at three times its' maximum velocity, there's "thunderclouds" that sit between 100-1000 feet off the ground that arbitrarily stall you and turn your instruments off for a minute, there's clouds that work as free chaff for enemy planes. Hell, halfway through the game, your IFF gets turned off and you have to "manually identify" targets by keeping your camera on them for a few seconds within a kilometer. It's even more inconsistent than early game targeting with the added bonus of being able to mistakenly target every friendly troop as well as every other enemy besides the one you want.

    There's never a point where the game leans back and lets you fly, it's just a bunch of gimmick missions, usually 15 minute "blow up every target" endurance or escort slogs. If you make one mistake, sorry, back to the beginning to listen to another 15 minutes of inane chatter. I wanted to like this game so bad, but they blew it, hard. It's like Doom if shooting was fun, but aiming was incredibly frustrating, inconsistent, and gave you carpal tunnel.    … Expand
  12. pooya_oa
    Nov 14, 2022
    4
    The last one I played was the PS1 version.
    For some reason, I did not like this new one. The graphics were good. But the missions were frustrating for me instead of challenging.

Awards & Rankings

57
#57 Best PS4 Game of 2019
41
#41 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2019
1
#1 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 69
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 69
  3. Negative: 0 out of 69
  1. Gamers' Temple
    Apr 15, 2019
    74
    The almost nonsensical story and some poor mission design aside, you can have some fun with Ace Combat 7. It will take some patience to get through the sequences with poorly defined objectives, but you'll have fun with the action-packed aerial combat and enjoy testing your skills against other players in the multiplayer mode.
    Read full review
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 4, 2019
    80
    Ace Combat 7 revives the dying genre of arcade bullet hells and proves that even these games still have something to say. Players who get through system reports and time limits will be rewarded with an adrenaline ride with endless fun. [Issue#293]
  3. InsideGamer.nl
    Mar 24, 2019
    80
    Quotation forthcoming.
    Read full review
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