Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation

The movie Top Gun comes off as campy at best these days, but in its time, it was a smash action-fest for a reason — it turned the highly technical and demanding profession of piloting fighter jets into a testosterone-filled roller-coaster ride that everyone could enjoy. The long-running PlayStation series Ace Combat became famous by doing exactly the same thing, and its Xbox 360 debut is one of the best yet.

From the moment you load up the game, it’s impossible not to marvel over how gorgeous Ace Combat 6 is. The breathtaking scenery looks almost photorealistic from 5,000 feet…though if you’re buzzing the ground on a bombing run, it’s like sticking your nose right up against a big-screen TV — it just looks all pixelated and ugly up-close. Those moments are rare, though, and you’ll enjoy rocketing through wispy clouds, tracking the smoke trails of your missile launches, and watching the concussive puffs of explosions bloom all around you.

Those visual fireworks are more than just pretty scenery, though, because they let you really take in the enormous scope of the battles in Ace 6. There’s nothing linear about this game — you and your wingman are dropped into huge, sprawling conflicts where up to six full-scale operations can be going on at any time around you. You can flit between aerial duels, clearing out bunkers for your ground forces, sinking gunboats in the path of your landing marines, and much more.

You’re a pilot, not a general, so while you do have the freedom to decide where to go, you’re not calling the shots. Sometimes your presence will be urgently needed, and other times, you can neatly tidy up one battle before starting another. You really, really have to pay much more attention to the radio chatter than pretty much any gamer is used to — miss one desperate plea for help, and a whole operation could fail.

Fortunately, you can outright skip some operations without ruining the whole mission, and you can also earn the ability to call in allied support, which basically means your comrades zip over to whup some tail on your behalf. But the game could still really use some better information management, like a way to pause and see where you’re urgently needed. You can also accidentally trigger an operation by inadvertently flying into its airspace — it’s a shame Namco didn’t connect that occurrence to a simple button-press to prevent such goofs.

Last on our list of gripes is the learning curve for the HUD and radar. Both displays are just not as user-friendly as they need to be for all the info they’re presenting. Your current target, for instance, is almost indistinguishable from others in front of you — and sometimes, you literally face more than 20 targets at a time. Mercy!
Still, that learning curve is worth climbing. The payoff for feeling like an ace pilot who rains death on enemy bases and dogfighting opponents alike is pretty substantial. This game is a cracking good time and a refreshing change of pace. Thankfully, the realism is not even close to high — in one mission, you assault massive airborne aircraft carriers...what a hoot! — so mostly, your first-person-shooter–bred skills will do the trick quite nicely.

Where you may run into trouble is online. For the first time in the series, Ace 6 offers 16-player dogfights and four-player co-op against A.I. forces. Co-op is a blast, involving two long, complex missions that are fun to unravel with friends. The dogfighting, though, feels aimless unless you’re playing with people who really know what they’re doing: We predict it’ll be the stomping ground of the über-hardcore pilots. But even if that’s not your thing, there’s enough single-player thrills, lock-on tones, and just damn cool battles to make Ace 6 a game you should definitely pick up.