Did you know that the F-16 took off for the first time 50 years ago a few months ago? It’s currently enjoying its Block 70 overhaul in case you were worried that air forces around the world were still using half-a-century-old technology. In the meantime, Ace Combat it turns 30 next year and, like an airplane block revision, evolves with each new entry. Unfortunately, Nintendo owners may have missed this evolution entirely, with only a Game Boy Advance entry and two slightly different 3DS versions Ace Combat 2 the remake is successfully making its way to Nintendo heaven. Unfortunately, the 3DS game in the west is called Assault Horizon Legacy (+), which ended up confusing potential young nuggets from venturing back from the home console Assault horizon remains the most fictional entry in the series, with developer Project Aces trying to throw in something Call of duty-ism into a formula with disastrous results.
The pressure was great. Exclusive to Xbox 360 Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation raised the bar for the series (which was already extremely high after the PlayStation 2 trilogy), so Project Aces needed to ensure that the next numbered game in the series was their sleekest, smoothest F-16 equivalent yet. In January 2019, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown launched on previous-gen consoles and soon after on PC to warm reviews. Five years later, this same Unreal Engine-powered opus is now coming to Nintendo Switch, something none of us at Nintendo Life expected to write. Surely, there has to be a catch… right?
It’s 2019 and we’re in Strangereal, a fictional but rather believable alternate reality Earth where most of the Ace Combat canon takes place. Here, different land masses, different nations, different historical events lead to different wars. For this single player campaign, we take on the role of a faceless and silent Osean Air Defense Force pilot called “Trigger”. The peace is disrupted by an invading military force from the Kingdom of Eruse, precipitating a conflict that will be known as the “Beacon War”, a reference to the plot-critical installation of the International Space Elevator.
The epic 20-mission campaign details Trigger’s journey from nugget pilot to disgraced convict and their eventual rise to legendary war hero. While certainly not original, the presentation is extremely well done with high-quality cutscenes that could very well pass as a stand-alone CGI film, with characters recounting their own experiences on both sides of the conflict and interacting with the player, whether as an ally or an enemy. Whether this is your first Ace Combat or not, you’re in for an epic ride. Don’t worry about being overwhelmed by the controls, the first few missions do a great job masquerading as a built-in tutorial with detailed instructions on basic flight and firing maneuvers.
The biggest new feature in this entry is weather. Although a more subtle approach was attempted in previous entries, time is fully present here. For the first time in the series, volumetric clouds are spread across each mission’s standalone map, all featuring hundreds of square miles of detailed terrain, cityscapes, oceans, mountain ranges, and so on. Flying your impressively modeled aircraft into said clouds will cause condensation represented by water droplets and even ice on your cockpit glass, as well as marks from your wingtips.
More than just visual feedback, this is also an important gameplay element as cloud cover will now interfere with missile lock for friends and foes alike, becoming an important strategic element to keep in mind at all times. Rising hot air currents, desert storms, lightning strikes and other meteorological phenomena will humble your multi-million dollar warbird, turning a magnificent piece of aviation technology into a helpless piece of paper while you grip the steering wheel tighter as if to prevent it from hitting the ground or a mountainside . Add in a dozen ground and air enemies trying to shoot you down and it’s very easy to overlook the obvious fact: This game is incredibly beautiful!
Each environment is crafted with such care and craftsmanship that it’s easy to miss the finer details. You can fly above roads straight into cityscapes, fly through underground hangars carved into mountains, and even inside highway tunnels if your skill allows. Every skybox is a mural, every explosion a collection of fragments. The fact that all of this survived the 1:1 content transition in this Switch port explains why development took over two years.
Don’t be afraid of the lack of content either. After completing the single-player campaign, you still have dozens of hours to enjoy thanks to the Aircraft Tree. Each mission earns you MRP, a currency that unlocks new aircraft from European, Japanese, American and Russian manufacturers along with special weapon sets for each. Your personal favorites almost certainly made the playlist.
Each route also unlocks parts that can help you customize each plane to your liking, so it will take some time to fully unlock and test every combination on offer. Hidden ace pilots lurk throughout each single-player mission, and hunting them down (and looking for their unique liveries for your skinlist) further expands the replayability factor. All this for the solo pilot, but the surprising survivor of the switch to Switch is also online multiplayer.
While it remains bare bones compared to the long-defunct Ace Combat Infinity‘with team-based missions, eight-player online multiplayer works the same way it did five years ago. There are only two modes (eight-player free-for-all and 4v4 team battle) played on some of the single-player campaign maps. Matches can either quickly devolve into endless round dances between players where no one can successfully win, or someone has such a superior fighter/special weapon/parts equipped that it becomes a one-sided massacre. Either way, online multiplayer is the fastest way to earn MRPs to spend on aircraft wood since the rounds are short and even the bottom of the scoreboard will earn you enough MRPs to make the effort worthwhile.
However, just like five years ago, the experience is very unbalanced thanks to the hundreds of possible combinations of aircraft on offer. At the time of writing, fresh from launch, we couldn’t find more than one or two active rooms, but at least all the matches we took part in were cheat-free, something that completely ruined the experience on PC.
It’s time to address the proverbial elephant in the room: Can the outdated Switch hardware handle such an ambitious game under Unreal Engine 4? We certainly had our doubts. This conversion is targeting 30fps (unlocked) which translates to occasional slowdown when the entire sky is filled with explosions, resulting debris, missiles, enemy aircraft, huge air weapon platforms throwing out dozens of drones, thunderclouds, rain, etc. There’s also noticeable pop-up geometry for trees and buildings if you’re flying low, most noticeable on maps with dense forests or huge cityscapes.
Some compromises, then, but there’s a sense that this shouldn’t even be possible to run, but somehow it works. None of the issues really affect gameplay, either in docked or portable mode (which is where the later Switch OLED models really show off the beauty of this game). After spending over a hundred hours with the original PC version, we were able to dig deep into a few key single-player campaign missions to see how much the Switch would have to concede to its aging mobile chipset, and came away positively surprised by how it all works.
If you’re still thirsty after experiencing all the base game has to offer, it’s time to fly to the eShop. The Deluxe Edition moniker translates to a generous offering of three additional DLC missions along with previous pre-order exclusive planes and even a pack of three concept planes from previous Ace Combat inserted games. However, this is where the generosity ends. Every single piece of DLC is also available on the Switch version, meaning that something that previously took months to add to players on a drip is now available from day one on the eShop, with the total cost for each commemorative and concept plane pack at the end. costs the same as the base game. Most of these aircraft offer some truly unfair advantages in both single and multiplayer modes, further proving the imbalance and unfairness of the multiplayer experience.
Still, we can’t deny Top Gun: Maverick the crossover pack offers great value thanks to the addition of the iconic planes from the film along with emblems, plane skins and even a cover by Namco’s in-house composer Kenny Loggin Danger zone. Me did you feel the need for speed, but the fictional Darkstar plane from the 2022 movie is such a beast in that department that it spoils some of the single-player missions, while in multiplayer it becomes an absolute nuisance. You just can’t catch him if the pilot decides to turn his tail and leg! We know this is all optional, but we have to admit that the whole package is the only way to scratch an itch we can’t otherwise.
We’re saving the last paragraph to highlight something that can often be overlooked in reviews: sound design. The soundtrack of Skies Unknown blends electronic and orchestral genres with ease. However, in the sound effects department, Project Aces went further. Jet engines, missiles and bullets rushing, the delay between the distant explosions and the resulting boom, a bolt of lightning hitting your plane – everything is simply untouched. It rounds off the presentation very nicely, a cherry on top of the cake that immensely helps you immerse yourself in the world of Strangereal.
