Developer: Access Games, Project Aces
Publisher: Bandai Namco Games
Platform: (New) 3DS
Ace Combat – Assault Horizon Legacy + – Review
Ace Combat – Assault Horizon Legacy was well received by many, as a portable version of the Ace Combat games. Whilst the original title proved to be quite limited, the overall gameplay was quite enjoyable. Now, a remake of the game has been released with the same title, except with a ‘+’ at the end. Even though the plus might feel as if the developers learned from past mistakes, not all is good on the horizon.
Story
You are an ‘ace’ pilot, with the codename Phoenix, for the Allied forces that are trying to keep the rebel forces at bay. In most of the cases you will receive your mission info from your superior officer, Ulrich Olsen. You will always receive your through radio communication and that’s pretty much about it.
Keep the rebels from destroying your resources and protect the people. A simple, yet sufficient storyline for a game in this genre. Whilst a bit extra information about the character you’re playing would have been nice, it’s not a real bother to get your mission and head off to battle.
Graphics
Graphically Ace Combat – Assault Horizon Legacy + proves to be a polished version of the original version. Planes look quite detailed, areas look great from afar, but it’s clear that Nintendo’s 3DS is not a powerhouse in the graphical department. Some areas look like cardboard boxes that were planted in the middle of nowhere, to resemble a city.
Whilst buildings and certain mountains prove to be monotone or a drop in quality compared to the detail level on the airplanes, the water and clouds add up to the overall realism this pocket version of Ace Combat is aiming for.
The 3D capabilities are quite outstanding. That being said, it’s better to keep your switch down to a more subtle 3D setting, as putting it on max might be a bit too much for your eyes to handle.
Sound
As far as music goes, you’ll be treated to a decent amount of voice acting, by your superior officer and the rebel forces that taunt you, with a set of different lines. Certain special enemies, or wingmen tend to have a bit more lines of spoken dialogue, but then again flying through the air, full speed with rockets and a machine gun is enough of a thrill, right? Well to a certain extent it is. When you start replaying missions to gain a better rank, it would have been nice to have some music on the side.
Gameplay
Assault Horizon Legacy + is a typical aerial combat game, where you simply have to destroy certain targets in order to complete the mission at hand. You will be destroying the same types of targets throughout the course of all the missions, namely air, ground and targets on/in the water. (The latter actually counts as ground targets as well.)
Destroying these so called targets, has to be done in a specific timeframe otherwise you will fail your mission and have to retry. Luckily, at the beginning of each mission you will have the chance to pick the airplane that suits your fancy and upgrade it accordingly. Of course, at the beginning of the game only a limited amount of planes and parts will be at your disposal. Nonetheless, the game offers you a fair amount of airplanes and parts to mess around with and all the aircrafts feel quite different. These options are truly worth the ‘+’ inside of the title.
When you finish your story mode after only a few hours, you can start tackling the challenge mode. Sadly, most of the challenges are the same missions that you have completed throughout the course of the story mode. Nonetheless, the further you progress in the story mode, the more extra, new missions you will start to unlock in the challenge mode. These missions prove to feel a tad different than the story mode missions.
This handheld version of Ace Combat, is in reality a remake of the 2011-2012 version, with nearly the same name. Whilst the game has hardly received any special updates, it does support the usage of the desired Amiibo figurines. When using certain Amiibos in correspondence with your 3DS, you will be able to unlock ‘SP’ aircrafts, that have a skin of the used Amiibo. Sadly, due to the lack of a multiplayer mode, the game does not really motivate you to play around with these puppets too much, seeing you can’t show them off to other players. Add up the fact that the game also randomly gives you certain SP Amiibo aircrafts, without actually using an Amiibo you will lose the incentive to go out and get yourself some new figurines.
The Amiibo airplanes prove to be quite delightful to look at and they also have better stats. This might be the only reason to get several new figures to add to your collection, in order to complete your missions more easily. Then again, when progressing you will be able to start upgrading your favorite planes in order to achieve the same stats.
As mentioned earlier, the game does not have a multiplayer mode and due to this, you will not really be motivated to pick up the game anymore after you complete the story mission and several of the challenge mode missions. The lack of the multiplayer mode makes it feel as if this remake was just squeezed out in order board the Amiibo train.
Conclusion
Ace Combat – Assault Horizon Legacy + is a great try at upgrading an already amusing game, but it misses the mark by a bit due to the lack of a multiplayer mode. Whilst the overall gameplay is solid for a portable aerial action game, there is no real purpose in playing the game after completing the different missions the game throws at you. Nonetheless, Ace Combat fans will find some joy when messing around with the Amiibo functions and the options the game has to offer.
Ace Combat - Assault Horizon Legacy + - Review,
No Comments