ACE COMBAT 7 XBOX REVIEW FULL OF PLANES

Fortunately, there is an impressive technology tree that players can work their way through, unlocking more advanced planes, aerial tech, and weapons. Initially, you'll be given a basic crate, good enough for the opening missions, but you'll need something that packs more punch later. For genre fans, it's a great time thanks to intuitive and compelling combat, an interesting variety of missions, a wealth of content, planes, weaponry and technology, all backed up with stunning graphics and a thumping soundtrack.For each campaign mission, players can select one of their planes from the hangar along with a single special weapon package. Comments about celebrating with beer and pizza come across as cliched.FEEL THE RUSH OF SUPERIOR AIR POWERPutting gamers in the cockpit of the most advanced war planes ever developed, ACE COMBAT 7 delivers the fiercest air.Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown brings the franchise hurtling onto Xbox One with all guns blazing. Something similar can be said about the pilot banter that peppers the flights or ends of missions. Whilst there is a story to tell, it begins to feel like a distraction and interruption to the key part of the game, the aerial combat.

You'll be tasked with air-to-air combat, intercept missions, bombing runs, and escort missions. Those drones form a key part of the storyline and you'll be facing them more often than you'd like.The missions are enjoyably varied. Significantly, enemy squadrons are bolstered by small and extremely agile unmanned drones that can be dropped en masse from a huge flying wing aircraft that wouldn't look out of place in Final Fantasy. Enemy forces are composed of the same varied selection of aircraft, although there are a few available to your opponents that you won't find in the technology tree. Most of the weaponry too will be familiar, however, this a fictional world and later you'll encounter weaponry straight from the realms of science fiction.

There will be times when players will be constrained to fly through or under clouds to remain undetected by radar. Dust storms and thunderstorms will play havoc with the players' visibility and instruments. On harder difficulties, munitions are scarce too and you'll need to count your bullets вЂ” and make them count.To add to the complexity of the missions, the developers have also introduced much more challenging scenarios using the weather and environments.

Ace Combat 7 Xbox Review Full Of Planes

There are also moments of mild frustration and panic when your own missiles miss their target, but throughout all of the battles, the combat and controls all feel responsive and intuitive. It can also seem that the alarm sirens are continually blaring and warning you of some impending disaster. There are times when the whole sky around you feels full of planes and missiles streaming towards you, little white lines on your radar that seem almost impossible to shake despite your best evasive maneuvers. Dogfighting under such conditions suddenly becomes more intense and nothing is as straightforward as it appears when first presented in the combat briefing.That is what it's all about, those dogfighting missions when you're chasing opponents through the skies, trying to get a lock on the target, avoiding enemy planes, missiles and SAMs.

You can easily find yourself confused about what the exact mission objectives now are leading to you failing missions a number of times until you've worked out what the battle sequence is. These new instructions can be lost amongst the sounds of battle and other chatter. Objectives can change dynamically during the mission, usually relayed via radio messages.

Fortunately, when the mission does go awry, a checkpoint system allows the player to restart from the last autosaved mission objective. Just when you think you're done with combat and start standing down, a radio message warns 'Wait, there's another enemy on the radar.' I've never been a fan of such mechanisms, and it does feel a little unfair especially when your plane is damaged or ammunition is low. More frustrating are the multi-stage battles that occur unexpectedly.

Special weapons can be disabled and there can be a spending limit for the aircraft and payload, meaning you might have to change strategies between battles.A special mention has to be made about the graphics in the title. The biggest challenge is selecting the best combat package within the confines that the host has set. Matches were happily lag-free and the biggest delay you're likely to encounter is the time spent waiting for other players to select their planes and weaponry in the lobby. Battle Royale, however, is not quite what you've come to expect of that mode and plays out more like a standard Deathmatch than last-man-standing. Team Deathmatch is pretty much what you'd expect with up to eight players being able to face off against each other.

The level of detail in the environments is impressive too. The dials work, legs and feet work the pedals, and the weather effects on the cockpit window are incredibly believable. More impressive still is the first-person cockpit view. In chase camera, along with the standard ailerons, flaps, and rudder, you'll also see the vents on the afterburner opening and closing, and airbrakes popping open when decelerating.

The soundtrack also complements the game, with a good mixture of rock and electronic tracks. Jumping into the free-flight mode and just cruising the skies is a cathartic joy and an escape from the intense battles. Other than the lack of cars and people, it really looks believable.