Ace Combat Infinity

Ace Combat Infinity

The first free-to-play Ace Combat game is here!  Namco Bandai released the game as a Playstation 3 exclusive this past Tuesday; a release that really flew under the radar (no pun intended) due to the Watch Dogs release.  With the last release, Ace Combat Assault Horizon, changing a lot of the core gameplay, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this game until the release day.

Fans of the Playstation 2 releases of the series will find themselves pleasantly surprised with the throwback feel of Ace Combat Infinity.  This game looks and feels a lot like Ace Combat 5 with the improved graphics of the Playstation 3.  In missions, you get lots of missiles and bullets to destroy your enemies with very unrealistic aircraft control:  the classic Ace Combat arcade flight sim that fans have loved all of these years.  The combat here is really well done and I much prefer it over the combat in Ace Combat Assault Horizon (though I still like that game too).

With this game being a free-to-play, the similarities with the older games end with the gameplay mechanics.  This game is definitely centered around the online play which is, more or less, pretty good.  The online play is 2 to 8 player co-op where players are split into two teams and try to out-score one another.  Each level does have a basic plot a lot like an actual campaign level in the older Ace Combat games.  For those unfamiliar with the series, almost every Ace Combat mission since Ace Combat 4 follows the same plot formula.

1. Pilots go out on a set mission
2. In the middle or at the end of the mission, something happens that causes the mission to change
3. When the new mission is completed, pilots go to finish up the old mission if it wasn't already completed.

The online co-op missions use this same formula.  The difference is that even if a player ends up playing the same level over and over again, the mission change in the middle of the level is chosen at random.  For instance, the "Aerospace Center Defense" mission will have three different mission updates chosen from randomly.  

The game will choose one from the following three:

1. A squadron of ace pilots that you need to shoot down 
2. A squadron of B-2 bombers that you need to shoot down 
3. A drone launching submarine that the players need to blow-up

If the players fail at the special appearance mission (which happens all the time with that damn submarine) they don't automatically lose the mission.  The mission is truly lost or won depending on if the team you're on scores more points than the opposing squadron.  Both squads as a combined team though are given a rank depending on how many paints they scored combined.  Basically, the lower the rank, the worse the evaluation is.

Overall, the online play is a lot of fun and probably the most fun online Ace Combat experience to date.  The only exception is that there are only five online levels to choose from currently (six if you include the random encounter mission).  Since it's a free-to-play, there will probably be more online maps made that can be purchased as a DLC but I'm only speculating.

I have played through all of the currently available campaign missions (for a price).  The campaign can be played for free if the player earns enough in-game credits through online play to purchase each level (which would require saving up a lot of credits).  The more realistic option is to pay 20 bucks for the campaign pass which allows you to bypass the fuel (which I'll talk about in a moment) and in-game credit prices for all of the campaign missions.

After paying to play through the rest of the campaign missions, the campaign is relatively weak.  Currently, the campaign is only five missions long (six if you include the tutorial).  It's not too bad, just really short.  I think I played through it in about an hour.  For twenty bucks, that isn't really worth the money.  However, they do have a Mission 6 listed that just says "coming soon" when you try to select it.  So, hopefully they will get around to giving me twenty dollars worth of campaign sooner or later.

But hey, I don't feel as ripped off as the people who bought Metal Gear Solid V  (hahaha).

The aircraft system in this game is the most in-depth that the series has had.  When online missions are played, planes are researched and unlocked for purchase.  This is done with in-game credits and I don't think you can waste your real-world money on buying new planes even if you want to (surprisingly).  Certain planes and parts get unlocked for research when the other planes and parts before them in the particular branch are researched and bought.  Planes can also be leveled up to improve their overall stats making this the first Ace Combat game to ever give you a reason to pick the F-4E over any of the other aircraft.  The roles between fighters and attackers seem to also be further divided in this game giving you a decent reason to use the A-10 or other attack aircraft.  For instance, when I was using a level 3 F-14, it would take two missile hits to destroy a tank but with a level 1 F-4G, I could destroy a tank with one missile.  That may not seem very significant but when you are trying to take out larger targets that can take more damage, I was able to take them out much faster with the F-4G than with the F-14.  Of course, the reasons are obvious for why you would not want to use an attacker for dog-fighting.  Attacker aircraft aren't very mobile along with their reduced damage against aircraft.

The Aircraft Tree System of Ace Combat Infinity.  Planes and parts on the left
must be purchased before planes and parts on the right.

Another cool little feature that they added for this one is that you can equip different insignias onto your aircraft.  I thought that this was pretty neat since the insignias appear in the player's HUD along with the player name.  It doesn't add anything to the mechanics of the game but it's still neat nonetheless.

Any hardcore Ace Combat fan will recognize many of the allusions to other games in this one.  I won't really talk about them here but there are a few worth mentioning without spoiling anything.  Slash and Edge from Ace Combat 2 (Edge was also in Ace Combat 5) make an appearance in this game as flight leads in a competitive squadron.  Two of the campaign levels bring back significant targets from previous games.  The "Aerospace Center Defense" level in multiplayer is very similar to the "Shattered Skies" level in Ace Combat 4.  Also from Ace Combat 4, I noted that someone was using the Erusian Air Force insignia in multiplayer.  I'm not certain how to unlock it though.  At the end of the campaign (currently) there is a fighter squadron that is formed called the 118th Tactical Fighter Squadron:  the same official name as the Mobius Squadron in Ace Combat 4.

Along with all of that, just about all of the music in the game is music made for previous games.  So basically, there's lots and lots of fan service in this game and, being a big fan, I'm certainly not complaining.  

The biggest drawback this game has is that it is free-to-play.  Since it is free-to-play, the game certainly limits how long you can play in one sitting for free.  In order to play a round of online play or a campaign mission (unless if you have a campaign pass) you need to spend 1 unit of fuel to do it.  Like some cell phone games out there, fuel is supplied at certain time intervals.  Ace Combat Infinity gives the player a unit of fuel every four hours.  However, a player can only save up three units of fuel at one time.  The alternative to using these allotted units of fuel is to use stocked fuel which is occasionally rewarded for completing a challenge. However, the best way to obtain stocked fuel is by handing over your wallet.  I don't really plan on buying any stocked fuel since it's not very cheap.  It's about a dollar a unit unless if you buy fuel in bulk.  I think that's pretty pricey but I, personally, don't usually spend money on free-to-play games anyways.  The twenty bucks I spent on the campaign pass is the only time I ever spent money on a free-to-play game and I'm going to leave it at that.

I suppose one thing that is worth a brief mention is that this game was functioning properly on the day of release.  It's sad that I have to talk about it but in a day and age where developers feel it's okay to release broken games, I have no choice but to give it a mention here.  The game was working and has been working well since the day of release so I tip my hat to Namco Bandai for taking quality seriously.  The only real issue that I've had with the game is having trouble connecting to other player's games.  I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with my firewall though because I had the same issue with Ace Combat Assault Horizon.  It's not really a big deal since I can usually find a game I can join or, more conveniently, host my own game which people don't seem to have trouble joining.  

If you have a Playstation 3, this game is definitely worth a download.  As far as free-to-play games, this one is pretty good.  It won't give you hours of gameplay in one sitting like DC Universe Online or Dungeons and Dragons Online will but it's still one of the best free-to-play games that Playstation Network has to offer.

The image of the aircraft tree system was poorly taken on my phone.  hehe